Every payment processor has a Customer object that keeps track of your customers by email. Pay keeps track of these Customers with the Pay::Customer
model.
Before you can process payments, you need to assign a payment processor for the user.
@user.set_payment_processor :stripe
@user.set_payment_processor :braintree
@user.set_payment_processor :paddle_billing
@user.set_payment_processor :paddle_classic
@user.set_payment_processor :fake_processor, allow_fake: true
This creates a Pay::Customer
record in the database that keeps track of the payment processor's ID and allows you to interact with the API to charge and subscribe this customer.
The fake_processor
is restricted by default so users can't give themselves free access to your application.
Alternatively, you can set a default processor for all users.
class User < ApplicationRecord
pay_customer default_payment_processor: :stripe
end
After setting the payment processor, your model will have a payment_processor
they can use to create charges, subscriptions, etc.
@user.payment_processor
#=> #<Pay::Customer processor: "stripe", processor_id: "cus_1000">
This record keeps track of payment processor that is active and the ID for the customer on the API. It also is associated with all Charges, Subscriptions, and Payment Methods.
A user might switch between payment processors. For example, they might initially subscribe using Braintree, cancel after a while, and resubscribe using Stripe later on.
Pay keeps track of these with a has_many :pay_customers
association.
@user.pay_customers
#=> [#<Pay::Customer>, #<Pay::Customer>]
Only one Pay::Customer
can be the default which is used for payment_processor
.
If you need to access the API object directly from the payment processor like the Stripe::Customer
. You can retrieve the object with:
@user.payment_processor.customer
#=> #<Stripe::Customer>
It is currently not possible to retrieve a Customer object through the Paddle Classic API.
See Payment Methods