@Mary Nedry--if you look at the invoice it will state not paid if it hasn't cleared yet.
In general:
When an order is delayed...it isn't something wrong, necessarily.
CC processors can check validity of cards in a bunch of different ways.
It is similar to how one can set fraud filters in PayPal. You can have it reject transactions outright, let everything through, OR have a payment pending until you can decide whether you want to approve it or not.
I have had orders that went to pending through my PayPal filters and I ended up approving all of them. Sometimes after contacting the buyer directly, sometimes just making a judgement call on my own.
PayPal has it's own set of filters and will pend orders too. I have had that happen a few times...once they cancelled the order all together because they said it was fraudulent. Most times it pends 24 hrs and goes through.
Basically, Etsy CC processing has some parameters in place that will pend a payment. Probably goes through a bit more thorough check and then if it passes it clears, if it doesn't pass then the order is "undone".
An example may be when someone wants the purchase sent to somewhere other than the billing address of the CC or when the name it is being shipped to is different than the name on the card. Both could be perfectly legitimate but may need a more detailed check to be sure it's not fraud.
Pending CC transactions that need a few more checks generally keeps the rates lower for a merchant.
