Common Issues
Square reservation problems
Squares stuck on 'pending', squares getting double-claimed, or selections not updating? Here's how to clear them up.
A square moves through three states: available → pending → completed. When it gets stuck mid-flow, it's almost always one of these.
Squares stuck in "pending" forever
Pending means a donor selected the square and started checkout but never completed payment. Squares stay reserved for that donor for a short window.
Fix it: open the campaign in Edit Campaign, go to the squares list (or your dashboard's Donations tab), find the pending square, and click Reset or Mark Available. The square goes back to available so a new donor can claim it.
A square shows the wrong donor name
Most often this is from a previous failed checkout that didn't fully clear. Reset the square (above) and have the new donor claim it again.
Squares not appearing as claimed after PayPal pays
PayPal processed the donation but the square is still showing as available? That's usually because the donor closed the PayPal window before the redirect completed, so we never got the "payment confirmed" callback. Mark the square as paid manually from your dashboard once you confirm receipt in your PayPal Activity.
Donor says they bought a square but it's not in my list
Check the donor's email in your dashboard's Donations tab — sometimes donors mistype their email and the square reservation gets filed under a different address. Search loosely.
Still confused?
Submit a help request with the campaign URL and the affected square number(s). We can look at the underlying records and unstick them for you.