The short answer
Authorisation rate is the share of attempted payments approved by issuing banks. Typical eCommerce sits at 85-92%. Improvements come from network tokens, correct AVS configuration, smart retries by decline reason, 3D Secure 2, accurate descriptors and account updater on recurring payments.
Retry logic by decline reason
Insufficient funds should retry near payday. Do-not-honour should not retry at all. Blanket retry schedules annoy issuers and can raise your decline rate rather than lower it.
Network tokens
Tokens issued by Visa and Mastercard update automatically when cards are reissued and typically lift approval rates by 1-3 points on recurring volume. Ask whether your gateway supports them.
Key takeaways
- Measure authorisation rate monthly — most merchants never do
- Retry strategy must be driven by decline reason
- Network tokens lift recurring approvals materially
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