Subscriptions
Review recurring billing and manage a subscription’s plan, payment method and collection.
A subscription defines a continuing billing relationship. Its invoices record amounts due, and payments record collections. A subscription state is not a replacement for checking whether a particular invoice was paid.
Start and review a subscription
Use a subscription plan from Products and prices in a Payment Link or Cart Checkout. The completed commercial flow creates the subscription; creating a catalog plan alone does not subscribe a customer.
Open Collections → Subscriptions, search for the customer and open the subscription. Review its items, billing interval, current period, next billing information, payment method and invoices. Confirm the active account and environment; management actions require the relevant subscription access.
Understand the state
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Trialing | The subscription is in its trial period |
| Active | Normal recurring billing |
| Incomplete | The initial automatic collection has not succeeded |
| Incomplete expired | The initial invoice expired before payment; setup ended |
| Past due | Payment is outstanding and needs attention |
| Unpaid | Automatic recovery has ended with an unpaid outcome |
| Paused | Collection was intentionally paused |
| Canceled | The subscription ended |
Initial invoice expiry and recovery outcomes depend on Settings → Subscriptions. Do not assume every account uses the same expiry or retry schedule. A trial can complete without an initial charge; review when the paid cycle begins.
Manage the subscription
Open the actions menu and review the confirmation before saving:
- Change payment method: select a saved method belonging to the customer. If none exists, the customer needs to add one through a supported flow.
- Change plan: select an available recurring plan and price. This action is available for eligible single-item subscriptions; bundled subscriptions cannot change plan through this action. Do not assume changing plans settles an outstanding invoice or automatically applies prorating.
- Pause payment collection: choose an indefinite pause or a custom date and whether invoices are marked uncollectible or voided. This changes collection behavior; review how your own service-access policy treats the pause.
- Resume subscription: resume a paused subscription. Previously voided or uncollectible invoices are not automatically proof of payment.
- Cancel subscription: choose immediate cancellation or cancellation at the end of the current period. Review the effective date. Cancellation is not a refund of earlier payments.
Canceled subscriptions cannot use the normal management actions. Recheck the detail after each operation to confirm its state and dates.
What changing a plan affects
An eligible plan change replaces the current single subscription item, starts a new billing period at the time of the change and updates applicable future scheduled invoices to the new price. Review the resulting period, currency and invoice amounts. The operation does not calculate a prorated credit or refund earlier payments.
Recurring discounts
Monetary promotions can last for the first payment, a number of cycles or the full subscription. The initial charge counts as the first cycle. Each recurring invoice respects the recorded benefit and its available limits; insufficient budget or uses can leave a cycle without the promotion. Installment promotions apply only to the initial charge. See Promotions.
Troubleshooting
- Past due or unpaid: open the related invoice and inspect attempts and remaining balance before retrying.
- No plan options: check whether this is a bundle and whether compatible active recurring plans exist.
- Paused unexpectedly: review the pause settings and resume date.
- Customer changed their method but debt remains: check the invoice outcome; changing a method is not itself a successful collection.