I tested payment flows on 120 websites. These 7 mistakes kept appearing

I reviewed 120 projects shared through X, Reddit, and Discord. I followed each payment path as far as checkout.

Seven problems appeared repeatedly:

1. Prices hidden until checkout
   Example: A credit selector showed pack sizes, but the prices only appeared after opening checkout.

2. Paid buttons with no visible response
   Example: Selecting a paid plan closed the pricing modal without opening checkout or showing an error.

3. Plan details changing between pages
   Example: A homepage promised 50 free credits, while the signup button and new account offered 10.

4. Checkout branding that does not match the product
   Example: A Stripe page showed a different company name from the product the customer was buying.

5. Selected plans getting lost during signup
   Example: The selected plan appeared in the login URL but disappeared after switching to account creation.

6. Canceled payments remaining stuck in verification
   Example: Returning from a canceled Stripe checkout left the site saying the payment was still being verified.

7. Unexpected consent or billing details inside checkout
   Example: Marketing consent was selected by default, or the trial charge date was not shown clearly.

The most damaging issue was losing purchase intent during authentication.

A customer selects a plan, gets sent to login, chooses to create an account, and lands on a generic dashboard. The product has converted someone ready to pay into someone who has to find the pricing page again.

A reliable payment flow should preserve three things:

• The selected plan
• The advertised price
• The page the customer should return to

It should also handle failure clearly. If checkout cannot open, say so. If the customer cancels, return them to the selected plan. If billing is recurring, state that before requesting payment details.

None of this requires a major redesign. It requires testing the complete journey as a new customer instead of checking each page separately.

Which of these have you found in your own product?

If you want a first-time-user review of your website, join the Discord and share your project: https://discord.gg/HwDQ4H3tKe