When it comes to managing customer payments, there may be times that you need a bit more flexibility than the current Podia payment management options offer.
Some examples may be:
Accounting for full or partial cash payments for installment plans
Offering a free month on an existing subscription
Offering a discount on a future payment plan payment
In cases like these, it may be beneficial to use a workaround that allows the customer to carry a credit balance in your Stripe account.
This will not work for:
Adjusting the cost of a one-time purchase payment. (We recommend you use a coupon in cases like this!)
Before moving forward, it is important to understand that changes made in Stripe do not sync into your Podia sales dashboard or your customer's invoices.
Making changes to a customer's balance will not reflect in your sales dashboard and should be accounted for externally.
How payments are processed for customers with a credit balance
When a scheduled payment is processed for a customer who has a credit available on their account, the credit will be deducted from their scheduled payment total.
As a reminder, this will only apply for payment plan installments for customers on existing payment plans and subscription payments for existing subscription plans.
Credits will not apply to initial subscriptions or payment plan payments, or one-time payments processed via the Podia checkout.
Examples:
If you add a $50 credit to their account and the payment plan monthly amount is $55, the user will be charged $5 for that month's payment plan installment.
If you add a $50 credit to their account and they are on a subscription plan that is $10 a month, the credit will apply until it's depleted, covering 5 months of their subscription fees.
Adding a credit to a customer's account in Stripe
To add a credit to a customer's account, you can follow the instructions in Stripe's help documentation here.
If you have any questions, reach out to our support team! We'll be glad to help!