diff --git a/packages/website/components/account/addPaymentMethodForm/addPaymentMethodForm.js b/packages/website/components/account/addPaymentMethodForm/addPaymentMethodForm.js
index 530d353db8..7e9e31a025 100644
--- a/packages/website/components/account/addPaymentMethodForm/addPaymentMethodForm.js
+++ b/packages/website/components/account/addPaymentMethodForm/addPaymentMethodForm.js
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { useState } from 'react';
 import { CardElement, useElements, useStripe } from '@stripe/react-stripe-js';
 
 import Loading from '../../../components/loading/loading';
-import { userBillingSettings } from '../../../lib/api';
+import { APIError, defaultErrorMessageForEndUser, userBillingSettings } from '../../../lib/api';
 import Button from '../../../components/button/button';
 import { planIdToStorageSubscription } from '../../contexts/plansContext';
 
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ const AddPaymentMethodForm = ({ setHasPaymentMethods, setEditingPaymentMethod, c
   const stripe = useStripe();
   const [isLoading, setIsLoading] = useState(false);
 
-  const [paymentMethodError, setPaymentMethodError] = useState('');
+  const [paymentMethodError, setPaymentMethodError] = useState(/** @type {Error|null} */ (null));
   const handlePaymentMethodAdd = async event => {
     event.preventDefault();
 
@@ -52,12 +52,12 @@ const AddPaymentMethodForm = ({ setHasPaymentMethods, setEditingPaymentMethod, c
         await userBillingSettings(paymentMethod.id, currStorageSubscription);
         setHasPaymentMethods?.(true);
         setEditingPaymentMethod?.(false);
-        setPaymentMethodError('');
+        setPaymentMethodError(null);
       } catch (error) {
-        let message;
-        if (error instanceof Error) message = error.message;
-        else message = String(error);
-        setPaymentMethodError(message);
+        if (!(error instanceof APIError)) {
+          console.warn('unexpected error adding payment method', error);
+        }
+        setPaymentMethodError(new Error(defaultErrorMessageForEndUser));
       } finally {
         setIsLoading(false);
       }
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ const AddPaymentMethodForm = ({ setHasPaymentMethods, setEditingPaymentMethod, c
           }}
         />
       </div>
-      <div className="billing-validation">{paymentMethodError}</div>
+      <div className="billing-validation">{paymentMethodError ? paymentMethodError.message : <></>}</div>
       <div className="billing-card-add-card-wrapper">
         <Button onClick={handlePaymentMethodAdd} variant="outline-light" disabled={!stripe}>
           Add Card
diff --git a/packages/website/lib/api.js b/packages/website/lib/api.js
index 6224ea2987..733ec0c6f3 100644
--- a/packages/website/lib/api.js
+++ b/packages/website/lib/api.js
@@ -305,6 +305,42 @@ export async function deletePinRequest(requestid) {
  *  } EarlyAdopterStorageSubscription
  */
 
+/**
+ * Try return the input parsed as JSON. If it's not possible, return the input.
+ * (This is useful for logging responses that may or may not be JSON.)
+ * @param {string} text
+ * @returns {unknown}
+ */
+function parseJsonOrReturn(text) {
+  try {
+    return JSON.parse(text);
+  } catch (e) {
+    return text;
+  }
+}
+
+export const apiIssueSupportEmail = 'support@web3.storage';
+export const defaultErrorMessageForEndUser = `An unexpected error has occurred. Please try again. If this error continues to happen, please contact us at ${apiIssueSupportEmail}.`;
+
+/**
+ * Error indicating that an unexpected error happened when invoking the API, but nothing more specific than that.
+ */
+export class APIError extends Error {}
+
+/**
+ * Error indicating that an unexpected API Response was encountered
+ */
+export class UnexpectedAPIResponseError extends APIError {
+  /**
+   * @param {Response} response
+   * @param {string} message
+   */
+  constructor(response, message) {
+    super(message);
+    this.response = response;
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * Gets/Puts saved user plan and billing settings.
  * @param {string} [pmId] - payment method id
@@ -320,17 +356,28 @@ export async function userBillingSettings(pmId, storageSubscription) {
       : null;
   const method = !!putBody ? 'PUT' : 'GET';
   const token = await getToken();
-  const res = await fetch(API + '/user/payment', {
-    method: method,
-    headers: {
-      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
-      Authorization: 'Bearer ' + token,
-    },
-    body: putBody,
-  });
-  if (!res.ok) {
-    throw new Error(`failed to get/put user billing info: ${await res.text()}`);
+  const path = '/user/payment';
+  /** @type {Response} */
+  let response;
+  try {
+    response = await fetch(new URL(path, API).toString(), {
+      method: method,
+      headers: {
+        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
+        Authorization: 'Bearer ' + token,
+      },
+      body: putBody,
+    });
+  } catch (error) {
+    const message = 'unexpected error fetching user payment settings';
+    console.warn(message, error);
+    throw new APIError(message);
+  }
+  if (!response.ok) {
+    const message = `Unexpected ${response.status} response requesting ${method} ${path}`;
+    console.warn(`${message}. Response:`, await response.text().then(parseJsonOrReturn));
+    throw new UnexpectedAPIResponseError(response, message);
   }
-  const savedPayment = await res.json();
+  const savedPayment = await response.json();
   return savedPayment;
 }