#matty-sucschedule
split lichen
hello, can you word out your scenario? like (in simple amounts), what will the example payment schedule be?
e.g. months 1-3 $10
months 4+ $5
fathom karma
Sure:
We ship on the same date for our programs.
Scenario
All other customers started their subscriptions on 2/1. @ $40 per month.
A customer subscribes late (2/17) and needs to catch up. We charge them $40 now and then starting 3/1 they are also paying $40 per month.
1st Charge (phase 1)
2/17 - $40
Next 3 charges: (phase 2)
3/1 - $40
4/1 - $40
5/1 - $40
We do this currently by invoicing the customer and then setting them up on a subscription that starts on 3/1. This is messy though and would be simplified if the schedule subscription API has this functionality.
We also use phases to change the first charge when customers order extra items. This can be ignored for the test I sent.
I tried to set the start date for the second phase to the date I wanted, but I get an unknown param error:
Received unknown parameter: phases[1][start_date]
Setting the end date vs. iterations for the first phase gives the same result.
split lichen
so SubSchedules can do this, alternatively you can create a trialing Subscription from 2/17 to 3/1 but add one off InvoiceItems worth $40 when you create the trialing sub
so you charge $30 on 2/17
then 3/1 the regular recurring $40 starts
fathom karma
I am not following. I cannot get the sub schedule api to exhibit this behavior.
split lichen
my recommendation was you can do this without subschedule
just a regular subscription
you can do this with SubSchedule too, but I was recommending a simpler approach that could work
fathom karma
I understand the second part you mentioned. We do that today. We invoice the customer for the first month and then set a sub to start on the next payment date.
Setting up the schedule makes this a lot cleaner as we aren't managing a payment / invoice and subscription. Keeping all of the invoices tied to the subscription makes it much easier for our customer service teams.
If you could point me to what I am doing incorrectly with the subscription schedule API, that would be my preferred path. I feel that I am setting this up properly via that api, but the resulting schedule is incorrect.
young dome
Hello Matty. Taking over for hmunoz here. Give me a moment to catch up
So I think you can achieve this without subscription schedules. I think all you need is to create the subscription with backdate_start_date and billing_cycle_anchor set: https://stripe.com/docs/billing/subscriptions/backdating#backdating-billing-cycle
fathom karma
Hi codename_duchess....
We use phases right now for a differing payment for the first charge... I don't think a standard sub will work for most of our subscriptions.
We have an item that is sent monthly. The first payment covers any add on items.
I was trying to simplify my request above, but maybe I shouldn't have given the scenario as to why we use schedules. Here's an updated 4 payment cycle subscription.
1st Charge (phase 1)
2/17 - $100
Next 3 charges: (phase 2)
3/1 - $40
4/1 - $40
5/1 - $40
My apologies for creating any confusion.
We also NEVER prorate since this is for a physical item, not a service.
young dome
No problem at all! I think you could still go with my suggestion, but add an invoice item(s) to cover the add on items for the first month's bill: https://stripe.com/docs/api/invoiceitems/create
fathom karma
This gets back to the invoice not being attached to the subscription though, right? Unless I am missing something?
I set the billing_cycle_anchor to "phase_start" for both phases and this is it maybe??? I think this worked and mirrored my scenario above. sub_1KUF5jBBamLIIR3ZDsmEEU53
