#Eranga-subscriptions
normal fulcrum
@dire sierra the upcoming invoice should show both of those https://stripe.com/docs/billing/subscriptions/prorations (it has the line items for proration, plus line items for the actual recurring subscription plan).
dire sierra
Assume the customer is reducing the quantity
That means the user will be credited
Will it show the amount user actually need to pay, and the subscription value seperately?
For the future line item
normal fulcrum
it's the upcoming invoice, which means it is basically what will be on the next recurring invoice. So at the base level, that's the recurring item that has been switched to. Plus, any proration items, as those get pulled into the invoice. If switching to something cheaper, there is a proration item for a negative amount called "unused time on X" and it would be on that invoice as a line item yes
if the overall proration amount is negative what will happen if you use always_invoice is that an invoice will be created and immediately marked as paid(since the amount owed is less than $0), and that negative balance gets added to the customer's balance(which is then offset against future payments)
sleek valve
what's up?
dire sierra
Thank you for unarchiving
I did the following request
https://api.stripe.com/v1/invoices/upcoming?customer=cus_KHFsCni0TZ8c6m&subscription=sub_1Jd9v2C8JGuaUdU6hiAGRouQ&subscription_items[0][id]=si_KHjN5NQe1r9kBh&subscription_items[0][quantity]=20&subscription_proration_behavior=always_invoice
To get the upcoming invoice of a subscription with proration behaviour set to always_invoice
And setting the quantity from 10 -> 20
In the response I have two line items
One for the earlier one, the second one for the newer one
Now my question is, how can I show what the customer would be paying for the upcoming month. This invoice will show what he will have to pay now. But how to get the next month amount (with discounts and taxes)?
sleek valve
because you are using always_invoice, the invoice shows the amount that user need to pay now immediately
dire sierra
Yes, correct
Should I create another API call and change the setting to proration
I mean create_prorations ?
I just call the API again with create_prorations and then I get 3 line items. The third one's type is subscription and it has the next month's data.
Can I use this data to show what the next month's amount would be? And does this means I have to call the API two times for showing the amount the customer has to pay now (using always_invoice), and amount the customer has to pay next month onwards (using create_prorations) ? 🙂
normal fulcrum
Can I use this data to show what the next month's amount would be?
yes, that's what the third item is
you only need to call the endpoint once, it shows you the upcoming invoice, which always includes the upcoming month
you can then parse the response and you can show the customer what they will pay now by showing them the proration items (the ones where this is true https://stripe.com/docs/api/invoices/line_item#invoice_line_item_object-proration); and you charge for those by doing the subsequent Update Subscription call after the preview with always_invoice
and you can show them what they'll pay next month by showing them the other lines
dire sierra
Give me a sec to process this 🙏
Ah ha. So what you suggest is:
-> Call the upcoming invoice API endpoint with create_prorations as proration behavior
-> filter the "type": "invoiceitem" AND proration: true and calculate the sum of amount values
-> Show that sum to the user as the payable now
-> filter the "type": "subscription" AND proration: false and get the amount value
-> Show that as the next months amount
-> Then call the update subscription endpoint with always_invoice and the proration_date (or similar property)
normal fulcrum
yep, that's it
dire sierra
Great, that will do it
One more question
Assume the customer is reducing the quantity which results in crediting the customer
We also need to show them that we will owe them X amount
How can we show that if we use create_prorations in upcoming invoice?
normal fulcrum
the invoice items will be negative in that case
when you preview it, the amount field https://stripe.com/docs/api/invoices/line_item#invoice_line_item_object-amount will look like -500 or so on
dire sierra
Nice, let's assume a more complex scenario.
Let's say we already owe the customer
Now from the next change we are going to owe the customer more
In this scenario, will we have to call and get the customer object so that we can show how much we owe them?
normal fulcrum
I'd highly suggest testing it , it makes a lot more sense when you have some code to play with
dire sierra
Sure, I'll do a little more testing on my own. Before conclude, can I ask
"type": "invoiceitem" AND proration: false-> The invoice line items that the customer has already paid or finalized"type": "invoiceitem" AND proration: true-> The proration invoice items which is not yet paid"type": "subscription" AND proration: false-> The future plan based on the change the customer is about to do
Am I correct to assume this?
normal fulcrum
if the customer already has a balance it will be part of the upcoming invoice , shown as https://stripe.com/docs/api/invoices/object?lang=node#invoice_object-starting_balance
dire sierra
The first type is when the customer has done updates to the subscription in this cycle more than once
normal fulcrum
you'd have to take that into account in showing the amounts to the customer because that balance will apply to the invoice created when calling the update with always_invoice, yes
it's best to test the exact scenarios you have in mind and see what the API returns
and sure, type:invoiceitems that are not also proration:true are other items that might have been created prior to the preview/update you're making
dire sierra
Great, I think I have the basic idea on what invoice line items are and how can I use them to prorate the subscription now. I will play with them now.