#theory_invoice-manual
fierce quartzBOT
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tropic swallow
Hm you shouldn't need to add a different price. When updating the quantity in the Update a subscription API call, you should be able to set the proration_behavior: https://docs.stripe.com/api/subscriptions/update#update_subscription-proration_behavior. I recommend playing around with things using test clocks: https://docs.stripe.com/billing/testing/test-clocks. That way you can still use your annual prices in test mode.
dim hull
We don't use the Subscription API, though. Only the Invoice APIs.
(We have our own way of managing subscriptions, we just use Stripe for the invoice)
dim hull
no worries!
tropic swallow
Ok so do you want the user to be charged for the proration on their renewal date? Or do you want the proration to be billed immediately?
dim hull
On their renewal date
tropic swallow
Got it. For prorations, I would just create a separate invoice item for them. No need to create a new price object. You can just pass amount in: https://docs.stripe.com/api/invoiceitems/create#create_invoiceitem-amount. I think managing that many price objects would be kind of messy, and if I were you I'd only create prices objects for the actual items you're billing for and handle prorations with additional invoice items w/ amount
dim hull
I see. So, for our prorated line items, we basically can't use price parameter, we need to use e.g. amount / description ?
tropic swallow
You don't have to
You can use price if you want
I just recommend passing in amount so you don't have to manage all those prices
dim hull
so like, if my price ID is price_foobar and it's configured as $100/year, what kind of API request would I construct to create a prorated invoice item?
if I do this API request, I'll get an error:
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/invoiceitems \
-u sk_test_whatever \
-d invoice=in_xyz \
-d customer=cus_xyz \
-d price=price_foobar \
-d amount=5000 \
-d currency=usd
leads to
{
"error": {
"message": "You may only specify one of these parameters: amount, price.",
"param": "amount",
"request_log_url": "https://dashboard.stripe.com/test/logs/req_xA0QmRqe3t9OU4?t=1718896883",
"type": "invalid_request_error"
}
}
I'd have to either:
(a) create a special price for $50, since that's the prorated amount in this example
(b) remove the price param and use the description param instead
fierce quartzBOT
tropic swallow
Yeah you don't pass both amount and price
I'm suggesting doing this:
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/invoiceitems
-u sk_test_whatever
-d invoice=in_xyz
-d customer=cus_xyz
-d amount=5000
-d currency=usd
Just for the prorated invoice item
dim hull
Yeah that’s what I figured too. There’s not a way to link it back to the original Product / Price objects, so our data is messy.
dim hull
Right, yeah. That gets our invoice to look correctly, but when the data syncs (e.g. to Salesforce or NetSuite) it'll be dirty
tropic swallow
You could also use metadata
If you just need a field to record the price id: https://docs.stripe.com/api/invoiceitems/create#create_invoiceitem-metadata
lethal tiger
theory_invoice-manual
dim hull
Ok, yeah that's what I had thought too. Thanks, I think you answered all my questions.