payments-billing-operations_skill

Overview

This skill helps bootstrapped SaaS founders set up and operate Stripe-based billing reliably. It covers Stripe configuration, subscription lifecycle, webhooks, Customer Portal, tax collection, dunning, and common operational checklists. Use it to avoid billing mistakes that lose customer trust and to automate recurring revenue flows. Practical, checklist-driven guidance is included for testing and going live.

How this skill works

The skill inspects your billing needs and maps them to Stripe configuration and code actions: create products/prices in the dashboard, wire Checkout and Customer Portal, and implement webhook handlers to track subscription state. It prescribes webhooks to verify events, recommended retry/dunning sequences for failed payments, and Stripe Tax setup for compliance. It provides concrete test and go-live checklists so you can validate every edge case before switching to live mode.

When to use it

• Setting up Stripe for the first time (accounts, products, prices, keys).
• Implementing subscription flows (checkout, upgrades, downgrades, trials).
• Handling failed payments, dunning, and automated recovery.
• Configuring tax collection (Stripe Tax) or deciding Merchant of Record.
• Troubleshooting billing issues and webhook failures.

Best practices

• Create products and prices in the Stripe Dashboard, reference Price IDs in code.
• Keep test mode active until you validate every flow: success, decline, 3DS, cancellations.
• Always verify webhook signatures and return 200 immediately; process async if needed.
• Automate dunning with Smart Retries plus a 3-step email sequence; downgrade after retries fail.
• Enable Stripe Tax from day one or use a Merchant of Record if you want full tax handling.

Example use cases

• Add monthly and annual tiers with hosted Stripe Checkout and copy Price IDs into config.
• Create a webhook handler that processes checkout.session.completed and invoice.payment_failed events and updates your DB.
• Add a "Manage Billing" button that creates a Customer Portal session and redirects users.
• Implement a 14-day trial pattern: track trial in DB and create a subscription when trial ends.
• Run the go-live checklist: switch to live keys, update webhook secret, make a $1 test charge.