geordi-subscription-trial | Stripe Developers | Page 1

urban kayak Jun 16, 2022, 2:53 PM

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Hi 👋 looking at that thread, it looks like you were asking about using trials to push back the billing_cycle_anchor of a Subscription. Can you elaborate on what is coming across as confusing?

spiral swift Jun 16, 2022, 2:58 PM

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Exactly, sure - I have the backdate_start_date as the first billing date of the other subscription, the billing_cycle_anchor as the next billing date and the trial_end 3 months after the first_billing_date - and errors mentioning that it must be a unix timestamp in the future - i'm not sure how else to achieve this?

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should I set a trial start to the next billing date too? then have a trial start and end?

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and prorate the next period so the customer is only charged for 9months instead of 12?

urban kayak Jun 16, 2022, 3:01 PM

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Can you share the ID of a request where you saw the error you're referring to?

spiral swift Jun 16, 2022, 3:01 PM

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req_7pcKPUTYKA71Q1

urban kayak Jun 16, 2022, 3:04 PM

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Thank you. Apologies, but I'm not sure I understand why you're setting the trial_end to 3 months from the initial start date?

spiral swift Jun 16, 2022, 3:07 PM

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I think i've confused myself, perhaps it should be set on the next billing date + 3 months?

I'm trying to compensate a customer who is migrating from Braintree to Stripe, by giving them 3 months free after their subscription has been running the past year

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But is new on Stripe

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Goal example

Product price $100.00
Subscription start date 1st January 2022
Subscription next billing date: 1st January 2023

Their next billing amount should be $75.00 (3 months value)

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It feels like it should be do-able with a newly created subscription at least.

urban kayak Jun 16, 2022, 3:14 PM

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Alright, so if you're setting the start date and billing anchor to Jan 1, are these annual subscriptions that you're creating?

spiral swift Jun 16, 2022, 3:31 PM

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That was an example, it could be any date that a customer signed up - yes but can also include annual

urban kayak Jun 16, 2022, 3:35 PM

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So using the above example, what behavior do you see if you set:
Backdate to Jan 1, 2022
Billing ancor to Jan 1, 2023
Trial end to Apr 1, 2023

bleak light Jun 17, 2022, 4:38 AM

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Hi @spiral swift do you have a follow-up question?

spiral swift Jun 17, 2022, 4:42 AM

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Yes! Given the above case of setting the backdate, billing anchor and trial end past the billing anchor, it throws the error related to this request: req_JFAxj3s3N1myiB

Is the above incorrect? I'm still trying to reach this use case 🙂 thanks!

bleak light Jun 17, 2022, 4:46 AM

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You are passing a trial end date which is after the billing_cycle_anchor date. Is there a reason why you do this? I'm still catch up with the previous discussion.

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If you intent to give 3 month free subscriptions to your customer, you can set the billing_cycle_anchor date to a later date (after the trial_end date).

spiral swift Jun 17, 2022, 4:57 AM

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Hmm no just went off the above, no worries - i'm trying to retroactively compensate a customer on their next billing cycle by giving them three months free

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But if the billing_cycle_anchor is set after the trial end date - and they have already had a subscription for say 9 months, it will prorate on the whole subscription, not just the 3 months needed right?

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I tried it here: req_P0qQ5C5rgZ3QcU

bleak light Jun 17, 2022, 5:10 AM

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Hmm, I'm still trying to understand why you want to give 3 month trial to your existing customer. If you are backdating a subscription, you just need to set backdate_start_date and billing_cycle_anchor.

