Managing customers and saved payment methods
This guide covers adding and editing customers, saving cards or bank accounts to them, keeping payment details up to date, and fixing the problems that come up most often.
What a customer record is
A customer stores the person or business you bill: name, email, billing and shipping details, and (where relevant) a tax ID. Customers are created either by you in the dashboard, or automatically at checkout when someone pays for the first time.
Adding and editing a customer
- Add a customer with at least a full name and an email. The name must include a first and last part (a single word is rejected).
- Each email can belong to only one customer — see the duplicate-email note below.
- Edit a customer at any time to update contact, billing, or shipping details.
Saved payment methods
You can save a card or bank account to a customer so future charges and subscriptions run automatically. Card details are securely tokenized — Arca never stores the raw card number.
- Add a card or bank account to the customer.
- The first method added becomes the default; you can change the default at any time.
- Update an expiring card by editing the saved method's expiry (or adding the reissued card as a new method and setting it as default).
- Remove a method you no longer need; if you remove the default, another method is promoted automatically.
Saved methods are what subscriptions and automatic invoice charges use — automatic charging needs a default method on file.
Common problems
"The email is already being used by a customer"
-
Cause
A customer with that email already exists.
SolutionFind and edit the existing customer instead of creating a new one. If it's genuinely a different person, use a distinct email.
"Credit card already exists"
-
Cause
That card is already saved to the customer.
SolutionUse the existing saved card rather than adding it again.
A renewal failed because the card expired
-
Cause
The saved card is past its expiry date or was reissued.
SolutionUpdate the saved method's expiry, or add the new card and set it as the customer's default. Note you can't change a method's type (card vs bank) — add a new method for that.
"Customer default payment method not found"
-
Cause
An automatic charge was attempted but the customer has no default payment method.
SolutionAdd a payment method (the first becomes default) or set one of the existing methods as default.
"Name must be a composed name"
-
Cause
The customer name is a single word.
SolutionEnter a full name with at least a first and last part.
Error message reference
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The email is already being used by a customer | Duplicate customer email | Edit the existing customer instead |
| Credit card already exists | That card is already saved | Use the saved card |
| Customer payment method not found | The payment method ID is wrong or was removed | Re-select from the customer's saved methods |
| Customer default payment method not found | No default method for an automatic charge | Add or set a default method |
| Credit Card Hold Failed | The card was declined when saving it | Try another card or check the details |
Still having trouble?
Contact Arca support and include:
- The customer's email or ID
- The exact message (a screenshot helps)
- Whether it's about the customer record or a saved payment method