Move a member to Stripe billing by invoice

Turn a free or bank-paid membership into one that Stripe invoices every year or month. The member needs no card. Nothing changes until they pay the first invoice.

You'll need

• The member's page open
• The Finance, Membership manager or Owner role
• An issuing Stripe account chosen on Team invoices, with the transfer instructions and contact email filled in

1. On the member's page, find the free or bank-paid membership under Subscriptions. Press ⋯ at the end of its row and choose Move to Stripe billing.
2. Choose the paid plan. Yearly and monthly plans are listed apart. The member's plan now says (their plan now).
3. Under The first paid period starts, choose When the current membership ends or Today.
4. Choose Days to pay: 7, 14, 30 or Other….
5. Read the box. It shows the First invoice, what it Pays for, the Due date and the First renewal invoice.
6. Press Send invoice for …. The next box shows the payment link with Copy link.

Moves money

Confirming creates a Stripe invoice and FMS emails it to the member at once. Nothing is charged, and the member keeps their current membership exactly as it is, until the invoice is paid.

When the paid period starts

Choice	What happens	When to use it
When the current membership ends	The paid period begins the day the free or bank-paid one ends. No days are lost or paid twice. The invoice must be due by that day.	The usual choice. Offered while the membership has an end date ahead.
Today	The paid period begins now. Free days left on the current membership are not carried over.	The membership has no end date, or ends too soon to wait.

The box limits Days to pay so the invoice falls due in time. A red line under the choice explains any limit.

What the member sees

• An email, Your membership invoice, with the amount, the period, the due date and a View and pay the invoice button.
• The bank-transfer details from Team invoices, and the contact email to send the reference to.
• On the website, the same invoice waiting, with a button to pay.
• After paying, an email Payment received — your membership is now billed by invoice.
• Each later period, an email with the new invoice, and a reminder two weeks before it.

Stripe does not send its own email for the first invoice.

Waiting on payment

The member page shows a yellow line under the membership:

Waiting on payment: move to Fanatic by invoice · $350.00 · due 24 Oct · Copy payment link · Mark paid by bank transfer · Cancel

When Stripe says the invoice is paid, FMS ends the free or bank-paid membership and starts the paid one at the same moment. The row then reads Invoice · by invoice · paid until ….

The member paid by bank transfer

1. Check the bank statement for the money.
2. Press Mark paid by bank transfer on the yellow line.
3. Choose How it arrived, type the Reference, and type what was Received in bank.
4. Tick the box and press Mark paid.

FMS tells Stripe the invoice was paid outside Stripe. The yellow line then says bank payment recorded — confirming with Stripe. The move applies by itself a moment later. The payment appears under the membership as Bank transfer · Stripe invoice with the amount you typed.

A recorded bank payment cannot be cancelled here

Once you press Mark paid, Cancel disappears from the yellow line. Check the statement first.

If it is not paid

• Cancel on the yellow line voids the invoice in Stripe, so the link stops working. FMS does not email the member about it. Tell them yourself if they expect it.
• Stop on the membership does the same.
• An invoice still unpaid a day after its due date is voided by FMS on its own.

The member keeps their current membership in every case. A payment that still arrives after the invoice was voided is not turned into a membership. It appears in Health → Dead letters with the reason. Finance refunds it in Stripe.

After the move

• Stripe invoices the member each period, with the same days to pay as the setting on Team invoices. FMS emails each invoice.
• If an invoice is still unpaid 14 days after the paid period ends, the member stops reading until it is paid. Paying restores access at once.
• Stop on the paid membership ends it in Stripe and voids any invoice still open.
• The plan of a membership billed by invoice cannot be changed with Change plan. Stop it, then move the member again on the plan they want.

Check it worked

• The yellow Waiting on payment: move to … by invoice line is under the membership
• Settings → Email lists Your membership invoice for the member
• Settings → Audit shows Sent a … invoice to move them to Stripe billing under your name

What cannot be moved here

• A membership already billed by Stripe. Use Change plan.
• A team plan, or a seat on a team. The team page and Team invoices manage those.
• An older or extra row. Only the membership that bills the member can be moved. The box names the right one.
• A membership with a change already waiting. Cancel that first.
• Community, or a team plan, as the new plan. Only paid individual plans can be chosen.
• No issuing account, a read-only one, the wrong kind of key, or live payments switched off on the server. The box says so in red before you press anything, and nothing is sent.