#Craig - Subscriptions
waxen hawk
hi Snufkin
azure moss
The billing intervals are actually handled on the Price records you create.
waxen hawk
is there a way to manually trigger it?
azure moss
You can see the interval options here: https://stripe.com/docs/api/prices/object#price_object-recurring-interval
What are you trying to trigger? What is the experience you want your admins/users to have?
waxen hawk
We generate insurance leads for agents and want to be able to automatically charge their card once their lead balance is 0 so that they can continuously receive leads. Also their are scenarios where they might want to pause it so we wouldn't want to keep sending them leads and charging their card
so it would be better for us to have a way for us to trigger the charge of the payment instead of using an automated timing
azure moss
Okay could you provide a simple scenario or walkthrough, with actual amounts?
It'll help me get my head around your questions.
waxen hawk
of course, happy to do that
I'm going to play the customer. I am an insurance agent wanting to get new customers by buying their information online
does that profile of a customer make sense?
azure moss
Sure
waxen hawk
So the system has a way for me to pre-buy leads that will be generated on my behalf and the lead information emailed to me. I can buy quantities of 15, 20, 25, 30 and 40 at one time. The price ranges from 28 - 35 per lead type. So example, i am interested in Non-med term which is 35 each. I create an order for the system to generate me 20 leads for 700 dollars
After I get all of my leads fulfilled then i need to go back to the site and create another order. But instead i would like my card to be auto charged when that order is fulfilled and i have received the 20 leads
so that way i can continuously receive leads and i don't have to hassle with going to the system and buying an order each time.
let me know if any of that doesn't make sense
azure moss
That sounds like a pretty standard subscription model to me.
waxen hawk
where is the documentation that shows how to charge their card, from what i have seen it shows that you will trigger the payment
that is where i am confused is from what i read in the documentation i set the frequency and you handle the rest, whereas i want to be the one that triggers it
azure moss
Well subscriptions are designed to be automatically charged on a set schedule
Do you want to be completely in control of when the customer is charged? Or do you want it scheduled?
waxen hawk
yeah, that's why i am wondering if my scenario of me triggering the charge is possible because an order may take 2 days to be fulfilled OR take 1 week
complete control
of when and how much
azure moss
Okay well then that's not Subscriptions then. Try looking into one-off invoices or simply Payment intents.
waxen hawk
are there any options that will allow the user not to have to be involved?
so that way they don't have to think about getting charged and leads flow to their account
azure moss
Sure, you set up payment methods for future payments: https://stripe.com/docs/payments/save-and-reuse
take a look
waxen hawk
i see this creates the intent but i am not seeing yet where the code is on how i will charge them after they create the intent. Can you send me a link to that?
really appreciate you helping
azure moss
Step 7 in this document shows how you can use a previously saved payment method (created with the SetupIntent) to charge a customer. Is that what you are asking for?