Stripe Smart Retries

Where the setting lives

Retries for subscriptions are set in the Dashboard under Billing, then Revenue recovery, then Retries. Retries for one-time invoices are set separately, in the invoice settings under Advanced invoicing features. Direct debit payment methods have their own retry configuration, covered below.

Stripe also lets you use automations to apply different retry policies to different customer segments. If you turn Smart Retries off, you define a custom retry schedule instead: up to three retries, each a set number of days after the previous attempt.

When Stripe will not retry

Stripe lists four cases with no retry at all: no payment method is available, the issuer returns a hard decline code, the card is India-issued, or the Stripe Connect account has been disconnected.

Hard declines behave in a way that is easy to misread. Stripe names nine codes, including incorrect_number, lost_card, stolen_card and highest_risk_level. After one of them, Stripe keeps the retries on the schedule and attempt_count on the invoice keeps increasing, but a retry only executes once Stripe detects a new payment method. Stripe says retries that do not execute do not create a new Charge.

So a high attempt_count is not proof that Stripe tried the card that many times. The invoice’s next_payment_attempt field shows when the next attempt is due.

Which payment method a retry uses

Each retry uses the first payment method Stripe finds in a fixed order: the subscription’s default payment method, then the subscription’s default source, then the customer’s default payment method for invoices, then the customer’s legacy default source.

That order explains a common support problem. If a subscription has its own default payment method and the customer updates only the customer-level default, Stripe keeps retrying the payment method on the subscription. Stripe’s guidance is to update the field where the previous payment failed.

What happens when retries run out

Stripe states that after the final payment attempt it makes no further attempts, and that changing your settings afterwards only affects future retries. Your failed payment settings then decide what happens to the subscription. There are four outcomes. Cancel the subscription moves it to canceled. Mark the subscription as unpaid moves it to unpaid, and new invoices continue to be generated but stay in draft. Leave the subscription past_due keeps it past_due, and new invoices continue to be generated and charged on your retry settings. Pause the subscription, where the subscription is eligible, stops new invoices until it resumes.

The invoice is a separate question. Stripe’s subscription documentation notes that an invoice Stripe marks uncollectible after ending payment retries still counts as outstanding, with the uncollectible reason max_payment_attempts. An invoice left open simply stays open and keeps showing as owed.

During the retry window itself, the subscription is past_due and keeps generating invoices, so a customer whose card has failed can have more than one open invoice at once.

Direct debit retries are configured differently

Bank debits do not follow the card retry policy. Stripe retries them using each payment method’s own retry configuration, and only for insufficient funds. If retries are not enabled for that payment method, Stripe does not retry the payment.

The limits differ by scheme. ACH Direct Debit allows 2 retries over 40 days. SEPA Direct Debit and Bacs Direct Debit allow 2 retries over 30 days. Australia BECS allows 4 retries over 30 days. Canadian pre-authorized debit allows 1 retry over 30 days, and New Zealand BECS allows 1 retry over 5 calendar days.

What a retry looks like in your books

A failed card attempt is not a transaction. No money moved, so there is no sale, no fee on a sale and nothing in the next payout. The invoice was finalized before the first attempt, and the amount it bills was owed from that moment, whether or not a retry succeeds.

A successful retry is an ordinary payment of an open invoice. It produces a charge with its usual processing fee, the invoice becomes paid, and the money follows the normal path into your payout.

An invoice where every retry failed is a collections and bad debt question, not a retry question. Whether it is left open, marked uncollectible or voided depends on your settings and your own decisions in Stripe, and each choice reads differently in Accounts Receivable.