Tip from SmartRetry Avoid re-submitting the full amount against the same card, as this creates duplicate holds and immediate rejections. If your checkout experience does not natively support split payments, disable the partial authorization indicator in your request payloads to prevent leaving cardholder funds tied up on uncompleted orders.
Mastercard
Mastercard Issuer Response Code 10: Partial Approval
soft decline
Last updated: September 25, 2026
About 10 - "Partial Approval"
Key details
- 10
- Issuer Response Codes
- 10
- Partial Approval
soft decline
What it means
Mastercard response code 10 indicates that the issuer has approved the transaction, but for an amount lower than the original request. This is known as a Partial Approval and occurs when the merchant indicates support for split tenders. The specific approved amount is returned in Data Element (DE) 6 and represents the maximum amount that can be cleared.
Classification & retryability
softRetryable: no
Why does code 10 occur?
- The cardholder's available funds or authorization capacity on their debit or prepaid Mastercard only cover a portion of the requested purchase amount.
- The merchant terminal correctly signaled support for partial approvals (via DE 48, subelement 61, subfield 1) and the issuer opted to authorize a partial amount.
How to solve 10?
Retrieve the actual approved amount from Data Element 6 (DE 6). If your system supports split tender, present the partially approved amount to the customer and prompt them to pay the remaining balance using an alternative payment method. Ensure the subsequent clearing transaction strictly matches the partially authorized amount in DE 6, rather than the original requested amount.
Solving as a merchant
Do not automatically retry the transaction for the full original amount using the same card. If your checkout flow cannot support partial payments or split tenders (common in card-not-present ecommerce), you must cancel the transaction, avoid capturing more than DE 6, and treat the order as unsuccessful. For point-of-sale systems, collect the remaining balance via another tender type or reduce the order size.
Solving as a customer
Pay the remaining balance of the transaction using a different payment method, such as cash or another card, if the merchant supports split tenders. Alternatively, reduce the order size or provide a different card for the full amount.
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Author
Kyle Regacho
Find me on LinkedinFocused on payment recovery, decline codes, and authorization optimization at SmartRetry. Helps payment teams turn failed transactions into recovered revenue
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