Understanding Transaction States in DealerWorks

Modified on Mon, Mar 30 at 11:14 AM

Every transaction in DealerWorks displays two visual signals: a color that shows the current status, and an icon that shows how the payment was taken. Understanding these signals helps you confirm a payment completed correctly, identify when something needs attention, and know what action — if any — to take.

This article covers transaction statuses only. For payment request statuses, see Payment Request Statuses.

Status Colors

The color of a transaction row tells you immediately whether action is needed.

Color	What it means	Examples
Green	Successful — no action needed	Approved, Authorized, Refunded
Yellow	In progress or requires attention — do not close the order yet	Challenged, Pending, Waiting for customer, Initiated
Red	Failed — the transaction did not complete	Declined, Failed, Error

Status Labels — Full Reference

Each status label describes what happened or what is currently happening with the transaction.

Status	Color	What it means	What to do
Approved	Green	Payment completed and accepted by the card network. Funds will settle to your bank.	No action needed. Safe to close the RO or release the vehicle.
Authorized	Green	Card was authorized by the bank. Typically seen as an intermediate step before final approval on terminal payments.	No action needed in most cases. If it does not progress to Approved, contact support.
Refunded	Green	A refund was successfully processed back to the customer's payment method.	No action needed. Both the original transaction and the refund will show on reports.
Pending	Yellow	The transaction has been submitted but has not yet received a final response. Common with ACH Direct Debit, which settles over one to two business days.	Wait for the status to update. For ACH, allow up to two business days. Do not reprocess.
Challenged	Yellow	The customer's bank has triggered a 3D Secure identity check. The payment is not complete until the customer passes the check on their own device.	Do not close the RO. Ask the customer to complete the verification prompt on their phone or browser. See Transaction Status is Yellow: "Challenged".
Waiting for Customer	Yellow	Terminal payment sent to the device. The system is waiting for the customer to tap, insert, or swipe their card.	Ask the customer to complete the card step on the terminal. If the terminal is unresponsive, see Terminal Offline: Relaunch DealerPOS.
Initiated	Yellow	A payment request or transaction has been started but not yet acted on by the customer.	Wait for the customer to act, or resend the payment request if needed.
Declined	Red	The customer's bank refused the transaction. The decline reason comes from the bank, not DealerWorks. Common reasons include insufficient funds, suspected fraud, incorrect card details, or the card being blocked for card-not-present transactions.	Do not retry the same card repeatedly. Ask the customer to use a different payment method or contact their bank. Note the exact decline reason shown before navigating away.
Failed	Red	A technical or processing error prevented the transaction from completing. This is distinct from a decline — the bank may not have been reached at all.	Check the error message in the transaction detail. Retry once. If it fails again, contact DealerWorks support with the transaction ID and error text.

Common Decline Reasons

When a transaction shows Declined, the reason is provided by the customer's bank and synced into DealerWorks from the payment processor (Adyen). These are the most common reasons and what they mean:

Decline reason	What it means	What to tell the customer
Insufficient Funds	The account does not have enough available balance to cover the charge.	Try a different card, or use cash, check, or ACH.
Do Not Honor	The bank declined without giving a specific reason. This is a general refusal.	Contact their bank or use an alternate payment method.
Suspected Fraud / Fraud	The bank's fraud detection flagged this transaction. The customer's card may be temporarily frozen.	The customer needs to call the number on the back of their card to release the hold.
Invalid Card Number / Expired Card	The card number, expiry, or CVV entered does not match the bank's records.	Verify the card details and retry once. If still declined, use a different card.
Not Permitted / Restricted	The card is blocked for this transaction type. Some cards are restricted from card-not-present or large transactions.	Use a different card or payment method. The customer's bank has set this restriction.
Refer to Card Issuer	The bank wants to speak with the cardholder before approving.	The customer should call the number on the back of their card, then retry.

Payment Type Icons

Each transaction also shows an icon that identifies how the payment was taken. This helps when reviewing the transaction list or the Cashier Report.

Icon	Payment type	Possible statuses
Phone / message bubble	Text to Pay (Payment Request)	Paid, Challenged, Failed / Declined
Monitor / screen	Virtual Payment (email payment link)	Paid, Challenged, Failed / Declined
Terminal box	Terminal payment (physical device)	Authorized / Approved, Waiting for customer, Declined, Given Up
Credit card	Keyed Entry (manual card entry)	Approved, Declined
Clipboard	ACH Direct Debit (bank transfer)	Submitted / Approved, Pending
Recycle arrows	Refund	Refunded

Filtering the Transaction List

From the Transactions screen, you can filter by status, payment type, date range, customer name, department, and amount. Use the filter icon to open the filter panel. Multiple filters can be applied at the same time.

Useful filter combinations:

Status: Approved + Payment Type: Text to Pay — see all completed payment request transactions
Status: Pending — find any ACH transactions still awaiting settlement
Status: Declined — review failed attempts for a day or date range
Status: Voided — confirm same-day reversals processed correctly

Important: Only a green Approved status confirms that payment is complete and funds will settle. Do not release a vehicle or close a repair order based on any yellow or grey status.