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Save a customer's payment method when they use it for a payment

Learn how to save the customer's payment method when you confirm a PaymentIntent.

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Use the Payment Intents API to save payment details from a purchase. There are several use cases:

  • Charge a customer for an e-commerce order and store the details for future purchases.
  • Initiate the first payment of a series of recurring payments.
  • Charge a deposit and store the details to charge the full amount later.

Card-present transactions

Card-present transactions, such as payments through Stripe Terminal, use a different process for saving the payment method. For details, see the Terminal documentation.

Compliance

You’re responsible for your compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and network rules when saving a customer’s payment details. These requirements generally apply if you want to save your customer’s payment method for future use, such as displaying a customer’s payment method to them in the checkout flow for a future purchase or charging them when they’re not actively using your website or app. Add terms to your website or app that state how you plan to save payment method details and allow customers to opt in.

When you save a payment method, you can only use it for the specific usage you have included in your terms. To charge a payment method when a customer is offline and save it as an option for future purchases, make sure that you explicitly collect consent from the customer for this specific use. For example, include a “Save my payment method for future use” checkbox to collect consent.

To charge them when they’re offline, make sure your terms include the following:

  • The customer’s agreement to your initiating a payment or a series of payments on their behalf for specified transactions.
  • The anticipated timing and frequency of payments (for example, if the charges are for scheduled installments, subscription payments, or unscheduled top-ups).
  • How you determine the payment amount.
  • Your cancellation policy, if the payment method is for a subscription service.

Make sure you keep a record of your customer’s written agreement to these terms.

Set up Stripe
Server-side

First, register for a Stripe account.

Use our official libraries to access the Stripe API from your application:

Command Line
# Available as a gem
sudo gem install stripe
Gemfile
# If you use bundler, you can add this line to your Gemfile
gem 'stripe'

Create a Customer
Server-side

To set a card up for future payments, you must attach it to a Customer. Create a Customer object when your customer creates an account with your business. Customer objects allow for reusing payment methods and tracking across multiple payments.

Command Line
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/customers \
  -u "
sk_test_BQokikJOvBiI2HlWgH4olfQ2
:" \
  -d name="Jenny Rosen" \
  --data-urlencode email="jennyrosen@example.com"

Successful creation returns the Customer object. You can inspect the object for the customer id and store the value in your database for later retrieval.

You can find these customers in the Customers page in the Dashboard.

Enable payment methods

View your payment methods settings and enable the payment methods you want to support. You need at least one payment method enabled to create a PaymentIntent.

By default, Stripe enables cards and other prevalent payment methods that can help you reach more customers, but we recommend turning on additional payment methods that are relevant for your business and customers. See Payment method support for product and payment method support, and our pricing page for fees.

Create a PaymentIntent
Server-side

Note

If you want to render the Payment Element without first creating a PaymentIntent, see Collect payment details before creating an Intent.

The PaymentIntent object represents your intent to collect payment from a customer and tracks charge attempts and state changes throughout the payment process.

Create the PaymentIntent

Create a PaymentIntent on your server. Specify an amount, currency, and customer. In the latest version of the API, specifying the automatic_payment_methods parameter is optional because Stripe enables its functionality by default. Enable setup_future_usage. The payment methods you configured in the Dashboard are automatically added to the Payment Intent.

If you don’t want to use the Dashboard or if you want to specify payment methods manually, you can list them using the payment_method_types attribute.

Command Line
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/payment_intents \
  -u "
sk_test_BQokikJOvBiI2HlWgH4olfQ2
:" \
  -d customer=
{{CUSTOMER_ID}}
 \
  -d amount=1099 \
  -d currency=usd \
  -d setup_future_usage=off_session \
  -d "automatic_payment_methods[enabled]"=true

Note

Always decide how much to charge on the server side, a trusted environment, as opposed to the client. This prevents malicious customers from being able to choose their own prices.

Retrieve the client secret

The PaymentIntent includes a client secret that the client side uses to securely complete the payment process. You can use different approaches to pass the client secret to the client side.

