volco5952_docs

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[tawdry urchin]

I figure its possible to solve this by storing the upper seat count in our database and only sending proration behaviour changes by comparing that internal count for any changes but I’d also like the subscription to keep an accurate seat count on the Stripe side and renew billing cycles using that current count. I think I would have to maintain a SubscriptionSchedule for the renewal in that case.

[potent wedge]

Hi there

[tawdry urchin]

Hi, sorry if my description is a bit confusing

[potent wedge]

Not confusing, just slightly more complex 😅

I assume you want your users to be able to change quantities this frequently?

[tawdry urchin]

I guess when I read the docs at first, I thought Stripe would somehow be able to "remember" previous prorations but it makes sense that when you set the proration_behavior = 'none' it kinda resets it

[potent wedge]

and in between billing period, while keeping the same billing period?

[tawdry urchin]

Yes exactly - within same billing period, its actually a daily update

[potent wedge]

Hmm, it sounds like flat rate pricing might not be the best approach here then

You probably want to model out usage based billing with tiers, though usage based bills in arrears and not at the start of the billing period

[tawdry urchin]

Sorry I am already using volume tiered pricing, it just so happens that all the changes are in the same tier

[potent wedge]

Wait, so how does proration play a part here?

[tawdry urchin]

For example given a price could look like: First 1 unit is flat fee of $500, each additional unit is $1, and a billing cycle of Jan 1 - Feb 1. On Jan 1, a subscription is created with 5 units, the invoice would be $504 ($500 + (4x$1)). All updates are on the same day, Jan 1 for simple proration calcs. The subscription is then updated to have 10 units, this causes a positive proration of $5 (increase from 5->10 units), for a total price paid for the month to $509. The subscription is again updated to have 6 units (no proration for decreasing counts). Finally, the subscription is updated to have 8 units, which causes a positive proration for $2 (increase from 6->8 units). The total price paid for the monthly sub would be $511, but the sub only ever peaked at 10 units, which should only cost $509.

I'm thinking there really isn't a way to do this in Stripe as it wasn't an intended behaviour of prorations?

[potent wedge]

Right

Also, prorations are calculated by time so the time of these updates (down to the second) will also be taken into account for the positive/negative prorations, which is not what you're intending to happen

If you want this kind of model, you should calculate usage on your end then update the draft invoice at the end of the billing cycle

[tawdry urchin]

Yeah that is what I'm thinking. Our Finance just really liked having Stripe as the single source of truth for subscription calculations and record keeping but I don't think it'll be possible

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, appreciate the help! I had a question about setting up Monetary billing thresholds as well. On docs.stripe.com/billing/subscriptions/usage-based/alerts-and-thresholds, it mentions "You can set monetary thresholds for a subscription using the Stripe Dashboard or API". but I can't find how to do that on the Dashboard when Checking the Create a subscription or Edit a subscription previews. Do you know how to access that?

[potent wedge]

Ah, this is visible in the Subscription editor or when creating the Subscription. It's visible when working with a usage-based Price

see the "Billing usage threshold" section under Advanced Settings

[tawdry urchin]

Ah so does it not work for any other price type?

[potent wedge]

Correct, this feature is for usage-based billing

[tawdry urchin]

Ah okay, I thought it could apply to any subscription because you can generate invoices for any prorations. What exactly is the difference between Tiered Volume pricing and Usage-based fixed fee and overage model?

You can kind of set them up to have identical results if I'm not wrong