Shopping Cart Payment Rules

Here are details on how VAULT handles successful and failed payments

How Does Vault Determine a Billing Cycle?

When a subscriber's service is activated an invoice date is generated that matches the date the subscription begins. This date will remain their invoice date, with some exceptions we'll touch on later in this page. The length of the billing cycle is determined by the Service Plan settings.

What Happens if the Invoice Date Is on a Day Not All Months Have?

If a subscription's invoice date is on a date that not all months have, VAULT will hold billing the subscription until the would-be invoice date has passed. Let's explain with an example.

A subscription is created with an invoice date of October 31st. On October 31st, the user is billed. Their next invoice date would be the non-existent, November 31st. VAULT will instead bill on the next actual date, which in this case in December 1st. Going forward, the 1st of the month will be this subscription's new invoice date. This method creates a natural attrition like process where invoices become billed on a consistent and always existent day of the month for subscribers.

What Happens When a Payment is Successful?

If a payment is successful, the subscriber is notified via e-mail and their service continues as normal.

What Happens When a Payment Fails?

If a payment fails to process, a series of events occur;

1. The subscription is downgraded to the best available free service plan for that individual subscription. This is determined based on all available price adjustments for the subscription, including the service plan's original price, venue discounts, unit discounts, and subscriber discounts.

2. The subscriber is notified via e-mail of the failed payment, and provided the reason code if that code was provided by Stripe. The subscriber is asked to login to the subscriber UI to update their payment information, and try to process the payment again.

   1. The subscriber UI modals will be blurred and blocked via a pop-up, only allowing the subscriber to either update their payment information or logout.

   2. If the subscriber enters new payment information and attempts to process the payment again, the subscriber is immediately reactivated to their paid plan. The subscription will not be downgraded again for two days, even if the payment fails. This is due to Stripe webhook delays, and to not overwhelm onsite equipment with configuration changes.

If the subscriber never updates their payment information, their subscription will remain in a payment failed status until the subscription is removed. If multiple invoice dates pass, and then the subscriber attempts to process a payment, they are only charged for the most recent invoice.

How Does Vault Pro-Rate Upgrades and Downgrades for Shopping Cart Customers?

When a subscription is upgraded or downgraded for a retail, or billed, customer, the service plan changes go into effect immediately, and the pro-rata balance is applied to the next invoice. This allows for a consistent and known billing date for the customer, but lets them enjoy their new service plan speeds and policies immediately.