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This tutorial uses an older version of Symfony of the stripe-php SDK. The majority of the concepts are still valid, though there *are* differences. We've done our best to add notes & comments that describe these changes.

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21.

Webhook: Payment Failed!

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Ok, there's just one more webhook we need to worry about, and it's the easiest one: invoice.payment_failed. Send a test webhook for this event.

Refresh RequestBin to check it out.

This webhook type is important for only one reason: to send your user an email so that they know we're having problems charging their card. That's it! We're already using a different webhook to actually cancel their subscription if the failures continue.

This has almost the same body as the invoice.payment_succeeded event: the embedded object is an invoice and if that invoice is related to a subscription, it has a subscription property.

That means that in WebhookController, this is a pretty easy one to handle. Add a new case for invoice.payment_failed:

// ... lines 1 - 8
class WebhookController extends BaseController
{
// ... lines 11 - 13
public function stripeWebhookAction(Request $request)
{
// ... lines 16 - 31
switch ($stripeEvent->type) {
// ... lines 33 - 50
case 'invoice.payment_failed':
// ... lines 52 - 62
break;
// ... lines 64 - 66
}
// ... lines 68 - 69
}
// ... lines 71 - 90
}

Then, start just like before: grab the $stripeSubscriptionId. Then, add an if statement - just in case this invoice has no subscription:

// ... lines 1 - 8
class WebhookController extends BaseController
{
// ... lines 11 - 13
public function stripeWebhookAction(Request $request)
{
// ... lines 16 - 31
switch ($stripeEvent->type) {
// ... lines 33 - 50
case 'invoice.payment_failed':
$stripeSubscriptionId = $stripeEvent->data->object->subscription;
if ($stripeSubscriptionId) {
// ... lines 55 - 60
}
break;
// ... lines 64 - 66
}
// ... lines 68 - 69
}
// ... lines 71 - 90
}

What to do when a Payment Fails?

Earlier, we talked about what happens when a payment fails. It depends on your Subscription settings in Stripe, but ultimately, Stripe will attempt to charge the card a few times, and then cancel the subscription.

You could send your user an email each time Stripe tries to charge their card and fails, but that'll probably be a bit annoying. So, I like to send an email only after the first attempt fails.

To know if this webhook is being fired after the first, second or third attempt, use a field called attempt_count. If this equals one, send an email. In the controller, add if $stripeEvent->data->object->attempt_count == 1, then send them an email. Well, I'll leave that step to you guys:

// ... lines 1 - 8
class WebhookController extends BaseController
{
// ... lines 11 - 13
public function stripeWebhookAction(Request $request)
{
// ... lines 16 - 31
switch ($stripeEvent->type) {
// ... lines 33 - 50
case 'invoice.payment_failed':
$stripeSubscriptionId = $stripeEvent->data->object->subscription;
if ($stripeSubscriptionId) {
// ... lines 55 - 56
if ($stripeEvent->data->object->attempt_count == 1) {
// ... line 58
// todo - send the user an email about the problem
}
}
break;
// ... lines 64 - 66
}
// ... lines 68 - 69
}
// ... lines 71 - 90
}

If you need to know which user the subscription belongs to, first fetch the Subscription from the database by using our findSubscription() method. Then, add $user = $subscription->getUser():

// ... lines 1 - 8
class WebhookController extends BaseController
{
// ... lines 11 - 13
public function stripeWebhookAction(Request $request)
{
// ... lines 16 - 31
switch ($stripeEvent->type) {
// ... lines 33 - 50
case 'invoice.payment_failed':
$stripeSubscriptionId = $stripeEvent->data->object->subscription;
if ($stripeSubscriptionId) {
$subscription = $this->findSubscription($stripeSubscriptionId);
if ($stripeEvent->data->object->attempt_count == 1) {
$user = $subscription->getUser();
// todo - send the user an email about the problem
}
}
break;
// ... lines 64 - 66
}
// ... lines 68 - 69
}
// ... lines 71 - 90
}

I like this webhook - it's easy! And actually, we're done with webhooks! Except for preventing replay attacks... which is important, but painless.