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we have an example in this doc https://stripe.com/docs/billing/subscriptions/backdating#backdating-billing-cycle can you take a look and see if it fits your use case?

spiral swift Jun 17, 2022, 5:47 AM

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Any ideas? 🤔

bleak light Jun 17, 2022, 5:55 AM

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Do you have a chance to read the doc that I sent you earlier?

spiral swift Jun 17, 2022, 6:01 AM

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I didn't receive one!

bleak light Jun 17, 2022, 6:02 AM

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we have an example in this doc https://stripe.com/docs/billing/subscriptions/backdating#backdating-billing-cycle can you take a look and see if it fits your use case?

spiral swift Jun 17, 2022, 6:08 AM

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Ah shit, that previous message came through now I see - apologies! I will take a look now 🙂

spiral swift Jun 17, 2022, 6:10 AM

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bleak light Hmm, I'm still trying to understand why you want to give 3 month trial to your e...

We have customers post-brexit who had paid too much tax and we want to compensate them through 3 free months rather than a coupon due to some accounting complexity around reporting - hence backdating the subscription with a trial to prorate the next billing cycle

bleak light Jun 17, 2022, 6:32 AM

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Thanks for the waiting

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Can you try the following

backdate_start_date: 1 Jan 2022,
billing_cycle_anchor: 1 Jan 2023,
trial_end: 1 Oct 2022,

So on 1 Oct 2022, your customer will be billed for the remaining 3 months (Oct - Dec 2022), and on 1 Jan 2023, your customer will be billed again for the whole year of 2023.

spiral swift Jun 17, 2022, 6:37 AM

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NP

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Did the use-case make sense? I can try explain a bit more clear if needed 🙂

bleak light Jun 17, 2022, 6:39 AM

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It's valid use case and I'm confident that Stripe can support it!

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I believe my solution should work for you, try it out and let me know if you have any questions.

spiral swift Jun 17, 2022, 6:43 AM

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I'm confused - should I backdate the original subscription creation date + 3 months? and the billing anchor to the normal next billing date so the subscription on stripe is 9 months? then it would return to normal billing after the year?

If I set the backdate to the original subscription creation date and the billing anchor to the original billing cycle date - it has no affect of proration 🙂 I'm sorry for my unclarity

bleak light Jun 17, 2022, 6:46 AM

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Let me clarify your use case, you want your customer to only pay 3 months of subscription in 2022, and pay full year on the first day of 2023. Am I right?

spiral swift Jun 17, 2022, 6:49 AM

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Example:

Product price: $100.00

Subscription start: January 1st 2022
Next billing date: January 1st 2023

User has already paid $100.00 upfront

on January 2023 I want them to pay 9 months value of a subscription, giving them 3 months free = $75.00 on January 1st 2023

bleak light Jun 17, 2022, 6:50 AM

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I see. I misunderstood your requirement. let me think again 🤔

spiral swift Jun 17, 2022, 6:52 AM

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The easiest option would be a coupon 25% off the next billing cycle, but unfortunately have to look at options that aren't monetary driven - hence the weird case 😓

bleak light Jun 17, 2022, 6:52 AM

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OK, this should work

backdate_start_date: 1 Jan 2022,
billing_cycle_anchor: 1 Jan 2024,
trial_end: 1 Mar 2023

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So in this way your customer will be billed 1 Mar 2023 for 9 months, and 1 Jan 2024 for a whole new year.

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Sorry the trial_end should be 31 Mar 2023

spiral swift Jun 17, 2022, 6:55 AM

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Ahhh okay. I can explore that option - I'm a little worried around dates in the future that we don't have timestamps for - as these are migrated customers from Braintree therefore we have the original billing date and next billing date... But setting it to 2024 could be off a day or two 🤔 I'll explore!

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I would have to advance the next billing date one year I guess

bleak light Jun 17, 2022, 6:56 AM

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Yes, feel free to play with test clocks

spiral swift Jun 17, 2022, 6:57 AM

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Will do! you can archive this, I'll try it out and if this doesnt work i'll re-evaluate with finance regarding the coupon - much simpler solution 😓

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Thank you for your help!

bleak light Jun 17, 2022, 6:57 AM

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Welcome! feel free to drop by anytime!

#geordi-subscription-trial