Once you have created a subscription, you can perform many tasks on the subscription itself. We’ve placed the following actions in a dropdown menu titled, “actions”.
There are two locations where you can access subscription actions.
Main subscription view with condensed actions choices
View the entire list of actions when viewing a subscription
Upgrade/Downgrade
An upgrade/downgrade migration allows you to move a subscriber to a new product using basic proration rules. When proration is applied to a subscription, a prorated charge or credit will be applied.
If you prefer to move a subscriber to a new product without performing any proration (no cost change), you may simply change the product for this subscription.
Upgrading/Downgrading will have the following effects:
- A prorated credit may be applied for the current product
- The pro-rated credit for prior period charges will include any component charges from that period
- A charge for the full amount of the new product will be applied
- A charge for the full amount of all component charges will be applied. All metered components will be reset to zero.
- The period start date will be reset to today’s date
- If switching to a new product family, all component balances will be reset
How to upgrade/downgrade a subscription:
- Select Upgrade/Downgrade from the Actions menu.
- Note the Subscriptions current product and current prorated credit (if any)
- “Select Product” to choose which product to migrate the subscription to in Chargify.
- There will not be a preview step; any product selected will immediately generate a charge.
- Select “Enable Coupons” if desired
Upgrade or downgrade your subscription and select options
For more information on Upgrades/Downgrades, please see our documentation here.
Initiate Cancellation
When you initiate a cancellation, you have the option of canceling it immediately or at the end of the current billing period.
Once you’ve selected which cancellation method, the following will take place:
- The customer’s credit card will no longer be charged after the cancellation takes effect
- Cancellation takes effect immediately if you press “Cancel Immediately”
- Cancellation takes effect around 3 Jul 2016 12:45 PM EDT if you press “Cancel at End of Period”
- No refunds or prorations will be made
- No email is sent to your customer
- A canceled subscription can be reactivated at a later date
How to cancel a subscription:
- Select Initiate Cancellation from the Actions menu.
- Choose between “Cancel Immediately” or “Cancel at End of Period”
Initiate cancellation on a subscription
For more information on cancellations, please see our article here.
Update Payment Method
Selecting “Update Payment Method” will direct you to the tab, Payment Details. Choose to edit, add or delete the payment method on file. Also, add a new payment method or email a request directly to the client so that they may update their payment method.
For more information, please see our documentation on Chargify-generated emails here.
View and update current payment methods
View self-service page
Selecting “View self-service page” will log you out of Chargify. You will be directed to Chargify’s secure page where you can update the credit card for your Subscriber. This is a useful URL to send to your customer directly if they need to update their payment method.
A self-service page for updating payment
For more information on self-service pages, please view our documentation.
Put On Hold
If the subscription is active, you can move it to the on-hold state. While the subscription is on-hold, it will not go through the renewal process and nothing will be charged to the customer.
Place a subscription on hold
Resume
If the subscription is in the on-hold state, then you have the ability to resume it. Depending on how long it has been on hold, it will either transition back to active and keep its normal next renewal date, or if that date has already passed, it will behave like a reactivation, re-setting the billing date to ‘now’ and charging the customer immediately.
Note that there is no credit given for ‘un-used time’. Chargify subscriptions are billed in advance, however, resuming an on-hold subscription will not automatically push the next renewal date out to account for the time that was paid for but not used. This feature is primarily intended for merchants shipping physical products where the entire value of the product is delivered shortly after the billing period begins.
Resume a subscription
Delete
If you would like to delete a subscription, there are a few precautions to take.
- Deleting the subscription removes its revenue and transaction history from your site
- It may be more appropriate to just cancel it instead: you’ll keep the revenue and the transaction history but it won’t renew anymore
- Deleting a subscription cannot be undone. Make sure this is what you want!
How to delete a subscription
- Select Delete from the Actions menu.
- Choose what attributes you’d like to delete (See below for explanations)
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Select Delete!
