#inexorable - invoices

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

heady muralBOT
safe hinge
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Hello 👋
You can't create an invoice by referencing a PaymentIntent that has already been paid.

However, you can create an invoice for the same amount and mark it as paid manually (using the dashboard OR the API). Is that something that you're looking to do?

glad wedge
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... and that's the simplest way to generate an Invoice for a customer that's paid using a PaymentIntent? It feels like really obvious missing functionality for an e-commerce integration - although it would be good to know that I'm not just missing the point 😆

If that is the intended Stripe flow then yes that's what I'm looking to do - but the PaymentIntent structure has Invoice shaped holes called "invoice" so it seemed sensible to get one in there somehow ....

safe hinge
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So Invoices and PaymentIntents fall under different umbrellas. PaymentIntents are what's used in the background mainly to process charges.
Invoicing is a billing product that utilises the PaymentIntents API underneath.

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The ideal flow for invoices would be to create an invoice first -> then use the PaymentIntent generated by the invoice to collect the payment

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versus collecting the Payment first via PaymentIntent and create an invoice later on

glad wedge
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That feels very iffy from an ecommerce integration perspective - creating many invoices that may never see a successful transaction complete (all in the Invoice list just hanging around).

So , for my sanity, are we saying that the ONLY way to generate an Invoice for an ecommerce integration with Stripe (with a CAPTURE payment first model) - is for the order processor to manually create Stripe Products to match the original order lines - every time an Invoice needs to be generated? That sounds bonkers. 😆

There is no way to attach a PaymentIntent to an Invoice and no tools in the dashboard or API to generate a transaction Invoice like you do a recipt?

Sorry to keep asking but I'm nervous about taking this explanation to my team because they will look at me like I'm mad 😆

twilit pilot
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Yes, with how payment intents and invoices currently work that would be a good way to get the flow that you are going for. It sounds like your use case doesn't line up with our products' current flows just enough that you need this extra code here. Also for more specifics, you would specify paid_out_of_band: true when making the "pay an invoice" call, that will flag that the payment for that invoice has already happened https://stripe.com/docs/api/invoices/pay#pay_invoice-paid_out_of_band

Stripe API reference – Pay an invoice – curl

Complete reference documentation for the Stripe API. Includes code snippets and examples for our Python, Java, PHP, Node.js, Go, Ruby, and .NET libraries.

glad wedge
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Ok - thank you for taking the time to help here. So that I am prepared for my client/team meeting - can I please confirm then that you are saying the following:

  1. Stripe expects that Invoices are created BEFORE any payments are attempted - and that they expect integrating e-commerce systems that want to Invoice via Stripe to use this "Create an Invoice First via the API" model?

  2. Are you about to release (or are you developing) functionality that makes it possible to raise Invoices for PAID payments?

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I appreciate your time and help with this.

twilit pilot
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  1. Yes that is how our invoices work currently.

  2. Not as far as I am aware but you can write in to our support team to express interest in that feature

glad wedge
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Thank you for your patience and help. Much appreciated. 👍

twilit pilot
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Of course, good luck integrating!

glad wedge
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re-integrating... I never would have expected Invoices would have to come first - lol

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It really should say somewhere in the docs that Payment integration shouldn't be started if you think you might need an Invoice generated by Stripe. I'll campaign for that at least.

twilit pilot
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inexorable - invoices