MasterCard and VISA processing guidelines

Following these steps will reduce the risk of receiving a false authorization which can be triggered by multiple attempts to authorize a card in a short period of time and give the merchant greater security in their payment processing.

A card should always be run for the full amount owed, splitting a charge into lesser amounts on the same card simply increases the risk that you as a merchant will not receive your full payment in a timely manner.
If a card declines the card holder should be notified immediately and asked to contact their issuing bank to resolve any issues that may be triggering the decline.
A card should only be attempted a second time if the card holder comes back and states that all issues have been resolved with their credit card issuer.
A card should not be attempted again if it declines more than twice in a day, you should either request a different form of payment from the customer or wait 24 hours.
If you choose to wait 24 hours and the card declines a third time a new form of payment should be requested.

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