#rubs - Multiple Subscriptions
zenith linden
Hello! Can you tell me a bit more about your use case? When you say "many subscriptions" what do you mean exactly? You can have Subscriptions with multiple products, for example, that will produce a single Invoice for each period: https://stripe.com/docs/billing/subscriptions/multiple-products
summer jackal
Yeah for sure, thanks for your help !
I want to use that like a "hack" of the quantity system of a subscription. I cannot use the quantity system because I want to create a new billing cycle every time my customer add a quantity
Imagine my customer make a subsctiption the 1st January 2022 for 1 year, then decide to add a new license (+1 quantity) the 3th March 2022, I want to bill him until 3 march 2023 for this license added
It is the same product every time, only the quantity changes (we offer a license system)
zenith linden
Can you provide more details about your scenario? Specifically, when exactly do you want your customer to pay in that scenario? On Jan 1? March 3rd? Both?
summer jackal
It is paid instantly every time and has no end time.
So let's say a license is 100$ a year. The customer subscribes a first time, on 2022-01-01, he is directly charged 100$, and will be charged every year on 1 Jan, by 100$.
On 3 March he add a new license, so he is directly charged again 100$ and will be charged every year on 3 March 100$
zenith linden
You would need two different Subscriptions, each with their own Invoices for that. Stripe Subscriptions do not support multiple periods like that.
Meaning you can't have more than one billing cycle anchor per Subscription.
summer jackal
Yeah that is why I need to create x subscriptions for x licenses added by the customer
but my point is that will generate so much invoices
a user can have like 50 licenses
zenith linden
Correct, but that's how Stripe Subscriptions work. If you don't want individual Invoices for each one you either need to adjust how you model recurring payments so the payment dates line up or handle recurring payments and invoices on your end.
summer jackal
I cannot disable automatic invoicing ?
zenith linden
Meaning you want each Invoice to be sent to the customer and they initiate payment?
You can do that, I just didn't realize that was your goal here.
Maybe I'm missing context; why did you pay this Invoice via the Dashboard?
summer jackal
No I would that the customer is charged everytime a subscription is created but without send him an invoice
zenith linden
I don't understand. When a Subscription period ends what do you want to happen? Collect payment immediately? Send an Invoice to the customer? Something else?
summer jackal
Collect payment immediately and automaticaly
zenith linden
Okay, so if you test that in test mode what happens?
When Stripe collects payment automatically I mean? Not when you manually initiate payment via the Dashboard.
summer jackal
An invoice is created and if payment method is successufly charged, invoice status pass to paid and the invoice is sent to the customer
Am I right ?
zenith linden
I don't know, I'm asking you to test this yourself in test mode. You asked earlier why the test you ran didn't work as expected, and I think it's because you manually paid the Invoice in the Dashboard instead of letting Stripe attempt payment.
zenith linden
Oh, I am! Sorry!
zenith linden
Okay, backing up, a bit... Stripe Subscriptions are really just Invoice creation engines. They create a new Invoice for each Subscription period, and that Invoice collects payment for the period in question. Each Subscription can only have a single period; you can't mix multiple different periods in the same Subscription, meaning you can't have a single Subscription with both monthly and yearly periods, or (in your use case) multiple yearly periods with different payment dates.
To do what you want to do you must use separate Subscriptions, or you need to alter your model to work within the Subscription constraints we have in place.