I tried to purchase designer tonight "Your card has been denied by your card provider". Tried 2 other cards and then a pre-pay card (not related to the others) and still same message. Then saw some messages on here suggesting that despite the website error, deductions were made. That's not the sort of thing you like to read having tried 6 times! However, my e-card would have shown a deduction on the its balance right away and nothing was taken, so I think something's not authenticating correctly on the serif side.
tried the card with another online seller - by buying something cheap to test the card - as we still need to eat during lockdown. And, yes the card works fine.
So, it must be an issue with the Affinity website. I may reconsider purchasing now as the trust element I had in the brand is now being eroded by the service quality of the transaction.