Retrieve the client secret from an endpoint on your server, using the browser’s fetch function. This approach is best if your client side is a single-page application, particularly one built with a modern frontend framework like React. Create the server endpoint that serves the client secret:

main.rb
get '/secret' do
  intent = # ... Create or retrieve the PaymentIntent
  {client_secret: intent.client_secret}.to_json
end

And then fetch the client secret with JavaScript on the client side:

(async () => {
  const response = await fetch('/secret');
  const {client_secret: clientSecret} = await response.json();
  // Render the form using the clientSecret
})();

Collect payment details
Client-side

Collect payment details on the client with the Payment Element. The Payment Element is a prebuilt UI component that simplifies collecting payment details for a variety of payment methods.

The Payment Element contains an iframe that securely sends payment information to Stripe over an HTTPS connection. Avoid placing the Payment Element within another iframe because some payment methods require redirecting to another page for payment confirmation.

If you do choose to use an iframe and want to accept Apple Pay or Google Pay, the iframe must have the allow attribute set to equal "payment *".

The checkout page address must start with https:// rather than http:// for your integration to work. You can test your integration without using HTTPS, but remember to enable it when you’re ready to accept live payments.

Set up Stripe.js

The Payment Element is automatically available as a feature of Stripe.js. Include the Stripe.js script on your checkout page by adding it to the head of your HTML file. Always load Stripe.js directly from js.stripe.com to remain PCI compliant. Don’t include the script in a bundle or host a copy of it yourself.

checkout.html
<head>
  <title>Checkout</title>
  <script src="https://js.stripe.com/v3/"></script>
</head>

Create an instance of Stripe with the following JavaScript on your checkout page:

checkout.js
// Set your publishable key: remember to change this to your live publishable key in production
// See your keys here: https://dashboard.stripe.com/apikeys
const stripe = Stripe(
'pk_test_TYooMQauvdEDq54NiTphI7jx'
);

Add the Payment Element to your payment page

The Payment Element needs a place to live on your payment page. Create an empty DOM node (container) with a unique ID in your payment form:

checkout.html
<form id="payment-form">
  <div id="payment-element">
    <!-- Elements will create form elements here -->
  </div>
  <button id="submit">Submit</button>
  <div id="error-message">
    <!-- Display error message to your customers here -->
  </div>
</form>

When the previous form loads, create an instance of the Payment Element and mount it to the container DOM node. Pass the client secret from the previous step into options when you create the Elements instance:

Handle the client secret carefully because it can complete the charge. Don’t log it, embed it in URLs, or expose it to anyone but the customer.

checkout.js
const options = {
  clientSecret: '{{CLIENT_SECRET}}',
  // Fully customizable with appearance API.
  appearance: {/*...*/},
};

// Set up Stripe.js and Elements to use in checkout form, passing the client secret obtained in a previous step
const elements = stripe.elements(options);

// Create and mount the Payment Element
const paymentElementOptions = { layout: 'accordion'};
const paymentElement = elements.create('payment', paymentElementOptions);
paymentElement.mount('#payment-element');

The Payment Element renders a dynamic form that allows your customer to pick a payment method. For each payment method, the form automatically asks the customer to fill in all necessary payment details.

Customize appearance

Customize the Payment Element to match the design of your site by passing the appearance object into options when creating the Elements provider.

Collect addresses

By default, the Payment Element only collects the necessary billing address details. To collect a customer’s full billing address (to calculate the tax for digital goods and services, for example) or shipping address, use the Address Element.

Request Apple Pay merchant token

If you’ve configured your integration to accept Apple Pay payments, we recommend configuring the Apple Pay interface to return a merchant token to enable merchant initiated transactions (MIT). Request the relevant merchant token type in the Payment Element.

Submit the payment to Stripe
Client-side

Use stripe.confirmPayment to complete the payment using details from the Payment Element. Provide a return_url to this function to indicate where Stripe should redirect the user after they complete the payment. Your user may be first redirected to an intermediate site, like a bank authorization page, before being redirected to the return_url. Card payments immediately redirect to the return_url when a payment is successful.

