Downloading/sending a "preview" invoice

[howard...@gmail.com]

Hello Remi,

     I have a customer on a recurring subscription and they would like a PDF of their next invoice before the renew date.  Right now, I can retrieve a "preview" of the invoice and view its details on the Dashboard. But I can not figure out how to download a PDF version of an invoice in "preview" mode (before it's been drafted or finalized). Any help would be greatly appreciated.

   This is actually a fairly common occurrence -- I've had other companies request the same, but it was few days before the renewal and they could just wait. For this time, it's 2 weeks before the renewal date and I'd rather have them initiate payment on the invoice versus making them wait (no brainer, right?).  It can take a company a few weeks to process a payment so it's not unusual. 

Thanks for any help.

-Howard

[Remi J.]

Hey Howard,

We only support downloading/accessing the PDF of an invoice after it's been created and finalized. This means it's not possible today to preview the upcoming invoice in advance. This is not something I've seen asked before as usually the PDF represents the real amount they are going to pay you, which could change by the time it's created at the start of the next period.

What you're describing though is less about getting a PDF of the upcoming invoice temporarily, and more about the ability to have them pay proactively for their next period right? Something like a yearly subscription that renews in January but you want someone to be able to pre-pay in November when you warn them about the upcoming renewal. If so, this is not something we support yet, but it's something we are considering building. No firm timeline just yet unfortunately but I'll mention this to the engineering team who is looking into this feature and they could reach out when we're ready for beta testers in the future.

I don't have a really good alternative to offer today unfortunately and I'd recommend relying on the Upcoming Invoice API [1] to preview the amount and send your own preview. But you won't be able to charge in advance, not unless you change the billing cycle (unlikely to be what you want) or take a one-time payment and then add the amount to the customer's balance to discount their invoice whenever it's issued in the future (which can hurt revenue recognition).

I hope this helps though I know it's not the answer you were looking for.

Best,

Remi

[1] https://stripe.com/docs/api/invoices/upcoming

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[Howard Salis]

Thank you, Remi, for the info and suggestions. 

FYI, "Enterprise"-level companies usually use a service that manages and processes Purchase Orders. So employees of the company submit a quote or invoice to this service, which routes it for approval, and (some time later) is processed for payment. The overall lead time can easily be two weeks so employees often start early (ie, before the subscription renewal time). For such companies, there would be no expectation that the subscription changes between when they submit the invoice for payment and when the subscription renews. Yes, in my case, it's an annual subscription. 

Thanks,

   Howard

~~
Howard Salis
Associate Professor
Biological Engineering and Chemical Engineering
Penn State University

Email: sa...@psu.edu
Phone: 814-865-1931
Lab web site: http://salislab.net
Design your DNA: http://salislab.net/software

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