Question

Stripe Cancelled Subscriptions - Differentiating Between Auto and Manual Cancellations

  • 28 March 2021
  • 4 replies
  • 291 views

Hi all! I’ve got a Zap that basically goes Stripe (Cancelled Subscription) → Gmail (to email and notify me). The idea is that I get notified of any cancelled subscriptions - but I only want to be notified if the cancellation was triggered by declined payments, not by me manually cancelling subscriptions myself. Stripe is set up to try charging a client’s credit card four times then if it declines on the fourth attempt, Stripe auto cancels their subscription - and that’s what I want to be notified about! (There is no setting in Stripe itself for this)

I’ve tried Stripe (Cancelled Subscription) but it triggers even when I manually cancel a subscription myself (so obviously I don’t need a notification). Is there a way, perhaps in the metadata, to make it only trigger on the auto cancels? Anyone know? 


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4 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Hi @GoodGuysFit 

Have you tried checking the metadata returned from the trigger for Canceled Subscription to determine if there is a data point you can use to filter on in Step 2 with a a Filter step?

Try comparing the returned trigger data for a subscription that was done manually VS automatically to see if you can identify a data point to filter on.

Try looking for a data point that indicates if the event was triggered by a specific user vs automatically.

Try looking for a data point that indicates the number of attempts that were made, which would indicate it was done manually.

Userlevel 7
Badge +14

@GoodGuysFit 

Here’s a suggestion…

Before canceling a subscription manually, edit the Subscription for the Customer to add a key:value pair that indicates the subscription was canceled manually.

NOTE: Make sure to use the same key:value pair for consistency.

Then you can use this data point to Filter in the Zap as step 2: https://zapier.com/apps/filter/help

Logic would be such that if the metadata key:value pair exists, then it was cancelled manually.

 

Hi @GoodGuysFit 

Have you tried checking the metadata returned from the trigger for Canceled Subscription to determine if there is a data point you can use to filter on in Step 2 with a a Filter step?

Try comparing the returned trigger data for a subscription that was done manually VS automatically to see if you can identify a data point to filter on.

Try looking for a data point that indicates if the event was triggered by a specific user vs automatically.

Try looking for a data point that indicates the number of attempts that were made, which would indicate it was done manually.

The only problem I have with that is that I don’t know when a sub is cancelled automatically at all, so it’s very difficult to find one to compare. May have to go with adding the metadata for manual ones as you say, and then do a filter step!

Userlevel 7
Badge +10

@GoodGuysFit 
Just checking in to see if you still need help with this?