Payments for existing customers
Learn how to charge an existing payment method while a customer is on-session.
A Checkout Session allows buyers to enter their payment details. If the buyer is an existing customer, you can configure the Checkout Session to prefill the details with one of the customer’s saved cards.
Create a Checkout SessionClient-sideServer-side
Add a checkout button to your website that calls a server-side endpoint to create a Checkout Session.
<html> <head> <title>Checkout</title> </head> <body> <form action="/create-checkout-session" method="POST"> <button type="submit">Checkout</button> </form> </body> </html>
Checkout supports reusing existing Customer objects with the customer
parameter. When reusing existing customers, all objects created by Checkout, such as Payment Intents and Subscriptions, are associated with that Customer object.
Append the {CHECKOUT_
template variable to the success_
to get access to the Session ID after your customer successfully completes a Checkout Session. After creating the Checkout Session, redirect your customer to the URL returned in the response.
Prefill fields on payment page
If all the following conditions are true, Checkout prefills the email, name, card, and billing address fields on the payment page using details from the customer’s saved card:
- Checkout is in
payment
orsubscription
mode;setup
mode doesn’t support prefilling fields. - The customer has a saved card. Checkout only supports prefilling card payment methods.
- The saved card has
allow_
set toredisplay always
or you adjusted the default display setting. - The payment method includes
billing_
required by itsdetails billing_
type:address_ collection auto
requires values foremail
,name
, andaddress[country]
. US, CA, and GB billing addresses also requireaddress[postal_
.code] required
requires values foremail
,name
, and alladdress
fields.
If your customer has multiple saved cards, Checkout prefills details from the card matching the following prioritization:
- In
payment
mode, Stripe prefills the fields using the customer’s the newest saved card. - In
subscription
mode, Stripe prefills the customer’s default payment method if it’s a card. Otherwise Stripe prefills the newest saved card.
Prefill timeout
The prefilled payment method displays for 30 minutes following Checkout Session creation. After it expires, loading the same Checkout Session doesn’t prefill the payment method anymore for security reasons.
Handle post-payment eventsServer-side
Stripe sends a checkout.session.completed event when a customer completes a Checkout Session payment. Use the Dashboard webhook tool or follow the webhook guide to receive and handle these events, which might trigger you to:
- Send an order confirmation email to your customer.
- Log the sale in a database.
- Start a shipping workflow.
Listen for these events rather than waiting for your customer to be redirected back to your website. Triggering fulfillment only from your Checkout landing page is unreliable. Setting up your integration to listen for asynchronous events allows you to accept different types of payment methods with a single integration.
Learn more in our fulfillment guide for Checkout.
Handle the following events when collecting payments with the Checkout:
Event | Description | Action |
---|---|---|
checkout.session.completed | Sent when a customer successfully completes a Checkout Session. | Send the customer an order confirmation and fulfill their order. |
checkout.session.async_payment_succeeded | Sent when a payment made with a delayed payment method, such as ACH direct debt, succeeds. | Send the customer an order confirmation and fulfill their order. |
checkout.session.async_payment_failed | Sent when a payment made with a delayed payment method, such as ACH direct debt, fails. | Notify the customer of the failure and bring them back on-session to attempt payment again. |