Membership billing in Petboost is powered by Stripe Subscriptions. This means recurring charges are handled automatically, payment retries happen without your intervention, and all payment data flows back into the member's record in Petboost. You never need to manually invoice a membership member.

When a member joins a plan, Stripe creates a subscription that automatically charges their card on file at regular intervals:

For each billing cycle:

In the member's detail view:

You can configure each plan with one of three billing cycles:

Note: The "monthly" cycle is a fixed 28-day period rather than a calendar month, so the charge date shifts slightly across the year.

Tip: Match the billing cycle to how often the customer actually visits - weekly or fortnightly for high-frequency services, monthly for less frequent ones.

When a recurring charge fails (expired card, insufficient funds, bank decline), Stripe automatically retries the payment.

Stripe uses an intelligent retry system called Smart Retries that optimises retry timing based on historical success patterns. Typically:

The exact timing is determined by Stripe's machine learning models, which analyse the best time to retry for maximum success probability.

When a payment fails:

The status depends on whether the failed charge was the first invoice or a later renewal.

A start date that is still in the future is not a failed payment. That member is waiting to start.

You do not have to wait for Stripe's retry schedule.

If money is owing, open Membership Payment Failed:

On the customer's Wallet tab the same two actions sit in the payment-failed alert.

Members can also retry themselves. Their Manage Membership page shows Retry payment next to Update payment method, and outstanding membership payments also appear in Pay Your Dues.

When a renewal payment fails, Stripe retries automatically. Petboost keeps membership benefits available for about 72 hours after the first failure so the member (or you) can update the card and retry. This window is fixed - there is no per-plan grace period setting.

If the grace window expires and payment still hasn't succeeded:

When you see members in "Past Due" status:

Editing a plan's price, surcharge, or billing cycle updates the catalogue. Existing members keep the amount on their agreement. People who join after you save pay the new amount.

There is no mid-cycle plan switch and no proration on plan changes. The membership is the agreement. To put someone on a new price or a different plan, cancel that membership, then Reactivate (same plan) or Add member manually (different plan). See Move a member onto a different price or plan.

If a refund for unused days on the cancelled membership is appropriate, issue it from that member's billing history through Stripe. The new enrolment starts a new agreement at the catalogue price on the plan at enrolment.

Petboost does not issue automatic refunds when a subscription is cancelled. This is by design - whether a refund is appropriate depends on the circumstances.

Note: Refunds are processed through Stripe and typically take 5-10 business days to appear on the customer's statement, depending on their bank.

Refunding a membership charge in Stripe is supported. Changing the subscription in Stripe is not.

Do refund a charge, in full or in part, from View in Stripe. Petboost sees the refund and releases the included uses that charge had paid for, so the member's counters correct themselves. You do not need to tell us or adjust anything by hand.

Do not cancel, pause, or edit the subscription inside the Stripe Dashboard. Do those in Petboost, from the member's profile. Petboost holds the membership agreement, the benefit counters, and the pricing on upcoming bookings. Changing the subscription in Stripe moves the money without moving any of that, and the two stop agreeing.

For situations where the customer used some but not all of their benefits:

Membership payments are processed through Stripe, which deducts its standard processing fee from each successful charge before the funds settle to your bank account. You receive the net amount after fees.

Stripe's rates depend on the card type (domestic versus international) and can change over time, so we don't quote a fixed figure here. For the current rates that apply to your account, check your Stripe Dashboard or Stripe's published pricing.

Important: Stripe fees are deducted automatically before funds are transferred to your bank account, so the amount you receive is always the charge minus Stripe's fee.

When setting your membership prices, build in an allowance for processing fees so the net amount still meets your margin target. Because Stripe adds a small fixed component per transaction on top of its percentage rate, higher-value plans keep proportionally more of each charge than low-value ones.

The member detail view shows a complete billing timeline:

A member who joined mid-week on a fixed-weekday plan shows one first charge for that start. If Pro-rate the first week is on, that charge covers only the days until their first full billing day. If it is off, that charge is the full cycle. There is no proration on plan changes, so no plan-change adjustments appear here.

For more detailed financial information, click View in Stripe on any transaction to open it in your Stripe Dashboard. There you can see:

For accounting and reporting:

Stripe sends these emails to members:

Petboost also emails the pet owner when their saved card is due to expire, 30 days and 7 days before the last day of the printed expiry month. The email is sent only when they have a future active appointment or a membership whose benefits are still usable (Active, Past Due, or Migration Pending). It is not sent after the card has already expired, and it is not sent to the business. Settings > Notifications shows Email the customer: card expiry as always on. You cannot turn it off.

If you need to nudge them yourself, open the customer's Wallet tab or the Key Dates calendar and tap Text card update. That SMS is the staff path. Petboost does not send a card-expiry SMS from the automatic job.

Within the platform, you can monitor:

No. An owner holds one active membership per business at a time. For multi-dog households that need more inclusions, create a plan tier sized for the household, for example a two-dog plan with doubled inclusions, rather than a second subscription.

On the Stripe subscription it appears as its own line: the base plan price plus the additional pet amount multiplied by each extra pet. That split makes reconciliation straightforward when you match Petboost memberships to Stripe invoices.

Stripe will attempt to update the card automatically through the card network's Account Updater service. If the update fails, the next charge will fail and the retry / short grace window process begins.

They can start today, or wait for the weekday. The first payment on a same-day start is the full week unless Pro-rate the first week is on. Billing still aligns to the weekday in both cases.

Take a plan that bills on Mondays at $70 a week, and a customer who signs up on Wednesday. You have these options:

The enrol screen shows the exact first amount before you confirm it.

A walk taken before the membership starts is an ordinary booking at the standard price. A walk on or after the start date can be booked before then and takes the member price and an included use from that week. If the membership is cancelled before it starts, or the first payment does not go through within four days of the start date, those bookings return to the standard price, including any walk already taken in those four days.

The fixed weekday keeps everyone paying and refreshing together. Two alternatives exist on the plan's When do they pay and refresh? option: On their start date runs each member on their own signup day, and Fixed benefit week, billed from their start date keeps the shared week for counting included uses while billing follows each member's own start date, so nobody waits to join. Either change applies to members who join after you save.

There is no separate trial. Pick a future start date instead: benefits and recurring billing wait for that date. Tick Collect first payment today if they pay now and still start later.

No. Edit the plan to change the catalogue. Existing members keep the amount on their agreement. To put a member on the new price, cancel that membership, then Reactivate. See Move a member onto a different price or plan.

You cannot pick a new weekday for one existing member. Changing the plan's weekday only affects people who join after you save. Existing members keep their current day.

Yes, in one of two ways on the plan Details step under "When do they pay and refresh?". Fixed day of week puts billing and capped benefit refreshes on that weekday for every new member. Fixed benefit week, billed from their start date shares the weekday for capped benefit refreshes only, while each member bills from their own start date. Changing either later applies to new members only - existing members keep their current days.

All payments are in Australian dollars (AUD) by default, matching your Stripe account's default currency.