Start with the Stripe invoice and its subscription: a failed automatic card charge, an initial subscription payment that never completes, and a manually sent invoice past its due date are different billing situations. Identify which one you have, check whether Stripe needs the customer to act, then use the matching retry or payment path and reconcile your SaaS account only after confirming the billing outcome.
First identify the invoice and collection method
Open the relevant invoice in Stripe and determine what it represents: the first payment for a subscription, a recurring renewal, or a manually sent invoice. Then check the subscription’s collection method and current status. Do not treat every unpaid invoice as an automatic card failure: Stripe documents different state transitions for automatic collection and send_invoice.
| Situation | What to check | How Stripe describes the unpaid state |
|---|---|---|
| First payment for an automatically collected subscription | Whether the first invoice has been paid and whether customer action is required | The subscription can be incomplete; if the first invoice remains unpaid for 23 hours, Stripe documents a transition to incomplete_expired. |
| Automatic renewal or other later automatic charge | The invoice attempt result, current subscription status, and whether the customer must authenticate or update payment details | The subscription can become past_due when payment is required but cannot be completed, including while additional customer action is pending. |
Manually sent invoice (send_invoice) |
The invoice due date and whether the invoice remains unpaid | The subscription becomes past_due after the due date; after an additional deadline it can become canceled or unpaid. |
The eventual outcome depends on the relevant subscription settings and deadlines. Stripe’s API reference describes these behaviors; check the current Stripe configuration and API reference for the account and API version you use.
Read the invoice and subscription state before contacting the customer
Check the invoice’s current status and the subscription’s current status together. A failed attempt is not the same as a request for customer authentication, and neither event alone tells you that the invoice has since been paid. Stripe identifies separate invoice events for these situations:
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invoice.payment_failedsignals a failed payment attempt.invoice.payment_action_requiredindicates additional customer action is required.invoice.paidindicates that the invoice has been paid or marked paid out of band.invoice.overdueis also available; Stripe says its timing is determined by Automations.
Use the event relevant to the transition your system needs to handle, then retrieve or otherwise verify the current invoice and subscription before changing your application’s billing or access state. Treat webhook events as signals to reconcile, not as a substitute for checking the current record.
Choose the recovery route that matches the failure
For automatic collection, use the configured retry and notification behavior
Stripe Billing supports configurable Smart Retries and failed-payment emails. Review the account’s retry and notification configuration, and make sure the customer-facing message explains the next useful action. A retry may be appropriate when the payment can be attempted again; when Stripe indicates that customer action is needed, direct the customer to authenticate or update billing details instead of implying that another scheduled attempt alone will resolve it.
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Stripe also supports automatic card updates, but whether a card can be updated depends on participation by the card network and issuer, and availability varies, especially internationally. Treat this as a possible aid, not a guaranteed recovery method.
Give customers a usable self-service payment path
The Stripe Billing customer portal provides a hosted interface for managing subscriptions and billing details. For a manually sent invoice, Stripe invoice emails may include a link to a hosted payment page depending on the business’s email settings. Confirm which route is available for the customer and point them to it clearly; do not promise that an email contains a payment link if the relevant settings do not include one.
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Keep overdue manual invoices separate from retrying a card charge
For send_invoice, check the invoice due date and use the invoice’s payment path. Its transition to past_due is tied to nonpayment by that date, not simply to a failed automatic card attempt. Stripe exposes an API operation to attempt invoice payment outside the normal schedule. Use it deliberately: first verify that the invoice is still open, and confirm the intended amount and payment method.
Resume a paused subscription only when that is the intended action
If a subscription was intentionally paused and should resume, Stripe documents a resume operation. A resumption invoice, if created, must be paid or marked uncollectible before the subscription unpauses. Billing-cycle anchor and proration settings affect the resumption behavior, so check the intended billing result before resuming.
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Make SaaS access follow confirmed billing state
Stripe’s invoice and subscription records are the billing facts your application should reconcile. The product decision about what an unpaid account can still use is yours: you might allow a grace period, provide limited access, or suspend service. Stripe does not prescribe one universal access policy.
- Define which confirmed Stripe states trigger a grace period, limited access, or suspension.
- Tell the customer what they need to do and what will restore service.
- Do not revoke access merely because a retry was scheduled, and do not restore it merely because a payment notification arrived; reconcile against the current invoice and subscription state.
Apply the same policy in your account interface and support workflow so that a customer, support agent, and billing system are not given conflicting instructions.
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Reconcile the result and close the billing issue
- After a customer update, retry, hosted payment, or deliberate API payment attempt, check the invoice’s current status.
- Check the associated subscription’s current status and confirm whether the relevant invoice is paid, still overdue, or otherwise unresolved.
- Update your application’s billing record and access decision from those confirmed states.
- Send the customer a clear confirmation or next step that matches the verified outcome.
This final check matters for both automatic renewals and manual invoices: an attempted recovery is not the same as a paid invoice, and a delayed event may not describe the current state.
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