Free Trial Payment Intents - Stripe
When logged in on Stripe, there might be some "Cancelled" payment intents, this is the system's process for storing a credit card on file and attempting a payment authorization for the full amount that will be charged when the free trial period is up.
The reason the system does a credit card authorization is to ensure the credit card is valid and has sufficient funds available. This is the best way to ensure the credit card the customer is using will actually be able to be billed the amount, when the free trial is over, with the highest chances of collecting payment.
Our system first creates a payment intent in order to store the credit card on file and another one when members confirm their order and that is why there are some cases where there are multiple payment intents that are cancelled.
Even though they say "Cancelled" in the transaction list when the owner of the site clicks on them, Stripe provides information.
The best way to access these payments is by going to the Payments section.
In the description, the system adds automatically that it was an intent for a Free Trial and the number of days of the trial.
Clicking on the word "Cancelled" will show more information about the member and the transaction.
As shown below, the system will show the amount, date, customer email and payment method.
The payment method is important because it means that the card is valid and the member will be charged automatically when the free trial ends.
Also, the description of the payment intent will be displayed:
When scrolling down, Stripe will show the metadata. Inside this section will appear the Member ID, the URL the members used to signup, member email, website URL and the Free trial period.
In these cases, since the system does a payment authorization for the amount they will be charged, there might, in some cases, be a period of time where the customer will see this charge on their credit card statement in the "Pending" section. The website owner doesn't have to do anything. Depending on the card provider and the time of day, if the charge does appear as Pending on the customer's credit card statement, it will be removed within 24 hours automatically.
