Stripe promotion codes on invoices: how they apply and expire

TL;DR

Stripe promotion codes are customer-facing wrappers around coupons: the code the customer types resolves to a coupon with its own duration and restrictions. On invoices, the underlying coupon's rules drive the discount, including expiry and redemption limits. Set maxredemptions and an expiresat on the code so a leaked code cannot discount forever. Expired or fully-redeemed codes fail at redemption time with a clear error; handle that in your checkout or portal UI instead of letting it 500.

The query

Stripe promotion codes on invoices: how they apply and expire

Use this when

• Customers redeeming promo codes for subscription discounts
• A promo code leaking and getting overused
• Codes that should stop working after a campaign ends

Not for

• Manual discounts applied by your team (use coupons directly)
• Usage-based credits (different mechanism)

Steps

1. Create the coupon with the intended discount and duration first.

Expected output: The discount behavior is defined once.

1. Create the promotion code on top of it with expiresat and maxredemptions set.

Expected output: The code has a bounded blast radius even if it leaks.

1. Allow redemption in Checkout, the portal, or your API update path.

Expected output: Customers can actually apply the code.

1. Handle redemption errors in the UI with a friendly message.

Expected output: Bad or expired codes fail gracefully.

1. Monitor redemptions during the campaign and deactivate the code when it ends.

Expected output: The campaign closes cleanly.

Variant phrasings

Stripe promotion codes expire

promo code redemption limit Stripe

how do Stripe promotion codes apply to invoices

Root cause

Codes wrap coupons because the customer-facing string (WELCOME20) needs to be rotatable and restrictable independently of the discount math. Expiry and redemption caps live on the code so marketing can run campaigns without touching the underlying coupon.

Edge cases

• Archived codes cannot be reactivated; create a new one for a rerun
• A code restricted to specific products silently fails on others; check restrictions first

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_e0XLO3OovHgELLAvnfNibg