If you don’t want to redirect for card payments after payment completion, you can set redirect to if_required. This only redirects customers that check out with redirect-based payment methods.

checkout.js
const form = document.getElementById('payment-form');

form.addEventListener('submit', async (event) => {
  event.preventDefault();

  const {error} = await stripe.confirmPayment({
    //`Elements` instance that was used to create the Payment Element
    elements,
    confirmParams: {
      return_url: 'https://example.com/order/123/complete',
    },
  });

  if (error) {
    // This point will only be reached if there is an immediate error when
    // confirming the payment. Show error to your customer (for example, payment
    // details incomplete)
    const messageContainer = document.querySelector('#error-message');
    messageContainer.textContent = error.message;
  } else {
    // Your customer will be redirected to your `return_url`. For some payment
    // methods like iDEAL, your customer will be redirected to an intermediate
    // site first to authorize the payment, then redirected to the `return_url`.
  }
});

Note

stripe.confirmPayment may take several seconds to complete. During that time, disable your form from being resubmitted and show a waiting indicator like a spinner. If you receive an error, show it to the customer, re-enable the form, and hide the waiting indicator. If the customer must perform additional steps to complete the payment, such as authentication, Stripe.js walks them through that process.

If the payment succeeded, the card is saved to the Customer object. This is reflected on the PaymentMethod’s customer field. At this point, associate the ID of the Customer object with your own internal representation of a customer, if you have one. Now you can use the stored PaymentMethod object to collect payments from your customer in the future without prompting them for their payment details again.

Make sure the return_url corresponds to a page on your website that provides the status of the payment. When Stripe redirects the customer to the return_url, we provide the following URL query parameters:

ParameterDescription
payment_intentThe unique identifier for the PaymentIntent.
payment_intent_client_secretThe client secret of the PaymentIntent object.

Caution

If you have tooling that tracks the customer’s browser session, you might need to add the stripe.com domain to the referrer exclude list. Redirects cause some tools to create new sessions, which prevents you from tracking the complete session.

Use one of the query parameters to retrieve the PaymentIntent. Inspect the status of the PaymentIntent to decide what to show your customers. You can also append your own query parameters when providing the return_url, which persist through the redirect process.

status.js
// Initialize Stripe.js using your publishable key
const stripe = Stripe(
'pk_test_TYooMQauvdEDq54NiTphI7jx'
);

// Retrieve the "payment_intent_client_secret" query parameter appended to
// your return_url by Stripe.js
const clientSecret = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search).get(
  'payment_intent_client_secret'
);

// Retrieve the PaymentIntent
stripe.retrievePaymentIntent(clientSecret).then(({paymentIntent}) => {
  const message = document.querySelector('#message')

  // Inspect the PaymentIntent `status` to indicate the status of the payment
  // to your customer.
  //
  // Some payment methods will [immediately succeed or fail][0] upon
  // confirmation, while others will first enter a `processing` state.
  //
  // [0]: https://stripe.com/docs/payments/payment-methods#payment-notification
  switch (paymentIntent.status) {
    case 'succeeded':
      message.innerText = 'Success! Payment received.';
      break;

    case 'processing':
      message.innerText = "Payment processing. We'll update you when payment is received.";
      break;

    case 'requires_payment_method':
      message.innerText = 'Payment failed. Please try another payment method.';
      // Redirect your user back to your payment page to attempt collecting
      // payment again
      break;

    default:
      message.innerText = 'Something went wrong.';
      break;
  }
});

Charge the saved payment method later
Server-side

Warning

bancontact, ideal, and sofort are one-time payment methods by default. When set up for future usage, they generate a sepa_debit reusable payment method type so you need to use sepa_debit to query for saved payment methods.

Compliance

You’re responsible for your compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and network rules when saving a customer’s payment details. When rendering past payment methods to your end customer for future purchases, make sure you’re listing payment methods where you’ve collected consent from the customer to save the payment method details for this specific future use. To differentiate between payment methods attached to customers that can and can’t be presented to your end customer as a saved payment method for future purchases, use the allow_redisplay parameter.

When you’re ready to charge your customer off-session, use the Customer and PaymentMethod IDs to create a PaymentIntent. To find a payment method to charge, list the payment methods associated with your customer. This example lists cards but you can list any supported type.

Command Line
curl -G https://api.stripe.com/v1/payment_methods \
  -u "
sk_test_BQokikJOvBiI2HlWgH4olfQ2
:" \
  -d customer=
{{CUSTOMER_ID}}
 \
  -d type=card

When you have the Customer and PaymentMethod IDs, create a PaymentIntent with the amount and currency of the payment. Set a few other parameters to make the off-session payment:

  • Set off_session to true to indicate that the customer isn’t in your checkout flow during a payment attempt and can’t fulfill an authentication request made by a partner, such as a card issuer, bank, or other payment institution. If, during your checkout flow, a partner requests authentication, Stripe requests exemptions using customer information from a previous on-session transaction. If the conditions for exemption aren’t met, the PaymentIntent might throw an error.
  • Set the value of the PaymentIntent’s confirm property to true, which causes confirmation to occur immediately when the PaymentIntent is created.
  • Set payment_method to the ID of the PaymentMethod and customer to the ID of the Customer.
Command Line
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/payment_intents \
  -u 
sk_test_BQokikJOvBiI2HlWgH4olfQ2
: \
  -d amount=1099 \
  -d currency=usd \
  # In the latest version of the API, specifying the `automatic_payment_methods` parameter is optional because Stripe enables its functionality by default.
  -d "automatic_payment_methods[enabled]"=true \
  -d customer="{{CUSTOMER_ID}}" \
  -d payment_method="{{PAYMENT_METHOD_ID}}" \
  -d return_url="https://example.com/order/123/complete" \
  -d off_session=true \
  -d confirm=true

Test the integration

Use test payment details and the test redirect page to verify your integration. Click the tabs below to view details for each payment method.

Payment methodScenarioHow to test
Credit cardThe card setup succeeds and doesn’t require authentication.Fill out the credit card form using the credit card number 4242 4242 4242 4242 with any expiration, CVC, and postal code.
Credit cardThe card requires authentication for the initial setup, then succeeds for subsequent payments.Fill out the credit card form using the credit card number 4000 0025 0000 3155 with any expiration, CVC, and postal code.
Credit cardThe card requires authentication for the initial setup and also requires authentication for subsequent payments.Fill out the credit card form using the credit card number 4000 0027 6000 3184 with any expiration, CVC, and postal code.
Credit cardThe card is declined during setup.Fill out the credit card form using the credit card number 4000 0000 0000 9995 with any expiration, CVC, and postal code.

Test charging a saved SEPA Debit PaymentMethod

Confirming the PaymentIntent using iDEAL, Bancontact, or Sofort, generates a SEPA Direct Debit PaymentMethod. SEPA Direct Debit is a delayed notification payment method that transitions to an intermediate processing state before transitioning several days later to a succeeded or requires_payment_method state.

Set payment_method.billing_details.email to one of the following values to test the PaymentIntent status transitions. You can include your own custom text at the beginning of the email address followed by an underscore. For example, test_1_generatedSepaDebitIntentsFail@example.com results in a SEPA Direct Debit PaymentMethod that always fails when used with a PaymentIntent.

Email AddressDescription
generatedSepaDebitIntentsSucceed@example.comThe PaymentIntent status transitions from processing to succeeded.
generatedSepaDebitIntentsSucceedDelayed@example.comThe PaymentIntent status transitions from processing to succeeded after at least three minutes.
generatedSepaDebitIntentsFail@example.comThe PaymentIntent status transitions from processing to requires_payment_method.
generatedSepaDebitIntentsFailDelayed@example.comThe PaymentIntent status transitions from processing to requires_payment_method after at least three minutes.
generatedSepaDebitIntentsSucceedDisputed@example.comThe PaymentIntent status transitions from processing to succeeded, but a dispute is created immediately.

See also

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