That $1 gets credited back to you after a day or two. It's just a way to test the transaction and see if you have the necessary funds in your account. It's a common practice.

As for the 401 error, I'm not familiar with it. It may be that their billing site is down or having errors of some kind. It could also be a problem with your card or the bank issuing it. If you want to avoid those problems altogether, I would suggest getting pre-paid cards or Crysta to pay for your subscription until the issue with your card/billing site is fixed.