snackdex-prebilling-sub | Stripe Developers | Page 1

dense canopyBOT Dec 14, 2023, 10:12 PM

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snack-subscription-payment, 23 hours ago, 6 messages
snackdex, 1 day ago, 22 messages

shut edge Dec 14, 2023, 10:13 PM

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Hi 👋

You are right that if you make the subscription the way you are describing we will not charge the user for the full amount in the first invoice. It would be a prorated amount based on how much of the year is left

gentle pasture Dec 14, 2023, 10:13 PM

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is there a way to do what i described with subscriptions?

shut edge Dec 14, 2023, 10:14 PM

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You can test out passing proration_behavior='none' when you create the Subscription: https://stripe.com/docs/api/subscriptions/create#create_subscription-proration_behavior

gentle pasture Dec 14, 2023, 10:18 PM

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unfortunately when i do that i don't get an invoice id

shut edge Dec 14, 2023, 10:19 PM

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Yes I just wrote a test for this and I'm not seeing the invoice either

gentle pasture Dec 14, 2023, 10:20 PM

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😓 is there a way to create an invoice with a subscription in the future and allow the user to pay it early? (idk if that makes sense)

shut edge Dec 14, 2023, 10:22 PM

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Yes that makes sense. It is "pre-billing" and we don't currently support it but it is something that is being worked on. If you want to find out more about that I would recommend writing in to Support here: https://support.stripe.com/contact

gentle pasture Dec 14, 2023, 10:22 PM

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currently, is there a way to do what i'm describing?

shut edge Dec 14, 2023, 10:24 PM

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You mean charging the user the full yearly price with only 2 weeks left in the year?

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And then charging the full amount at the start of next year

gentle pasture Dec 14, 2023, 10:25 PM

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hmm so:
dec 14 2023 - dec 31 2024: the full amount
jan 1 2025- dec 31 2025: the full amount

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so essentially giving them 2 weeks "free" but they pay for the year amount
and then the following following year they still pay the full year amount

shut edge Dec 14, 2023, 10:27 PM

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Wait... so you're skipping the invoice on Jan 1 2024?

gentle pasture Dec 14, 2023, 10:27 PM

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yes

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because they paid for it today

shut edge Dec 14, 2023, 10:29 PM

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Ah no we don't have a way to support that flow AFAIK. That is precisely what the "pre-billing" approach is intended to address but we haven't completed it yet.

gentle pasture Dec 14, 2023, 10:32 PM

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is there a way to that with subscription schedules?

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like...the first "subscription" is from dec 14 2023 - dec 31 2024 and then jan 1 2025- dec 31 2025 is the next one?

shut edge Dec 14, 2023, 10:35 PM

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Hmmm.... 🤔

I'm not sure. It might be possible. Like if you collected all the funds this month and then created the entire next year as a "trial phase"

gentle pasture Dec 14, 2023, 10:37 PM

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or even something more wild: i charge them an "item" and a subscription for a start date in the future?

shut edge Dec 14, 2023, 10:37 PM

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I'm not sure what you mean by that.

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You could add a one-off invoice item, is that what you are referring to?

gentle pasture Dec 14, 2023, 10:37 PM

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yes

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like an invoice item and then create a subscription with a date in the future?

shut edge Dec 14, 2023, 10:40 PM

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What I would be concerned about there is whether or not we would still generate a new invoice on the 1st. You could mark it as paid_out_of_band for that first year but then you would need to intercept it before it's sent to the customer.

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And using that approach you lose the tracking of the payment & the invoice. They are no longer related. That can make financial reporting difficult

gentle pasture Dec 14, 2023, 10:41 PM

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ah i see what you mean i didn't even think of that

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ok...what if i would do something like:
phase 1 of a subscription is from dec 14 2023 - dec 31 2024
and then i start phase 2 from jan 1 2025 yearly until they cancel?

shut edge Dec 14, 2023, 10:43 PM

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Unfortunately our Sub schedule API will not let you create phases that have temporal gaps between them.

gentle pasture Dec 14, 2023, 10:43 PM

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oh what do you mean by temporal gaps

shut edge Dec 14, 2023, 10:44 PM

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Oh, right, I keep missing the change in year for the first phase

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Honestly I think you could test it out using Test Clocks https://stripe.com/docs/billing/testing/test-clocks

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But I suspect the first phase might generate 2 invoices

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I'm not 100% on it though. Sometimes the easiest way to learn is to try it out.

gentle pasture Dec 14, 2023, 10:46 PM

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ok ok!

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i am eternally greatful for helping me out with this

shut edge Dec 14, 2023, 10:46 PM

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Sure! Happy to do it 🙂

#snackdex-prebilling-sub