geordi-subscriptions | Stripe Developers | Page 1

night bane Jun 16, 2022, 7:22 AM

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hi there! can you share the request id for which you've seen this error? it'd look like req_xxx

https://support.stripe.com/questions/finding-the-id-for-an-api-request

zenith sierra Jun 16, 2022, 7:25 AM

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Sure thing: req_VqtcWkcGv6Xv26

night bane Jun 16, 2022, 7:30 AM

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hrm, so based off this request, you're backdating the start date to Thu Jun 09 2022 00:00:00. Then the trial end is Sat Sep 09 2023 00:00:00, and the billing cycle anchor is set to Fri Jun 09 2023 00:00:00

zenith sierra Jun 16, 2022, 7:30 AM

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Aw, wrong request

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req_ifYMRkbeSr3mtp

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Sorry!

night bane Jun 16, 2022, 7:31 AM

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np

zenith sierra Jun 16, 2022, 7:31 AM

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First was me trying a work around

night bane Jun 16, 2022, 7:36 AM

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gimme a while to think about this

zenith sierra Jun 16, 2022, 7:39 AM

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No worries - context: wanting to give three free months to a subscription where the customer has already been paying for a year or so, so wanting to compensate on an existing billing period

night bane Jun 16, 2022, 7:45 AM

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okay so, the problem is with the inclusion of the trial

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when you use the trial, the billing cycle end date is set to the trial end date

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so when you set a billing cycle anchor, the billing cycle anchor > trial end date - which is why it's complaining "billing_cycle_anchor cannot be later than next natural billing date"

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so assuming that i understand what you want correctly :

backdate to June 9 2022
trial ends on Sept 9 2022
then you want the current billing cycle to end on June 9 2023

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i think you might be better off considering subscription schedules to schedule the updates to the subscription : https://stripe.com/docs/billing/subscriptions/subscription-schedules

zenith sierra Jun 16, 2022, 7:52 AM

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I think this is the case, yes

night bane Jun 16, 2022, 7:53 AM

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phase 1 : first create the subscription with 1 &2. In phase 2 (when the trial ends), then update the billing cycle anchor

zenith sierra Jun 16, 2022, 7:53 AM

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But then they would still pay the same on June 9th 2023 right?

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so not really being compensated?

night bane Jun 16, 2022, 7:55 AM

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i don't think so, if you prorate the update, they should be paying less

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you'd want to use the test clock to test this : https://stripe.com/docs/billing/testing/test-clocks

zenith sierra Jun 16, 2022, 7:55 AM

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Ahhh Okay so the next billing date would be less, but the following would restore to the original amount?

night bane Jun 16, 2022, 7:56 AM

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if you're asking if they'll be billed the full price in 2024 - yes

zenith sierra Jun 16, 2022, 7:56 AM

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Yep, nice - will give this a shot - thanks!

night bane Jun 16, 2022, 7:57 AM

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feel free to reach out again if you need any help or if what i suggest doesn't work for any reason. subscriptions are complex

zenith sierra Jun 16, 2022, 7:57 AM

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Will do, thanks a bunch!

night bane Jun 16, 2022, 9:38 AM

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@zenith sierra sorry, i was just testing things again, actually your original idea of using trial end with billing cycle anchor would work fine and you shouldn't use subscription schedules

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the problem with req_VqtcWkcGv6Xv26 is that your trial_end unix timestamp is wrong

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try trial_end=1662681600, billing_cycle_anchor=1686268800, backdate_start_date=1654732800

#geordi-subscriptions