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

Your subscription settings can be found in *Settings > Orders > Subscriptions*. 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 such as shipping, discounts, etc. (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.
5. Prepaid Subscriptions - Number of Prepaid subscription orders. For example, if the prepaid is set to 3, subscription for this product will charge at the product's price when the order is created, and renew 2 times without charge.
6. Cancel After Prepaid Renews - When using prepaid subscriptions, the subscription can be canceled after prepaid renewals are complete, or be renewed at original subscription’s frequency and price.

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. Navigate to the product Catalog > Products > Edit product
2. Move to the Subscription settings of the general tab on the Product Editor page. About halfway down you will see the following settings:
   
   

1. Enable the Subscription Checkbox, enter the frequency type and any prepaid subscriptions if desired (See the settings explanation above for an explanation of these fields) 
   
   

To manually create a subscription from an order:

1. Navigate to Orders > 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.

• Subscription Frequency Type – Defaults to your settings above, but can be overridden here. 
• Subscription Frequency – Defaults to your settings above, but can be overridden here. 
• Enable Variable Subscription Types - Combined with Subscription Frequency, this defines how often a Subscription should renew.
• Defined Variable Subscription Types - Combined with Subscription Frequency, this defines how often a Subscription should renew.
• Subscription Renewal Type of Day  - Explicitly set the time of day at which you would like for subscription renewals to take place.
• Subscription Default Drip Series - 
• Auto - Renew Subscriptions - If this Store Setting is enabled, after an order is successfully placed and paid, a subscription will be automatically created based on the Auto Create Subscription type and either the Store level or Product level Subscription Frequency, whichever applies.

Frequently Asked Questions

If a customer places an order with multiple products but only wants one as a subscription, how can this be set up?

On the subscription Orders page (Orders > Power Features > 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.