Subscription management

Use the Subscription engine to manage customer subscriptions, modify billing cycles, process refunds, and handle payment failures through the Support Tool.

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Subscription management

To manage subscriptions:

1. Go to the Support Tool page.
2. Search for a user or click on the User UUID under Latest payments.
3. You will see sections with the following user details:

• User information: Shows user IDs, email address, user agent (browser), IP address, and creation date.
• Payments: Shows transactions and refund options.
• Subscriptions: Performs subscription management actions and shows subscription status.
• One-off: Shows lifetime subscription access.
• Webhook events: Shows events related to the user. Learn about Subscription engine webhook events.

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Modify subscriptions

From the Subscription section, you can perform the following actions:

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Subscription status

The Subscriptions section indicates the following statuses:

• INTRO: Subscription is in trial period.
• RECURRING: Trial is over, subscription is recurring. Charges occur 2 hours before the next billing cycle to ensure uninterrupted access.
• AUTORENEW_OFF: Auto-renewal is disabled, subscription ends after the current period.
• PAUSED: Subscription is paused until a set date; premium access is not available.
• GRACE: Payment failed, but access is temporarily retained.
• RETRY: Payment failed, retry attempts are in progress.
• EXPIRED: Subscription has ended.

You can find the next_check field below, which determines when the next subscription action is scheduled. For example:

Status	premium	next_check meaning	auto-renew enabled
INTRO	✅	time of next charge and conversion to regular sub	✅
RECURRING	✅	time of next renewal and charge	✅
INTRO | PAUSED RECURRING | PAUSED	❌	time when auto-resume will occur	✅
RECURRING | AUTORENEW_OFF | PAUSED INTRO | AUTORENEW_OFF | PAUSED	❌	time when auto-resume will occur; after resume, no charge	❌
RECURRING | AUTORENEW_OFF INTRO | AUTORENEW_OFF	✅	subscription will fully stop and premium access will be revoked at next_check	❌
INTRO | GRACE | RETRY RECURRING | GRACE | RETRY	✅	time of next auto-renewal attempt	✅
INTRO | RETRY RECURRING | RETRY	❌	time of next auto-renewal attempt	✅
EXPIRED	❌	subscription fully stopped; no further actions	❌

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Status change

Every subscription status change creates an event that:

• Is saved in the subscription history
• Triggers a webhook to your backend if configured

This is useful when you:

• Maintain your own statistics and analytics
• Want to keep an up-to-date copy of the subscription state in your system

Learn about Subscription engine webhook events.

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One-off

To check if a user has been granted lifetime access, go to the One-off section. Lifetime access is permanent and can only be revoked if a full refund is issued.

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Payments

The Subscription engine handles payments end-to-end. It securely stores payment methods for one-click purchases and includes built-in deduplication to prevent charges if users try to purchase a product they already own.

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Refunds

To process a refund, click any transaction under the Payments section. Subscription engine supports the following refund types:

• Full Refund: Entire amount refunded; subscription immediately becomes EXPIRED, one-off payment is revoked.
• Partial Refund: Partial amount refunded; auto-renewal is disabled automatically.
• Soft Refund: Funds are refunded, but auto-renewal remains enabled. No effect on subscription or one-off purchase.

When processing a refund, you can use additional fields:

• Reason: Short reason for the refund.
• Comment: Custom support engineer comment (Jira task ID, ZenDesk ticket ID, etc.).

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Free trials

To launch a free trial, you need to save the user’s payment information without charging their card. This is done through the Primary Workflow with the proper metadata configuration.

1. Create a client session with the special metadata flag ff_auto_cancel = true.
2. The Primary Workflow processes this flag:
   • The card is authorized like a normal payment.
   • Instead of completing the transaction, Primer cancels it.
3. Result:
   • No charge is made and no funds are withdrawn.
   • The card data is saved for the first subscription renewal.

This ensures the card is valid and prevents losses during future automatic charges.

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Payment method update

When a user has failed payment attempts and all retry stages are unsuccessful, you can direct them to an Update Payment Method page. This page can also be used anytime card information needs updating. How it works:

• The user goes to a page that looks like a standard payment form
• It uses a special update_payment_method function designed only for card updates, not purchases
• When entering a new card, authorization without charging is performed:
  • The transaction is cancelled immediately after authorization
  • The card data is saved for future charges

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Disputes

When a dispute is initiated for any payment, the system automatically responds to minimize financial and reputational risks:

• Auto-renewal is disabled immediately upon receiving a dispute
• Assumptions:
  • The dispute will be automatically resolved in favor of the user
  • Funds from the last transaction will be automatically refunded by the PSP
  • No new subscription charges will be made, preventing future disputes

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Retries

When a renewal charge fails, the system automatically starts retry attempts. This helps preserve subscriptions and reduces customer churn. Each recovered subscription continues generating revenue.

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Long (Smart) Retry schedule

For subscriptions with 7-day intervals or less:

• Day 0 (billing problem detected): Activate grace period
• Day 2: Partial charge (70%)
• Day 7: Partial charge (50%)

For subscriptions with 31-day intervals or less:

• Day 0 (billing problem detected): