I have a website built with the Laravel framework that uses Stripe to process subscription payments. When a user subscribes to a plan through my website, this row appears in the "subscriptions" database table:
When a subscription is canceled through my website, the ends_at column is populated with a date the current subscription period ends and will not be renewed:
This is the desired behavior, however, when a payment method is invalid, Stripe automatically cancels the subscription outside of the website. Since the subscription was canceled automatically on Stripe's end, my website doesn't reflect the changes and the ends_at database column will indefinitely have a value of NULL, allowing the user to continue using premium features of the website for free.
This is how I currently check if a user has an active subscription plan on my website:
public function index()
{
$user = auth()->user();
if (!$user->subscribed('plan') && $user->posts->count() > 0) {
foreach ($user->posts as $post) {
$post->update(['status' => 'unpublished']);
}
}
return view('dashboard');
}
This is how a user cancels their subscription on my website:
public function cancel()
{
$user = auth()->user();
$user->subscription('plan')->cancel();
return redirect()->back()->with("success", "Subscription canceled.");
}
How do I fix this issue so my website will automatically check Stripe for a customer's subscription status?
My payment model idea for my application is really simple: Having a (laravel) website with a member area and some special funcionality, whereas a member account costs 19.90 / year. I wanted to integrate Stripe to my registration flow to allow a payment to happen. When the payment has succeeded, I create a subscription which will then automatically renew this payment each year.
So good so far - I managed to get it working using the Guide on how to set up a subscription by Stripe. However, cards that required 3D Secure authentication did not work yet, and this is a must-have.
So I read further and used a PaymentIntent (API Docs). However, current behavior is the following:
I create a PaymentIntent and pass the public key to the frontend
Customer enters credentials and submits
3D Secure Authentication happens correctly, returning me a payment_method_id
On the server side, I retrieve the PaymentIntent again. It has status succeeded and the payment is recieved on my Stripe Dashboard.
I then create the customer object (with the payment method I got from the PaymentIntent), and with that customer, create the subscription
The subscription has status incomplete and it seems that the subscription tries to again charge the customer but fails because of the 3D Secure validation that would be necessary the second time.
So my actual question is: How can I create a subscription which notices somehow that the customer has already paid with my PaymentIntent and the PaymentMethod that I'm passing to it?
Some Code
Create the PaymentIntent and pass that to the frontend
\Stripe\Stripe::setApiKey(env('STRIPE_SECRET_KEY'));
$intent = \Stripe\PaymentIntent::create([
'amount' => '1990',
'currency' => 'chf',
]);
$request->session()->put('stripePaymentIntentId',$intent->id);
return view('payment.checkout')->with('intentClientSecret',$intent->client_secret);
Frontend Checkout when clicking "Buy"
// I have stripe elements (the card input field) ready and working
// using the variable "card". The Stripe instance is saved in "stripe".
// Using "confirmCardPayment", the 3DS authentication is performed successfully.
stripe.confirmCardPayment(intentClientSecret,{
payment_method: {card: mycard},
setup_future_usage: 'off_session'
}).then(function(result) {
$('#card-errors').text(result.error ? result.error.message : '');
if (!result.error) {
submitMyFormToBackend(result.paymentIntent.payment_method);
}
else {
unlockPaymentForm();
}
});
Backend after submitting
// Get the PaymentMethod id from the frontend that was submitted
$payment_method_id = $request->get('stripePaymentMethodId');
// Get the PaymentIntent id which we created in the beginning
$payment_intent_id = $request->session()->get('stripePaymentIntentId');
\Stripe\Stripe::setApiKey(env('STRIPE_SECRET_KEY'));
// Get the Laravel User
$user = auth()->user();
// Firstly load Payment Intent to have this failing first if anything is not right
$intent = \Stripe\PaymentIntent::retrieve($payment_intent_id);
if ($intent instanceof \Stripe\PaymentIntent) {
// PaymentIntent loaded successfully.
if ($intent->status == 'succeeded') {
// The intent succeeded and at this point I believe the money
// has already been transferred to my account, so it's paid.
// Setting up the user with the paymentMethod given from the frontend (from
// the 3DS confirmation).
$customer = \Stripe\Customer::create([
'payment_method' => $payment_method_id,
'email' => $user->email,
'invoice_settings' => [
'default_payment_method' => $payment_method_id,
],
]);
$stripeSub = \Stripe\Subscription::create([
'customer' => $customer->id,
'items' => [
[
'plan' => env('STRIPE_PLAN_ID'),
]
],
'collection_method' => 'charge_automatically',
'off_session' => false,
]);
// If the state of the subscription would be "active" or "trialing", we would be fine
// (depends on the trial settings on the plan), but both would be ok.
if (in_array($stripeSub->status,['active','trialing'])) {
return "SUCCESS";
}
// HOWEVER the state that I get here is "incomplete", thus it's an error.
else {
return "ERROR";
}
}
}
I finally got a working solution running for my site. It goes like this:
1 - Backend: Create a SetupIntent
I created a SetupIntent (SetupIntent API Docs) to cover the checkout flow entirely. The difference to a PaymentIntent (PaymentIntent API Docs) is that the PaymentIntent goes from collecting the card details, preparing the payment and effectively transferring the amount to the account, while the SetupIntent only prepares card collection, but does not yet execute the payment. You will get a PaymentMethod (PaymentMethod API Docs) from it, which you can use later.
$intent = SetupIntent::create([
'payment_method_types' => ['card'],
]);
Then I passed the $intent->client_secret key to my client side JavaScript.
2 - Frontend: Collect card details with Elements
On the frontend, I placed the Stripe card element to collect the card details.
var stripe = Stripe(your_stripe_public_key);
var elements = stripe.elements();
var style = { /* my custom style definitions */ };
var card = elements.create('card',{style:style});
card.mount('.my-cards-element-container');
// Add live error message listener
card.addEventListener('change',function(event) {
$('.my-card-errors-container').text(event.error ? event.error.message : '');
}
// Add payment button listener
$('.my-payment-submit-button').on('click',function() {
// Ensure to lock the Payment Form while performing async actions
lockMyPaymentForm();
// Confirm the setup without charging it yet thanks to the SetupIntent.
// With 3D Secure 2 cards, this will trigger the confirmation window.
// With 3D Secure cards, this will not trigger a confirmation.
stripe.confirmCardSetup(setup_intent_client_secret, {
payment_method: {card: card} // <- the latter is the card object variable
}).then(function(result) {
$('.my-card-errors-container').text(event.error ? event.error.message : '');
if (!result.error) {
submitPaymentMethodIdToBackend(result.setupIntent.payment_method);
}
else {
// There was an error so unlock the payment form again.
unlockMyPaymentForm();
}
});
}
function lockMyPaymentForm() {
$('.my-payment-submit-button').addClass('disabled'); // From Bootstrap
// Get the card element here and disable it
// This variable is not global so this is just sample code that does not work.
card.update({disabled: true});
}
function unlockMyPaymentForm() {
$('.my-payment-submit-button').removeClass('disabled'); // From Bootstrap
// Get the card element here and enable it again
// This variable is not global so this is just sample code that does not work.
card.update({disabled: false});
}
3 - Backend: Create Customer and Subscription
On the backend, I received the $payment_method_id which I submitted from the frontend.
Firstly, we need now to create a Customer (Customer API Docs) if it does not yet exist. On the customer, we will attach the payment method from the SetupIntent. Then, we create the Subscription (Subscription API Docs) which will start the charge from the SetupIntent.
$customer = \Stripe\Customer::create([
'email' => $user->email, // A field from my previously registered laravel user
]);
$paymentMethod = \Stripe\PaymentMethod::retrieve($payment_method_id);
$paymentMethod->attach([
'customer' => $customer->id,
]);
$customer = \Stripe\Customer::update($customer->id,[
'invoice_settings' => [
'default_payment_method' => $paymentMethod->id,
],
]);
$subscription = \Stripe\Subscription::create([
'customer' => $customer->id,
'items' => [
[
'plan' => 'MY_STRIPE_PLAN_ID',
],
],
'off_session' => TRUE, //for use when the subscription renews
]);
Now we have a Subscription object. With regular cards, the state should be active or trialing, depending on your trial days setting on the subscription. However when dealing with 3D Secure test cards, I got the subscription still in an incomplete state. According to my Stripe support contact, this can also be a problem because of not yet fully working 3D Secure test cards. However I assume that this can also happen on production environments with some sort of cards, so we have to deal with it.
On subscriptions with status incomplete you can retrieve the latest invoice from $subscription->latest_invoice like so:
$invoice = \Stripe\Invoice::retrieve($subscription->latest_invoice);
On your invoice object, you will find a status and a hosted_invoice_url. When the status is still open, I now present the user the URL to the hosted invoice which he has to complete first. I let him open the link in a new window, which shows a nice looking invoice hosted by stripe. There, he is free to again confirm his credit card details including the 3D Secure workflow. In case he succeeds there, the $subscription->status changes to active or trialing after you re-retrieve the subscription from Stripe.
This is some sort of fool proof strategy that if anything with your implementation goes wrong, just send them to Stripe to complete it. Just be sure to hint the user that in case he has to confirm his card twice, it won't be charged twice but only once!
I was not able to create a working version of #snieguu's solution because I wanted to use Elements and not collect the credit card details separately to then create a PaymentMethod by myself.
Have You considered the opposite approach that payment intents(Also the first one) will be generated by subscription - not created manually?
So the flow will be:
Create a payment method
Create Customer(using the payment method)
Create Subscription(using Customer and payment method) - that creates also the first invoice
Retrieve payment intent from Subscription by latest_invoice.payment_intent.id. Here You can choose if this should be handled by You or Stripe. See this: How to get PaymentIntent next_action.type = redirect_to_url instead of use_stripe_sdk for Subscription
Allow finishing 3D secure flow
You have a constant price for a subscription, so it will be charged upfront:
https://stripe.com/docs/billing/subscriptions/multiplan#billing-periods-with-multiple-plans
Conventional plans that charge a fixed amount on an interval are billed at the start of each billing cycle.
We are using Laravel Cashier (Braintree) with Laravel version 5.8. We have a case where a user is subscribed to same plan with same name multiple times for different orders.
We want to give the ability to user to cancel their subscription.
we tried below statement to cancel the subscription with subscription name as suggested by manual here https://laravel.com/docs/5.8/braintree#cancelling-subscriptions.
$user->subscription('main')->cancel();
$user->subscription('main')->cancelNow();
We are passing the subscription name. It works fine as expected and also updating the date in "ends_at" column of subscription table.
The problem here is that as we have same name for the subscriptions where user is subscribed to. So in our case it returns the last subscribed order here and cancel that. It's fine as what it is suppose to do.
But we want to cancel the subscription based on braintree_id stored in subscriptions table. Can we do that ?
As of now we tried it like below:-
use Braintree\Subscription;
$subcriptionObj = Subscription::find($subscription); //where $subscription is braintree_id from subscriptions table.
if ($subcriptionObj->status == 'Canceled')
abort(400, 'Subscription Not Active');
Subscription::cancel($subscription);
This however cancel the subscription at Braintree but not updating the column "ends_at" in subscriptions table.
Can anyone suggests a workaround for this ? Any help would be appreciated.
Since the Laravel Braintree Cashier module is internally using Braintree Subscription library. So I thought to use the same directly into my controller.
I used namespace into my controller for subscription to call the Braintree subscription class directly. the below is the code to cancel the subscription by subscription ID.
use Braintree\Subscription;
public function cancelsubscription(User $user, $subscriptionId)
{
$subcriptionObj = Subscription::find($subscriptionId);
if(is_null($subcriptionObj)){
abort(400, 'Subscription is not found.');
}
if ($subcriptionObj->status == 'Canceled')
abort(400, 'Subscription is not Active.');
// In below line we are finding the Subscription DB Obj using cashier module here to update the ends_at date column
$subsDbObj = $user->subscriptions->filter(function($sub) use ($user,$subscriptionId){
return $sub->braintree_id == $subscriptionId && $sub->user_id == $user->id;})->values();
Subscription::cancel($subscriptionId);
if(! is_null($subsDbObj[0])){
//Internally cashier module doing the same to update the subscription table
$subsDbObj[0]->ends_at = Carbon::now();
$subsDbObj[0]->save();
}
return 'Cancelled';
}
I have subscribed a user to a subscription plan through Laravel's Cashier package. I now want to display the date the user will next be billed, however this doesn't appear to be an available through the Billable trait.
How do I get the next billing date?
Thanks!
The solution is to use the asStripeCustomer method:
// Retrieve the timestamp from Stripe
$timestamp = $user->asStripeCustomer()["subscriptions"]->data[0]["current_period_end"];
// Cast to Carbon instance and return
return \Carbon\Carbon::createFromTimeStamp($timestamp)->toFormattedDateString();
Note that I've only tested this with a user who has a single subscription - data[0].
You may need to alter this code for multiple subscriptions or if the user has cancelled and started another subscription.
Building on previous answers, here's what's working for me:
private function getSubscriptionRenewDate($plan)
{
$sub = Auth::user()->subscription($plan)->asStripeSubscription();
return Carbon::createFromTimeStamp($sub->current_period_end)->format('F jS, Y');
}
Subscriptions also have a ->asStripeSubscription() method that gives you access to the values just for that subscription. So you could do:
// Retrieve the timestamp from Stripe
$timestamp = $subscription->current_period_end;
// Cast to Carbon instance and return
return \Carbon\Carbon::createFromTimeStamp($timestamp)->toFormattedDateString();
I am using Laravel 5.3 with Cashier. If a customer updates their card details, how can I check if there is a pending invoice and ask Stripe to re-attempt the charge on the new card? At the moment, I have set the settings for attempts in Stripe dashboard. But from what I understand, Stripe does not automatically attempt to charge the customer if they updated their card details and it waits for the next attempt date to try again. Thats why I want to manually attempt to charge the customer on pending invoice as soon as they update their card. I read the Cashier documentation and Github page but this case is not covered there.
$user->updateCard($token);
// Next charge customer if there is a pending invoice
Can someone help me out please.
After testing and talking with Stripe support, I found out the problem with the current updateCard() method used in Laravel Cashier.
With the current updateCard() method, the card is added to the sources list and then sets the new card as the default_source. the result of this method has 2 outcomes:
Multiple cards gets added to the list although the recent one is set as default_source
When updating the card using this method, if there are any unpaid invoices (i.e. invoices in past_due state), they are not automatically charged.
In order for stripe to re-attempt charging customer on all invoices in past_due state, the source parameter needs to be passed. So I have created a new method something like this:
public function replaceCard($token)
{
$customer = $this->asStripeCustomer();
$token = StripeToken::retrieve($token, ['api_key' => $this->getStripeKey()]);
// If the given token already has the card as their default source, we can just
// bail out of the method now. We don't need to keep adding the same card to
// a model's account every time we go through this particular method call.
if ($token->card->id === $customer->default_source) {
return;
}
// Just pass `source: tok_xxx` in order for the previous default source
// to be deleted and any unpaid invoices to be retried
$customer->source = $token;
$customer->save();
// Next we will get the default source for this model so we can update the last
// four digits and the card brand on the record in the database. This allows
// us to display the information on the front-end when updating the cards.
$source = $customer->default_source
? $customer->sources->retrieve($customer->default_source)
: null;
$this->fillCardDetails($source);
$this->save();
}
I have created a Pull request for this addition. Since editing the Billable file directly for any changes is not a good idea, if this doesnt get added to Cashier, then you can use the following in the Controller file to do it directly from there:
$user = Auth::User();
$customer = $user->asStripeCustomer();
$token = StripeToken::retrieve($token, ['api_key' => config('services.stripe.secret')]);
if (!($token->card->id === $customer->default_source)) {
$customer->source = $token;
$customer->save();
// Next synchronise user's card details and update the database
$user->updateCardFromStripe();
}