Why do I see the error "Card Token usage on the Customers API and Charges API has reached end of life" when testing a Stripe payment?

When you connect a new Stripe account to Soapbox Engage and submit a one-time credit card payment to test it, you may see this error instead of a confirmation:

Bad Request: Card Token usage on the Customers API and Charges API has reached end of life. In order to continue processing your payments, you will need to use the Payment Intents and Payment Methods API.

The payment is not processed and the card is not charged. Your Stripe credentials are not the problem, and nothing needs to change in Soapbox Engage. Stripe no longer allows newly opened accounts to accept card payments the way Soapbox Engage takes one-time card payments, unless the account owner turns that on.

Recurring payments are processed differently, so a monthly donation may go through on the same page where a one-time payment fails.

Important: Until the setting is on, every supporter who makes a one-time card payment on your site sees this error. Turn it on before you publish your pages or open registration.

Turning on card payments in Stripe

You need to be an owner or administrator of your organization's Stripe account to change this setting. Stripe asks why the setting is needed before it saves the change, and the steps below include the answer to give.

To allow the payments:

1. Log in to Stripe.
2. Open the API policies page. You can also reach it from Settings > Developers, on the API policies tab.
3. In the Using card Tokens for payments row, where the status shows Disabled, click the edit icon in the Edit policy column.
4. In the Edit API policy pane, check that Changes apply to names your organization's Stripe account.
5. Turn on the Using card Tokens for payments toggle.
6. Under Why does your integration need to create legacy cards?, select Plugin or library.
7. For Which plugin or library?, enter Soapbox Engage.
8. Click Save changes.
9. Confirm the status in the Using card Tokens for payments row now shows Enabled.

Note: Do not select Existing platform integration. It asks for platform account IDs, which do not apply to Soapbox Engage.

Note: If you are testing with Stripe's test mode or a separate Stripe test account, check the setting in your live account as well, so real payments are not refused once you launch.

Testing again

To confirm the change:

1. Open the Donation page, Event registration page or Store you were testing.
2. Submit a one-time payment with a credit card.
3. Confirm the payment completes and appears in your Stripe account under Payments.

To test without a real charge, use a test card on a test site. See Using test credit cards to attempt transactions within Soapbox Engage apps.

Related articles:

• Setting up credentials for Stripe in Soapbox
• Understanding Stripe Customers, Payments, Subscriptions, and Soapbox
• Using test credit cards to attempt transactions within Soapbox Engage apps