What Happens to Stripe Subscriptions When You Sell Your SaaS?
You’ve built a SaaS product, grown it to meaningful MRR, and now you have a buyer. Congratulations. But there’s a critical question that often gets overlooked until the last minute: what happens to your Stripe subscriptions?
This article covers exactly what you need to know.
The Short Answer
Your Stripe subscriptions don’t automatically transfer to the buyer. The subscription objects, the billing relationships, the renewal schedules — all of it stays in your Stripe account unless you actively migrate it.
Why This Matters
When the buyer takes over, they typically need the subscriptions in their own Stripe account for several reasons:
Legal and Tax: The revenue needs to flow to the correct legal entity. Keeping subscriptions in the seller’s account creates a liability.
Operational Control: The buyer needs to manage the subscriptions — handle upgrades, downgrades, cancellations, and payment failures.
Clean Separation: After the sale, the seller shouldn’t retain access to customer payment information or billing.
What Stripe Offers
Stripe has a feature called Customer Data Copy that helps with part of the problem:
- Customer objects (names, emails, metadata) are copied
- Payment methods (cards, bank accounts) are transferred
- A mapping CSV links old customer IDs to new ones
But here’s the critical gap: subscriptions are not copied.
After Customer Data Copy, you have customers with valid payment methods in the new account, but no subscriptions charging them.
The Subscription Migration Challenge
Each subscription must be recreated in the buyer’s account. This involves:
- Reading the original subscription details
- Creating a new subscription with matching configuration
- Setting the correct billing anchor (so renewal dates match)
- Canceling the old subscription
For a handful of subscriptions, this could be done manually. For dozens or hundreds, it’s a significant undertaking with plenty of room for error.
Common Mistakes
Double Billing: Creating the new subscription before properly canceling the old one can result in customers being charged twice.
Shifted Billing Dates: Without setting the billing anchor correctly, customers may be charged on different dates than expected.
Proration Issues: New subscriptions may generate prorated charges if not configured correctly.
Incomplete Migration: Missing subscriptions or failing to cancel old ones leaves a mess.
How Professional Sales Handle This
In a professional SaaS sale, subscription migration is typically part of the transition plan:
Pre-Close: Seller requests Customer Data Copy from Stripe (1-3 business days lead time).
At Close: The actual subscription recreation and cancellation happens, either manually or with tooling.
Post-Close: Both parties verify the migration was complete and correct.
The more subscriptions involved, the more important it is to have a reliable, auditable process.
What to Include in the Purchase Agreement
Smart buyers and sellers include subscription migration in the deal terms:
- Who is responsible for requesting Customer Data Copy
- Timeline for migration execution
- What happens if migration fails
- Confirmation requirements before final payment
Tools for Subscription Migration
Manual: For very small subscription counts, careful manual recreation may be feasible.
Custom Scripts: Technical founders sometimes write one-off scripts for their specific situation.
MoveMRR: Purpose-built for this exact scenario, with safety checks, billing anchor preservation, and full audit trails.
Timeline Considerations
Customer Data Copy requires 1-3 business days. Plan accordingly:
- Don’t wait until the day of close to request it
- Have API keys ready in advance
- Test with a subset if possible
After the Migration
Once subscriptions are in the buyer’s account:
- First billing cycle should match expectations
- Customer support should be prepared for any questions
- Old subscriptions should be confirmed canceled
- Documentation should be archived
Summary
Selling your SaaS involves more than handing over code and credentials. Your Stripe subscriptions represent ongoing customer relationships and revenue, and transferring them correctly is critical to a successful handover.
Plan ahead, use the right tools, and document everything.
Need help with subscription migration for your SaaS sale? Learn about MoveMRR or contact us.