How cards work
Cards are one of the most popular ways to pay online, with broad global reach. There are different types of cards and several steps in the process. To build a Stripe integration that supports all of your customers, see what goes on behind the scenes of a card payment.
Stripe checks that the details provided are formatted correctly (for example, the expiry date isn’t in the past). There’s no guarantee that the card itself is valid yet.
Some banks, especially in regulated regions like Europe and India, may prompt the customer to authenticate a purchase (for example, by texting the customer a code to enter on the bank’s website). Watch our video to learn more.
The bank checks for sufficient funds and, if successful, holds the amount on the customer’s account to guarantee it for the merchant.
The money moves from the issuing bank to the merchant’s account.
Automatic card updates
Saved payment method details can continue to work even if the issuing bank replaces the physical card. Stripe works with card networks and automatically attempts to update saved card details whenever a customer receives a new card (for example, replacing an expired card or one that was reported lost or stolen). This allows your customers to continue using your service without interruption and reduces the need for you to collect new card details whenever a card is replaced.
Automatic card updates require card issuers to participate with the network and provide this information. It is widely supported in the United States, allowing Stripe to automatically update most American Express, Visa, Mastercard, and Discover cards issued there. International support varies from country to country. It isn’t possible to identify cards that support automatic updates.
You can listen for Stripe webhooks to learn of card update activity:
- The
payment_method.updatedevent notifies you of updates to a card through an API call - The
payment_method.automatically_updatedevent notifies you of automatic card updates from the network
These events include the card’s new expiration date and last four digits, so you can update your own records as needed.
For information on payment method transaction fees, refer to local payment method pricing.