- Also delete the customer (name, email, reference value, etc)
If you plan to use this customer to create new subscriptions, then uncheck this option to retain the customer. Since a single customer can have several subscriptions, we will only delete the customer if this box is checked AND they have no other subscriptions.
- Also, delete the credit card
If you plan to use this same credit card on a new subscription for this customer, then uncheck this option to retain the card. Since a single card can be attached to several subscriptions, we will only delete the card if it is not used on any other subscriptions.
Deleting the subscription
Subscription State Actions
Depending on the state of your subscription, the Actions menu will display different options.
Active Subscriptions
When the subscription is in the active state, the following options will be displayed:
Options for active subscriptions
Past Due Subscriptions
As we look at the options available under Actions for past due subscriptions, we see that our options are limited.
What’s missing, in this case, is the option to have the subscription be Put On Hold. If you’d like to suspend this subscription, you may only do so if the subscription is in the Active state.
When in the Past Due state, however, a new option is available to Cancel Dunning. This takes the subscription out of Dunning by resolving the Dunning Process and moving the subscription from Past Due to Active. You can read more about special interactions with this feature on our Cancel Dunning page.
Canceled Subscriptions
Furthermore, actions become increasingly limited as we enter the “canceled” state. Once again, we see that Put On Hold is missing. This will become an option if the subscription is in the Active state.
You’ll also notice that “Initiate Cancellation” has been replaced with “Reactivate Subscription”. Reactivate Subscription will allow you to bring the subscription out of the canceled state. The resulting state will be Active.
Lastly, Add Charge is also restricted from usage when a subscription is in a dead state. If you’d like to issue a one-time charge for a subscription, you’ll want to have the subscription in an Active state.
Trial Ended Subscriptions
With Trial Ended subscriptions, we see the same exact set of “Actions” available as the Cancelled Subscription state. Simply reactivate the subscription if you wish to see further options.
Options for trial ended subscriptions
Expired Subscriptions
In the screengrab below, we see that those slightly different options are displayed for Expired Subscriptions. To expose further options, first, cancel the subscription. Once canceled, it’s possible to reactivate the subscription.
Options for expired subscriptions
Reactivate Subscription
If a subscription is in a canceled state, in the “Subscription Actions” dropdown will be the option “Reactivate Subscription”. When this is selected options to reactivate a subscription will be presented.
- Start New Billing Period- When this option is selected the renewal payment will be expected as a new period will be started. Additionally, options to collect previous balances and restart the trial will be presented as options. Please note that any existing service credits or prepayments will automatically be applied to this renewal.
Options for Start New Billing Period
- Resume Billing Period- This option will only appear if the current billing period of the subscription has not elapsed. When this option is selected the subscription renewal periods will remain the same as prior to cancellation and resume to those dates. Any outstanding balance will also be expected to be paid at this time. Additionally, there will be an option to “Use Service Credits and Prepayments” if present on the subscription. If this option is selected these service credits and prepayments will be consumed before attempting the subscriptions payment profile.
Options for Resuming Billing Period
Please note all actions below are for our legacy architecture only. Most of these functions can now be found on the Invoice tab.
Add Charge
Please note this is a function that only exists in our legacy statement architecture.
Select add charge to add a one-time charge to an existing subscription, please see our reference page on adding a one-time-charge.
Adjust Balance
Please note this is a function that only exists in our legacy statement architecture.
The subscription balance is the amount of money that the customer owes or is owed. Making any changes to the existing balance is referred to as an adjustment. Adding an adjustment to a subscription will either increase or decrease this balance. The customer’s payment method (credit card or bank account) will not be charged.
- When you decrease a balance, you are subtracting this amount from the current balance.
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A subscription with a negative balance has an existing credit
- When you increase a balance, you are adding to the amount under the current balance.
- A subscription with a positive balance has an amount due.
