recuring payments not charging – empty string for ‘payment_method’

Hi @royalmicer

That error message is indicating that the payment_method property is empty. The Stripe plugin stores the payment method ID in the order meta table with a meta key of _payment_method_token. Here is what I recommend you do to start troubleshooting.

1. Go to the WooCommrce > Subscriptions table and click one of the affected subscriptions.
2. On the Subscription Details page, click the pencil icon where the billing address is.
3. Scroll down and confirm if the Stripe customer ID and payment method token fields are populated. The payment method ID field will likely be empty.
4. You will need to populate the empty payment token field with the customer’s payment method ID.

The Stripe plugin is designed to ensure the payment method ID is associated with the order during the checkout process. If that’s not happening, you likely have something interfering with that process.

Do you have any custom code on your site that’s using the Stripe plugin filters?

Kind Regards

Thank you for the prompt response.

I checked a subscription which failed earlier, but which succeeded manually, and i can confirm the Stripe customer ID and payment method token fields were populated.

I think i will need to wait for a renewal to fail again, so i can be then check if the fields were populated correctly, that way I can know for certain.

No i dont have any custom code related to Stripe. plugin.

I think i will need to wait for a renewal to fail again, so i can be then check if the fields were populated correctly, that way I can know for certain.

You could just find a subscription that’s due to process a renewal soon and check it’s data by going through the same steps outlined in my previous reply. You don’t need to wait until a renewal order is created.

Thanks for the sugggestion, i am busy going thru all active subscriptions now and you are right, i am finding many with empty Stripe fields, i am now updating those one by one.

I noticed that some transactions the payment method starts with PM_ and others start with SCR_ — are both ok, and what is the difference?

I also noticed that those transactions where customer selected browser payments, the payment method only show : Browser payments.

Thanks for your help, appreciate your great service.

are both ok, and what is the difference?

Payment method ID’s that have a prefix of src_ are from the old Stripe API and would indicate that payment method was saved using an older, deprecated API from Stripe. It’s most likely an old payment method. Were you using another Stripe plugin before this one?

Yes, i was using another stripe plugin last year.

Would it be ok if i update the payment method of those subscriptions with SRC_ so they are all PM_ ( i will get the PM from the most recent renewal on Stripe

Thanks

• This reply was modified 12 minutes ago by royalmicer.

Would it be ok if i update the payment method of those subscriptions with SRC_ so they are all PM_ ( i will get the PM from the most recent renewal on Stripe

Yes, as long as the pm_ prefixed payment method exists and is associated with the correct Stripe customer object then that is fine.

Great, thank you very much for your help.

Enjoy what’s left of your weekend