Renewal reminder sent before charge with time to cancel

Renewal charges that arrive with no advance warning are the leading cause of subscription-related chargebacks and the behavioral trigger the FTC Negative Option Rule (2025) and California ARL target in their 'save offer' and notice requirements. A user who has forgotten they subscribed months ago and sees an unexpected $29 charge will dispute it with their bank rather than cancel — and Stripe's 0.75% dispute threshold affects payment processing eligibility. California ARL requires advance notice for annual charges; for monthly charges, renewal reminders are a strong chargeback-prevention measure even where not strictly mandated.

Handle Stripe's invoice.upcoming event and send a renewal reminder email. In Stripe Dashboard, set 'Days before upcoming invoice email' to 7 for monthly plans. In app/api/webhooks/stripe/route.ts:

if (event.type === 'invoice.upcoming') {
  const invoice = event.data.object
  const customer = await stripe.customers.retrieve(invoice.customer as string)
  const email = 'email' in customer ? customer.email : null
  if (email && invoice.amount_due > 0) {
    await sendEmail({
      to: email,
      subject: `Heads up: Your subscription renews ${formatDate(invoice.period_end)}`,
      template: 'renewal-reminder',
      data: {
        amount: (invoice.amount_due / 100).toFixed(2),
        renewalDate: formatDate(invoice.period_end),
        cancelUrl: `${process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL}/settings/billing`,
      },
    })
  }
}

Email must include renewal amount, date, and a direct cancel link. The annual-renewal-reminder check covers the ≥30-day advance notice required for annual subscriptions under California ARL.