PayPal与Stripe发票设置咨询：含订阅费及第三方不定额初始安装费

Hey there! Let's walk through how to set this up for both PayPal and Stripe—good news is you can handle both the variable setup fee and recurring subscription in a single invoice for each platform.

Yes, you absolutely can configure this in a single PayPal invoice. Here's how to do it step-by-step:

• Add recurring subscription items: When creating your invoice, add a new item and set it to Recurring. Choose a monthly billing cycle, then pick the appropriate amount (15/20/25 USD) based on the subscriber's plan. You can stick to one tier per invoice, matching what the customer selects.
• Add the variable setup fee: Since the setup fee comes from a third party and varies, add a separate One-time item to the invoice. Manually input the exact amount (15/50/100 USD or any other value) when generating the invoice for each customer.
• Finalize and send: The invoice will charge the setup fee immediately when the customer pays, and the recurring subscription will auto-renew each month at the selected rate. PayPal's invoice system natively supports mixing one-time and recurring charges in a single document, so this works seamlessly.

Stripe also supports combining a variable setup fee and recurring subscription in a single invoice, either via the Dashboard or API:

Using the Stripe Dashboard #

• Create subscription products first: Head to the Products tab and build three monthly subscription products (15/20/25 USD). Each will get a unique price ID you can reference later.
• Generate the invoice: When creating an invoice for a customer, add their chosen subscription product (select the corresponding monthly price). Then add a custom one-time line item, where you input the third-party-provided setup fee amount.
• Send the invoice: The setup fee will be included in the first invoice payment, and subsequent invoices will only charge the monthly subscription amount.

Using the Stripe API #

If you need to automate this workflow, use the Stripe API to dynamically build the invoice:

1. Create a subscription for the customer with their selected monthly price:

   subscription = stripe.Subscription.create(
     customer="cus_123456",
     items=[{"price": "price_15USDMonthly"}],
     collection_method="send_invoice"
   )
   

2. Add the variable setup fee as an invoice item linked to the customer (note: amount is in cents):

   stripe.InvoiceItem.create(
     customer="cus_123456",
     amount=1500,  # Equals 15 USD
     currency="usd",
     description="Third-party setup fee"
   )
   

3. Finalize and send the invoice—it will automatically include both the subscription's first month charge and the setup fee.

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者Luc Laverdure