How to adjust a balance
- Select adjust balance from the “actions” menu
- Choose the action from the drop-down menu:
- Decrease the subscription balance by:
- Increase the subscription balance by:
- Set the subscription’s balance to:
- Enter the amount of the adjustment
- Enter the associated memo for the adjustment
Adjusting a subscription's balance
For more information on adjustments, please view our documentation here.
Process refund
Please note this is a function that only exists in our legacy statement architecture. Refunds are now done on each individual invoice.
When you select process refund, Chargify will initiate a transaction to the payment gateway on your site. This is only an option if the gateway you are using accepts refunds through Chargify.
You will not be able to refund more than the amount specified that is available.
How to process a refund
- Select process refund from the “actions” menu
- Choose from the available refunds. If no refunds are available, your gateway may not support refunds.
- Once you have selected the payment you would like to refund, enter the amount of the refund. Be sure to leave a descriptive memo!
Select the payment you'd like to refund
Enter the details of the refund you'd like to process
For more information on refunds, please view our documentation here.
Record external payment
Please note this is a function that only exists in our legacy statement architecture. External payments can now be done via "Prepayments". You may want to record a payment in order to capture the revenue within Chargify and alter the subscription’s balance when:
- Your customer paid you by check
- You captured the payment on their credit card outside of Chargify, e.g. at your virtual terminal
- In any case that you receive payment from your customer outside of Chargify, and want to record it within Chargify
Recording manual payments have the following effects:
- The subscription’s balance (i.e. amount due) is reduced by the amount of the payment entered
- Chargify does NOT interact with the payment gateway or touch a credit card at all
How to record an external payment:
- Select record external payment from the actions menu.
- Required: record the amount
- Optional: record a memo for the payment. Be sure to give it some description!
Record an external payment
Record external refund
Please note this is a function that only exists in our legacy statement architecture. This can now be done via individual invoices.
Recording an external refund has the following effects:
- The subscription’s revenue is reduced by the amount of the refund entered
- The subscription’s balance (i.e. amount due) is NOT changed
- Chargify does NOT interact with the payment gateway or touch a credit card in any way
How to record an external refund:
- Select Record External refund from the Actions menu.
- Required: Enter the amount you wish to record in a refund in the amount field.
- Required: Be sure to use the memo field to record a reason for the refund.
Record external refund
For more information on refunds, please view our documentation here.
Activate Now
Locating the Activate button
This feature is only available on the Relationship Invoicing architecture. Subscriptions in a group may not be activated immediately.
Sometimes, a subscription that is currently trialing or awaiting signup needs to end its period immediately and become active. The “activate” feature allows a trialing subscription or a subscription with a delayed signup to process immediately to enter its next state. The next state is determined based on the product settings, whether the activation succeeds, and which failure option is chosen. For example, a trialing subscription may become trial ended, canceled, active, past due, or stay trialing; an awaiting signup subscription may become trialing, active, canceled, or stay awaiting signup.
In the case of an activation failure, there are two behavioral options to choose from. The first option, which is also the default, is “Revert activation”, which means do not change the subscription’s state if payment fails. The subscription’s billing period will also remain the same. After working out and fixing the cause of failure with the customer, you’ll be able to attempt the activation again.
The second option is “Act as failed activation”, which means to continue through with the activation and enter an end of life state. For trialing subscriptions, that will either be trial ended (if the trial is no obligation), past due (if the trial has an obligation), or canceled (if the site has no dunning strategy, or has a strategy that says to cancel immediately). For subscriptions with delayed signups, that will always be canceled.
The default activation failure behavior can be configured per activation attempt, or you may set a default value under Config > Settings > Subscription Activation Settings.
Regardless of the failure option chosen, the following actions will take place:
- the invoice from activation will be voided
- any prepayments and credits applied to the invoice will be returned to the subscription
- metered components usage against the subscription will be restored to the usage before the activation attempt
Activation options