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Setting up subscriptions

After you set up subscriptions, your customers can make scheduled purchases in a repeating frequency. To review information about your subscriptions, you must be using a subscription app from the Shopify App Store. If you have a subscription app installed, then subscription information becomes available in the following areas of your Shopify admin:

On this page

Eligibility requirements

To use third-party subscription apps, your store must meet the following requirements:

Using subscriptions in the Shopify admin

Before you complete any of the set up steps in the Shopify admin, you need to complete the setup in the subscription app from the Shopify App Store you installed in your Shopify admin.

If you have completed the setup in your subscription app, then there are some steps to take in your Shopify admin to complete your subscriptions app setup.

Adding a subscription policy

If you have set up a subscription, then a new purchase options cancellation policy is added to your store. This policy is linked in the checkout footer as a subscription policy. If the policy in the Shopify admin settings is blank, then a generated template is displayed to customers. Add or edit your store policies to update the subscription policy that's displayed to your customers.

Subscription products

If you use a subscription app to offer subscription products, then you can view a product's subscription details on the product page in your Shopify admin.

If a product or any of its variants have a subscription applied to it, then its subscription details are shown in the Subscriptions section of the product page.

You can limit your subscription products to being sold only as a subscription, or you can enable both subscription and one-time purchases.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, click Products.
  2. Click the product that you want to manage the subscription of.
  3. Select whether to sell the product as a subscription only:
    • To sell the product as a subscription only, check Sell product as a subscription only.
    • To sell the product as one-time purchases as well as subscriptions, uncheck Sell product as a subscription only.

Subscription discounts

If you offer subscription products, then there are more options when creating fixed-amount, percentage, or free shipping discounts.

The Purchase type section appears on the Create discount code page. You can choose if a discount applies to subscription purchases, one-time purchases, or both.

Change a discount's purchase type

When you create a discount code you can choose to limit the use of your discount to specific purchase types. If you select Subscription in the Purchase type section of the Create discount code page, then you can choose to apply the discount to All subscription products, All subscription products in a specific collection, or Specific subscription products.

If you have an existing discount code that you want to update, then you can edit your discount code to include subscription-based rules.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Discounts.

  2. Click the discount that you want to edit.

  3. In the Purchase type section, choose the purchase type that you would like to limit your discount code to:

    • If you select Subscription as the purchase type for your discount code, then you can choose which subscription products to apply your discount to. You can limit the use of your discount code to specific subscription products, or a specific collection.
    • If you choose to limit your discount to a specific subscription product, or collection, then search for your product or collection using Browse button that appears.

Change usage limits on Free shipping discount

If you offer a free shipping discount that applies to subscription products, then you can specify for how long the discount applies. You can choose to limit your free shipping discount to the first payment, to limit your free shipping to a certain number of payments, or to enable free shipping on all future subscription payments.

If you have an existing free shipping discount that you want to update, then you can edit your discount code to include subscription-based rules.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Discounts.

  2. Click the free shipping discount you want to edit.

  3. Update the purchase type to Subscription in the Purchase type section of the discount editor.

  4. In the Usage limits section, select the limitations that you want to apply to your discount under Recurring payments for subscriptions.

Customer checkout experience

If an order includes subscriptions, then the following additional information displays on the checkout:

  • Delivery frequency displays under each subscription line item.
  • The Shipping method section displays a shipping selection for the initial delivery, as well as additional information for the recurring shipments of subscriptions.
  • The checkout displays a purchase option agreement. By proceeding to payment or reviewing their order, your customer confirms that they understand that they're purchasing a subscription.
  • If the Require a confirmation step setting is checked in Settings > Checkout, then the order review page displays a notice reminding the customer that their order contains recurring charges for their subscriptions.

Recurring shipments

When your customer selects an available shipping method on an order that includes subscriptions, that shipping method applies to the initial delivery of any subscriptions in the order as well as any one-time purchases. After the initial delivery, recurring shipments for subscriptions revert to the default shipping method for subscriptions.

When an order includes subscriptions, the Shipping method section includes the following additional sections:

  • The First shipment section, where customers can select a shipping method for their order. This selection applies to the initial delivery of all items in the order, including subscriptions and one-time purchase items.
  • The Recurring payments section, which displays the shipping method, transit time, cost, and delivery frequency for each recurring shipment included in the order.

Your customers can choose from all available shipping rates that apply to the products in their order for the initial delivery.

The initial delivery shipping rate depends on whether the order contains only subscriptions, or both subscriptions and one-time purchase items, and on the origin of the shipping methods that apply to subscriptions. Consider the following factors:

  • if you created shipping profiles in your Shopify admin for your subscriptions, then a single shipping rate applies to the entire order
  • if you created shipping profiles in your third-party subscriptions app, then the shipping rate is applied based on the following factors:
    • when the order contains a combination of subscriptions and one-time purchases, the app's shipping rate is added to the customer's selected shipping rate for the one-time purchases
    • when the order contains subscriptions only, the third-party app's shipping rate applies to the order

After the initial delivery, recurring shipments default to the least expensive available shipping method. Recurring shipments are billed and fulfilled separately, even if they have overlapping delivery dates. The delivery frequency of a recurring shipment excludes the estimated delivery window of the shipping method. For example, if a subscription ships on the 15th day of the month, and the shipping method has a 5-day delivery time, then the customer will receive their order in 19 days.

If your subscription delivery frequency is set to a specific day of the week or month, then the initial delivery still ships on that day of the week regardless of the order shipping method that was selected. For example, if your customer places an order on the first day of the month that includes a subscription that ships on the 15th day of every month, and selects an express 2-day shipping method, then the subscription ships on the 15th day of the month. The initial delivery ships with the express shipping method on the 15th, followed by recurring shipments with the default subscription shipping method.

Example of a checkout with subscriptions

For example, your store sells travel mugs and whole bean coffee by the pound. Your customers can purchase whole bean coffee by the pound as a one-time purchase, or as a subscription. You don't ship subscriptions on specific days of the week or month.

Your customer adds the following products to their cart:

  • a coffee mug
  • a pound of coffee to be delivered every 2 weeks

The customer proceeds to the checkout, which displays the following shipping methods in the First Shipment section:

  • an Express method with a 1–2 day delivery time for $20 USD
  • a Standard shipping method with a 5–8 day delivery time for $10 USD

The customer broke their favorite travel mug, and wants to get a replacement as soon as possible, so they choose Express shipping. They're charged $20 USD for the entire order.

In the Recurring Payments section, the customer can review the following shipping information for the pound of coffee in their order:

  • the Standard shipping method and 5 to 8 business days delivery time
  • that the cost of the initial delivery is Included, followed by a $10 USD charge every 2 weeks

The customer receives both the travel mug and a pound of coffee in 2 days, because the initial delivery shipping method was Express and your store doesn't ship subscriptions on a specific day of the month. Two weeks after placing their first order, they're charged $10 USD for the next pound of coffee, and then receive it after 5 days because the default least expensive shipping method was Standard.

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