Subscriptions Overview

Subscriptions, or recurring orders, are a great way to increase sales by allowing orders to be automatically generated at any interval that are charged instantly. Note, subscriptions only work for orders which were paid for using a credit card.

Automatic vs Manual Renewal

Subscriptions can be created automatically by the system or manually through the administration console. Each has its own set of abilities as well as limitations – this will help you determine which setup is right for you.

Subscription Settings Setup

Navigate to your store settings, and locate the subscription settings. Within this section are 4 fields. Set the values of these to the best fit for your setup. Here is an explanation of these fields:

1. Auto-Create Subscription Type
• None [Default] – This will not create subscriptions automatically at all. They will need to be created manually
• Entire Order – This will take each and every order and make a subscription out of it. It simply copies over the order information of the entire cart – no recalculation of price is done. It pulls all items regardless of whether they were marked as Subscription Products or not.
• SubscriptionProductsOnly – This will look through all orders and if it finds an order with products marked as Subscription Products it will create a new subscription with just these items on it while recalculating the order totals information. (this is the most common subscription type for most business models)
2. Subscription Frequency Type – Sets the type of interval [Days, Weeks, Months, Years] or noRenewal.
3. Subscription Frequency – A text field that sets the length of the frequency. For example, putting a 3 in this field with Month in the previous would renew the subscription every 3 months.
4. Auto-Renew Subscription – If checked, a new order will be placed every time the subscription is set to renew. Otherwise, the subscription will need to be manually processed.

Automatic Subscription Creation

Use the following selections:

1. Any Auto-Create Subscription type except: "None"
2. Any Subscription Frequency Type except: "noRenewal"
3. Any Subscription Frequency except: 0
4. Auto-Renew Subscriptions: Enabled

Manual Subscription Creation

Use the following selections:

1. Auto-Create Subscription type: "None"
2. Subscription Frequency Type: Any (What you select here will be the default when you manually create them, but you can select noRenewal)
3. Subscription Frequency: Any (What you select here will be the default when you manually create them, but you can enter 0)
4. Auto-Renew Subscriptions: Disabled

Setting Up Subscription Products

These settings are only necessary if you are using the "SubscriptionProductsOnly" subscription type.

1. Open the product for editing.
   
   
   
2. Move to the bottom of the general tab on the Product Editor page.

1. Enable the Subscription Product setting and enter the interval type and value for the product. (See the settings explanation above for an explanation of these fields)
   
   

To manually create a subscription from an order:

1. Navigate to Orders > All/Open Orders.
   
   
   
2. Find the order you wish to create a subscription from and select it.
   
   
   
3. From the Actions menu, select Create Subscription
   
   
   
   
4. A Create Subscription dialog will open. You can change the following fields from the default values:
   (See settings explanation below screenshot)
   
   
• Subscription Type – Entire Order or Subscription Products Only

  Note: Only one type of subscription is allowed to be in use at a time. Once you begin assigning a type to subscriptions, all other subscriptions must use that type. See item 2 in the Subscription Setting Setup for a breakdown in how the two different types work.

• Frequency Type – Defaults to your settings above, but can be overridden here.
• Frequency – Defaults to your settings above, but can be overridden here.
• Next Due Date – The next date when the subscription will renew.
• Drip Series – Adds the customer to a particular drip series.

Frequently Asked Questions

Expand All | Collapse All

How can administrators and customers either delete or stop a subscription?

Customers can enable or disable their subscriptions from the My Account page. However this will not delete the subscription, but simply stop it from renewing.


Via the admin console, subscriptions can be cancelled in the subscriptions listing page located at Orders > Subscriptions. From here, the subscriptions can also be edited to no longer renew.

Can I view which orders are subscriptions from my orders list page?

Yes, you can select "FromSubscriptionID" from the "choose Columns" icon on the Orders>All orders page.

Can I manually renew a subscription even if it's already set for Auto-renew?

Yes, this is done from the Subscription orders screen. Orders>Subscriptions.
Select the checkbox next to the order(s) you'd like to renew and from the action menu select "renew subscriptions"

On the subscription Orders page Orders>Subscriptions, there is a column titled "Is Renewal Payment Declined" if it says True, then the payment declined. If it says false, the payment is valid and has not declined.
Expand All | Collapse All