Overview

ClearSync can include recurring revenue that is collected outside Stripe. There are two implementation paths:

  1. Recommended: Create and manage the subscription in Stripe, while recording each invoice as paid outside Stripe.
  2. Fallback: Create and maintain the corresponding ClearSync Subscription and Event records and HubSpot Payment records yourself.

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Our recommendation: When practical, use Stripe as the subscription system of record even when the customer pays by check, wire transfer, ACH handled elsewhere, or another external payment method. This gives Stripe, ClearSync, and your other Stripe integrations a consistent, forward-looking subscription data set.

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Recommended: Manage the subscription in Stripe and collect payment elsewhere

Stripe supports representing external subscriptions with manually collected invoices. Set the subscription's billing method to Send invoice rather than automatically charging a saved payment method. Stripe will generate an invoice for each billing period, and you can mark the invoice as paid outside Stripe after the payment is confirmed in your external system.

A typical process is to:

  1. Create or select the Stripe Customer.
  2. Create the subscription using the appropriate Stripe Product, Price, quantity, billing interval, and start date.
  3. Select Send invoice as the billing method. Stripe documents this as the manual collection method.
  4. Collect the payment through the external channel.
  5. After the payment is confirmed, open the Stripe invoice and mark it Paid outside Stripe. Through the API, this is the paid_out_of_band option.
  6. ClearSync will then sync the resulting subscription, event, payment, property mappings, and associations into HubSpot.

Recommendation: Mark an invoice paid outside Stripe only after you confirm the external payment. Stripe treats the paid status as final, so you can no longer edit the invoice.

Why this is the preferred approach

Keeping the subscription in Stripe provides several advantages: