Articles on: Subscription Contracts

A Beginner's Guide to Subscription Contracts

Subscription contracts let you manage the ongoing subscriptions that are created after a customer checks out using one of your subscription plans. From the contract page, you can view upcoming renewals, billing and shipping info, historical activity, and handle changes like rescheduling, skipping, or canceling the subscription.


When to Use This Guide

Use this guide to:


  • Understand the details of an individual customer's active subscription
  • Change renewal schedules, customer details, or fulfillment instructions
  • Troubleshoot issues like failed payments or confusion about charges
  • Pause, cancel, or reactivate subscriptions as needed


🔍 To access this page, go to Super Subscriptions > Contracts and select any contract.


What Is a Subscription Contract?


A subscription contract is created after a customer completes checkout with a subscription option. The chosen subscription option defines the general rules (frequency, discount, etc.), the contract stores the live, customer-specific version of those rules — including billing events, payment status, upcoming deliveries, and more. Any changes made to the purchased subscription plan in the future, will not affect existing subscription contracts.


Table of Contents



Editing contract terms


You can edit all terms relating to the subscription contract by clicking the Edit button on the top right of the page (bottom center on mobile). This allows you to edit the following:


  • Subscription products, quantities, prices and product-specific discounts
  • Shipping costs
  • Contract duration limits (minimum and maximum number of orders)
  • Delivery frequency
  • The selected subscription option
  • Subscription discount
  • Billing mode - pay per order or prepaid
  • Order frequency


Analytics


Shows key subscription metrics:


  • Amount spent:

Total revenue from all orders in this subscription.


  • Renewals:

Number of successful charges — this excludes the initial order at checkout.


Use this to quickly assess the lifetime value (LTV) of this customer’s subscription.



Subscription Order Overview


Displays the core contents of the customer’s subscription:


  • Products and variants
  • Quantity and pricing
  • Discounts
  • Shipping rates
  • Total order value


This is useful for confirming exactly what is included in upcoming orders.


How to pause, cancel, or reactivate subscription contracts and orders


Action buttons inside the subscription overview card allow you to:


  • Reactivate:

Resume a paused or failed subscription.


  • Pause:

Temporarily stop future renewals and billing without canceling. The subscription can be reactivated from this page or via the customer portal


  • Cancel:

Permanently end the subscription. The customer will not be billed again and no new orders will be created.


📧 Customers are notified of any changes to their subscriptions automatically, unless email the relevant notifications have been disabled in your settings.



Prepaid Schedule

Only visible for prepaid contracts.


If the customer prepaid for multiple deliveries, this section shows the planned fulfillment dates. Each one corresponds to an upcoming shipment that has already been paid for.



Upcoming Renewals


Lists the next several renewal events, including:


  • Renewal date
  • Amount to be charged
  • Products and any changes


Click Edit schedule to:


This will change the date for all future orders based on the contract schedule.


  • Change the date for a subscription order renewal
  • Skip one or more future charges
  • Delay fulfillment due to customer request or stock issues



Renewal & Order History


Shows all completed orders and past billing attempts tied to this contract:


  • Shopify order links
  • Amount charged
  • Date of fulfillment or error


Use this to:


  • Investigate fulfillment problems
  • Confirm successful charges
  • Reconcile with payment history


Summary


Displays key contract terms:


  • Order frequency:

How often the customer is billed and fulfilled


  • Discount:

Recurring subscription discount (if applicable)


  • Billing mode:

Pay per delivery or prepaid


  • Duration limit:

Minimum renewals required before the customer is able to cancel through the customer portal. Maximum renewals allowed before the subscription automatically expires and stops charging the customer and creating new orders.


These values are based on the subscription plan at the time of purchase.


Notes


You can add internal notes here that are automatically added to each order created from the subscription.


Use notes to:


  • Track special instructions or packaging preferences
  • Record internal communication
  • Flag important info for fulfillment staff


Customer & Payment Method


This section includes:


  • Customer name and contact info
  • Shipping address (editable)
  • Payment method (Shopify-managed)
  • Other active subscriptions for this customer


To update the address, click the ✏️ icon next to Shipping address.


Timeline


Every event tied to this contract is logged here, including:


  • New orders
  • Payment successes or failures
  • Manual changes (e.g., skipped, paused, reactivated)
  • Whether the event was triggered by merchant or customer


Use this when troubleshooting issues or reviewing changes to the subscription.




AI Training Notes (Hidden)

[AI-TAG]
- Feature: Subscription Contract
- Parent: Subscription Plans
- Key Actions: View, Edit, Skip, Pause, Cancel, Reactivate
- Data fields: Schedule, Prepaid deliveries, Payment status, Notes, Timeline
- UI Phrases: “Edit schedule”, “Pause”, “Shipping address”, “Timeline”
- Related Guides: Plans, Options, Prepaid, Commitments
[/AI-TAG]

Updated on: 07/14/2025

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