An invoice is below Stripe's minimum charge

Stripe will not charge an amount below its minimum, for example $0.50 for an account that settles in USD. This page is for an invoice Stripe refused for that reason: what Hardcount did, and what you can do with it. Back to the runbook index.

Symptom

One of these:

• An invoice shows the notice “Below Stripe’s minimum charge”.
• The log line Stripe refused to charge this invoice because the amount is below its minimum charge.
• A payment recovery run on the Dunning page ended with “Below Stripe’s minimum”.
• A customer says the hosted invoice page has no Pay button and reads “This amount is below the minimum for a card payment”.

Why

• Stripe refuses the charge, not the card. It answers amount_too_small and creates no payment, so nothing is charged. The minimum depends on the currency, and for a charge that Stripe converts, on your Stripe account’s settlement currency (Stripe’s list). A light usage month, a trial tail or a proration can come out below it.
• Hardcount does not treat it as a failed payment. The invoice stays finalized with payment_status pending. Hardcount does not charge it again automatically, starts no payment recovery, and does not email the customer about it. A payment recovery already running on the invoice ends with resolution amount_below_minimum, at once or at its next scheduled step, so its final action (by default, pausing the subscription) does not run.
• Hardcount learns the minimum from Stripe’s answer, so the invoice is first charged once. For a customer with no card on file, Hardcount learns it when the customer clicks Pay on the hosted page, or when a card is saved and charged. Until then the invoice is handled like any card-less invoice (payment-method reminders, then the policy’s final action).
• Stripe’s answer can change. For a converted charge the minimum is your settlement currency’s, so a bank account in the invoice’s currency, or a move in the exchange rate, can bring the amount over it. Collect payment asks Stripe again, and once Stripe gives a different answer the invoice no longer reads as below the minimum.

Check

Read the invoice:

curl -s "$API/v1/invoices/$INVOICE_ID" -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY"

You see: invoice.status finalized, invoice.payment_status pending, invoice.attention.reason amount_below_minimum, and Stripe’s sentence, which names the minimum, in invoice.attention.provider_response and invoice.last_payment_error.

To list every such invoice of every tenant (in psql):

SELECT tenant_id, id, invoice_number, amount_due_cents, currency, below_minimum_at
FROM invoices
WHERE status = 'finalized' AND payment_status = 'pending' AND below_minimum_at IS NOT NULL
ORDER BY below_minimum_at;

Fix

Choose one for each invoice:

• Void it. Use Void invoice on the notice, or:

  curl -s -X POST "$API/v1/invoices/$INVOICE_ID/void" -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY"

• Record a payment the customer made another way: Record offline payment in the invoice’s ⋯ menu, or POST /v1/invoices/{id}/record-payment.

• Collect it on the next invoice. Add the amount as a line on the customer’s next invoice by hand, then void this one.

• Pay it from credit. If the customer has a credit balance, or you grant one, Collect payment applies it and pays the invoice when it covers the amount. With too little credit and a card on file, Collect asks Stripe again: if Stripe still refuses, it answers amount_below_minimum and nothing is charged. Any credit it applied stays applied.

The hosted page has no Pay button for this invoice, so don’t ask the customer to pay there. Pay comes back once Collect payment gets a different answer from Stripe, which needs a card on file.

Verify

Read the invoice again. After a void, status is voided; after a recorded payment, status is paid. Either way attention is gone.