If you’ve made a payment but your invoice still shows as unpaid or the service doesn’t appear in hPanel, follow the steps below to identify the cause.
Step 1 – Allow time for payment processing
Payments are not always applied instantly. Processing time depends on the payment method used.
In most cases, payments are applied within 24 hours.
Typical processing times (payment method availability may vary by region):
- Credit, debit or prepaid card, e-wallets, cryptocurrency: from a few minutes, up to 2 hours
- UPI payments: usually 2–6 hours
- Cash-based payments: up to 48 hours
During this time, the invoice may still appear as unpaid, even though the payment was successful.
Step 2 – Confirm that the payment was completed
After allowing enough time for processing, check your payment method for confirmation that the charge was successfully deducted.
- If no charge appears, the purchase was likely not completed, and you can safely place the order again.
- If the funds were deducted, continue with the next steps.
Avoid making multiple payments while a transaction is still processing, as this may result in duplicate charges.
What happens to delayed or unsuccessful payments
If more than 24 hours have passed (or 48 hours for cash payments) and the charge appears on your bank account but the invoice is still unpaid, the payment may not have been completed successfully.
In most cases, unsuccessful charges are automatically canceled and reverted. The funds will be returned to your account based on the time your bank requires to process the reversal.
Once the funds are returned, you can safely make a new payment to complete the purchase.
Step 3 – Refresh hPanel and check service availability
Sometimes the payment is completed, there were no payment errors, but hPanel hasn’t updated yet:
- Refresh the page or log in to hPanel using an incognito or private browser window
- Make sure you’re logged into the correct Hostinger account where the service was purchased
If the service is still not appearing after refreshing:
- For new services: go to the Home page in hPanel. Newly purchased services may be listed as pending activation
- For renewals: open the Billing section and confirm the service expiration date reflects the new billing period
- For upgrades: verify that the service limits and resources have increased as expected
Other reasons for inactive or missing services
In some situations, a service may be unavailable for reasons unrelated to payment processing.
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Temporary maintenance: services or hPanel may be temporarily unavailable due to maintenance. You can check Hostinger’s status page. If the service is related in the status page, you can verify service availability once maintenance is completed.
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Inactive services: a service may be expired, suspended, canceled, or deleted, or may no longer appear after changes such as renewing or upgrading a different service. In these cases, the service is not active in the account.
If the payment still doesn’t appear
If more than 24 hours have passed (or 48 hours for cash payments) and none of the situations above apply, contact us to provide the following details based on your payment method. This information helps us locate your payment and resolve any potential issue in a timely manner:
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PayPal: the PayPal account email and transaction ID
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Credit card: the first 6 and last 4 digits of the card used
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Other payment methods: the email used for the transaction and proof of completed payment from the payment provider
In most cases, unpaid invoices are caused by normal processing delays and resolve automatically. Taking a moment to check the payment status and allow enough processing time usually clears things up without any further action.