Import from Stripe
Bring Stripe customers, invoices and active subscriptions into Tillage, then stop Stripe billing so clients aren't charged twice.
If you already bill clients in Stripe, the Stripe import moves them into Tillage: customers become clients, past invoices come across with their payment status, and active subscriptions become recurring billing schedules that charge the same saved cards. This page walks through each step, including the last one that stops Stripe from billing those clients as well.
The import reads from the Stripe account connected to your team, so it’s most useful when you’ve connected your existing account. See Stripe.
Before you start
- Connect your existing Stripe account.
- Add any clients you already have in Tillage, so customers can be matched to them instead of duplicated.
- Know how auto-pay consent works. Imported subscriptions charge saved cards automatically for clients set to Recurring Only, the default, or All Invoices. Set a client to Never if they should pay each invoice themselves.
Go to Utilities → Import Data and choose Stripe Import. The import has four steps: Customer Mapping, Import Invoices, Invoice Results and Subscriptions.
Step 1: Map customers to clients
Tillage loads your Stripe customers and auto-matches them to Tillage clients by contact email, then by company name.
- Review the matches under Pending Mappings. Remove any that are wrong.
- Under Unmapped Stripe Customers, pick a client for each customer, or choose ✨ Create New Client.
- Click Continue to Import Invoices. Your mappings are saved when you continue.
Only mapped customers are imported in later steps. Mapping also links each client to their Stripe customer, so their saved payment methods show on the client’s Payment tab.
To skip invoices and go straight to subscriptions, click Skip to Invoices here and then Skip to Subscriptions.
Step 2: Import invoices
- Optionally set a Date Range (Optional) with a Start Date and End Date. Leave both blank to import everything.
- Click Start Import.
Tillage imports Stripe invoices for mapped customers with their line items, amounts, payment status and dates. Void and uncollectible invoices are skipped. Statuses come across like this:
| In Stripe | In Tillage |
|---|---|
| Draft | Not Sent |
| Open | Issued |
| Paid | Paid, with a payment record on the paid date |
Invoices are matched on their Stripe invoice ID, so running the import again updates them instead of creating duplicates.
Step 3: Review invoice results
Invoice Results shows New Invoices, Updated Invoices and Skipped, plus warnings for invoices from customers you haven’t mapped. Click Continue to Subscriptions.
Step 4: Import subscriptions
- Optionally set a Date Range (Optional) to limit the import to subscriptions created in that window.
- Under Recurring Invoice Behavior, choose what happens On Scheduled Date when Tillage creates each invoice:
- Send Automatically: the invoice is issued and emailed.
- Review invoice and send manually: the invoice is created as a draft. Drafts aren’t auto-charged.
- Skip Notifications: the invoice is issued with no email, and auto-charged if the client allows it.
- Click Import Subscriptions.
What comes across:
- Active subscriptions only. Every active subscription for mapped customers is imported, however many you have. Trialing, past-due, paused and canceled subscriptions are skipped.
- Amount and frequency. Monthly, quarterly, every six months, weekly and yearly prices map to the matching frequency. Other intervals come in as monthly, so check those.
- Name. Product names, joined with “+”, or the subscription’s description.
- Start date. The original Stripe start date is kept so your MRR history lines up.
- Next invoice. The next issue date is the end of the current Stripe billing period.
- Payment method. The schedule is linked to the Stripe customer, so it charges their saved card. Payment terms are set to due on receipt.
Subscriptions are matched on their Stripe subscription ID, so running the import again updates them.
Coupons and discounts
Stripe coupons come across as negative discount lines on the recurring invoice, so the first Tillage invoice bills what Stripe charges today. Item-level coupons come off their own item first, then subscription-level coupons come off what’s left.
Tillage discount lines don’t expire. If a coupon ends in Stripe, after a set number of months or after the next charge, the results list it under discount(s) end in Stripe with its end date or “next charge only”. Remove that discount line from the billing schedule when it’s due to end. See Edit a schedule.
Step 5: Stop billing in Stripe
Importing copies your subscriptions; it doesn’t cancel them. Until you do, Stripe keeps charging your clients and Tillage will bill them too.
- After the import, find Stop billing these clients in Stripe.
- Click Cancel Subscriptions in Stripe.
- Confirm with Cancel at Period End.
Every imported Stripe subscription is set to cancel at the end of its current period. Clients keep the time they’ve already paid for, Stripe won’t charge them again, and Tillage bills them from their next due date. When it’s done, you’ll see Stripe billing stops at the end of each period with a count.
Things to know:
- It applies to every Stripe subscription imported into your team, including ones from earlier imports, not only this run.
- It skips any schedule you’ve paused or cancelled in Tillage, so those keep billing in Stripe.
- Subscriptions already canceled or set to cancel in Stripe are counted and left as they are.
- If some fail, Tillage lists them. Click Try Again or cancel them yourself with Open Stripe subscriptions.
- You can undo the cancellation for any subscription in Stripe before its period ends.
If you’d rather wait, click Not Yet. Come back before the next Stripe renewal to avoid a double charge.