Skip to main content
Recurring billing can be complex, but Firmhouse simplifies the process of recurring payments, invoicing, and order creation for your subscription-based business. This article explains how recurring charges work, how invoices and orders are generated, and what you need to consider about payment processing times and risks. Firmhouse supports your customers signing up and making their initial payment via iDEAL | Wero, Bancontact, SOFORT (now Klarna) and then charging subsequent payments automatically via SEPA Direct Debit.

​
How It Works

You might wonder how this is possible, as these payment methods don’t have any recurring logic available of their own. What happens is that on the initial payment someone pays via iDEAL | Wero, Bancontact, or SOFORT (Klarna). When the initial payment succeeds, your Payment Service Provider will then generate/create a mandate for the bank account identified with the initial payment. Via SEPA Direct Debit protocols, the Payment Service Provider will then make subsequent charges via this generated mandate on your customer’s SEPA bank account number. This allows for charging recurring payments automatically, while still signing up with a single-use payment method. Each Payment Service Provider handles SEPA Direct Debit slightly differently. Consult your configured payment provider if you have any questions:

​
Payment Processing Times and Chargebacks

Different payment methods have varying processing times and risk considerations. SEPA Direct Debit (including iDEAL | Wero) payments can take several days to finalize, depending on the Payment Service Provider and how long it takes the SEPA network to confirm the payment status. Credit Cards typically take 3-4 days to process. PayPal payments are usually instant. For all of the above, Firmhouse considers the date on which the payment was initiated as the effective payment date.

​
Chargebacks

Dealing with chargebacks is a part of running an e-commerce business. It’s normal to want to completely prevent them, but it’s often more practical to focus on reducing their occurrence and impact. You can reduce the impact of chargebacks by setting up a payment dunning flow. Another option is to configure your project to ship orders only when paid. This will make fraudulent chargebacks more difficult, but it can’t eliminate them entirely.

​
Billing and Order Creation Dates

For new subscriptions, the initial payment and order are processed immediately. Recurring payments and orders are processed in batches twice a day at 03:30 AM UTC and 07:00 AM UTC. The day on which Firmhouse creates the payment, invoice (and order if it’s an Order-based project) depends on the project’s type:
  • Order-based projects use the ordered product’s shipmentDate
  • Plan-based projects use the subscription’s chargeDayOfTheMonth
There are some exceptions to the above, such as projects configured to use the Native Shopify Checkout. In those cases, the subscribedPlan’s nextBillingDate is used. To learn more about each of the above objects and properties, take a look at the API documentation.