An automatic plan is paid by card: the client saves their card once and Stripe charges it on its own every cycle. When the client starts paying for an automatic plan while days they have already paid still cover them, the card is saved at that moment and, in the cases and within the limits in this article, the first charge only goes out on the day after the last paid day. This way the client does not pay twice for the same days. Automatic payment only exists with online payments connected: see Connect Stripe to receive online payments from clients.
When the first charge is delayed
When the client pays for a plan you gave them or a plan from your catalog, the last paid day still running is the one used: if the new plan is No access, the last day of the No access plans; if it is Stays the same or Read-only, the last day of any plan. The date of the first charge is 00:00 on the following day, in your time zone; for a scheduled client, never before 00:00 on the day access begins. The delay depends on how much time is left until that date at the moment the client pays.
| At the moment the client pays | When the first charge goes out |
|---|---|
| 49 hours or more, and 730 days or less, are left until the date | On the date, from 00:00. Nothing is charged until then. |
| Less than 49 hours are left | At that moment. The remaining days, less than 49 hours, are paid twice. |
| More than 730 days are left | At that moment. |
| There are no paid days running, or the new plan is No access and there are only paid days of Stays the same or Read-only plans | At that moment. For a scheduled client, the date is the day access begins, and the rows before this one apply. |
| The client pays an invitation with a package to join | At that moment, because nothing of yours covers them yet. |
Stripe only accepts delaying the first charge of a subscription if at least 48 hours and at most 730 days are left. MyFitnessClient uses 49 hours, to keep one hour of margin.
For a monthly fee charged by hand, without automatic payment, the first cycle also starts on the day after the paid days, by the same rule, but without the 49-hour and 730-day limits. See Charge day of a manual monthly fee and end of access.
When it happens
- The client pays, on the Your plan card, an automatic plan you gave them in Give a plan that is awaiting payment. To give a plan, see Give a client a recurring plan or a pack.
- The client chooses or renews an automatic plan from your catalog on their own. See Let clients choose and pay for their plan themselves.
- The client switches a monthly fee charged by hand to automatic payment, after you use Switch to automatic or with their Automate button. Here the first charge waits for the first cycle of that monthly fee that is still unpaid, at 00:00, with the same limits. A “To confirm” cycle counts as paid. A cycle created with Charge now and still unpaid is charged by the subscription, on its own day. If the charge for the current cycle is still unpaid, the first charge goes out at that moment and that manual charge is canceled. See Switch a monthly fee charged by hand to automatic payment.
Only in the third case can MyFitnessClient show the date to the client before they pay: when they select Subscribe on the plan, the “Confirm subscription” window shows the “First charge” line with that date and the sentence “Nothing is charged today: the current period is already paid.” On the website, the Automate button opens the Stripe payment straight away, without that window. In the other two cases, MyFitnessClient does not show them the date before they pay.
Until the first charge
When the charge is delayed on a plan you gave them or a plan from your catalog, the new plan becomes active as soon as the client saves their card, but with no paid days. The new plan's paid days only start with the first charge. Until then, the client's access comes from the days they had already paid.
- In Payments > Clients and on the Plan card of the Payments tab of the client's profile, the plan they had already paid still appears. The new plan appears underneath, in the line “Next: {name}, starts {date}”, with the day of the first charge. Before the client saves their card, that line says “Next: {name}, awaiting payment”.
- If the new plan has the No access rule, access does not close on the last paid day: it stays open until the day of the first charge plus the plan's grace period (After), so that it does not close in the hours between midnight and Stripe's charge. This applies while the subscription renews, nobody has asked to cancel it and the paid days reach the day before the first charge.
- In that case, the Access period line of the profile shows “Renews on {date}”, with the day of the first charge, instead of “Access until {date}”, and the client sees the same sentence in their profile. Neither you nor the client gets the notice 7 days before access ends.
- With the Stays the same and Read-only rules, the new plan also becomes active with no paid days, but it never closes access, so there is nothing to keep open.
When the charge is delayed on a monthly fee switched to automatic, the subscription appears in the client's profile, under Extras, with the “Trialing” badge and “No payment yet” until the first charge. “Trialing” is the name Stripe gives this period and has nothing to do with your MyFitnessClient subscription.
If something changes before the first charge
- If the payment for the days that were already paid is refunded, the new plan stops keeping access open and gives no paid days.
- If the subscription is canceled before the first charge, the new plan stops keeping access open right away and, when the subscription ends, it is canceled with no paid days. See Cancel a client's plan.
- On a No access plan, if the first charge fails, the days access stayed open start counting as the grace period of an unpaid plan. The client's Home screen shows the amount due, and the 7-day notice goes out as a payment reminder, to you and to the client. If the charge is still unpaid at the end of those days, the client loses access, as with any unpaid No access plan.
The date in the What will happen panel
When you give a client a plan they will pay by card, the What will happen panel of the Give a plan window shows the First charge line with the day after the paid days: those of No access plans if the new plan is No access, or those of any plan if it is Stays the same or Read-only. The panel counts from today and does not know the 49-hour and 730-day limits. If the paid days end today or tomorrow, or if the client only pays when less than 49 hours are left until that date, Stripe charges at the moment they pay.
Questions
The client saved their card but has not paid anything yet. Is that right?
Yes, if they still had paid days when they saved the card. The new plan becomes active with no paid days and access comes from the days they had already paid. On a plan you gave them or from your catalog, the first charge goes out on the day in the “Next” line in Payments > Clients.
The client was charged right away, but still had two paid days. Why?
Less than 49 hours were left until 00:00 on the day after the last paid day, and with so little time the charge is not delayed. It also happens on a new No access plan when the paid days were from a Stays the same or Read-only plan.
What does the client see after saving their card?
If the charge was delayed, they pay nothing at that moment and keep the access they already had. For the client's side, see Choose and pay for a plan from your professional.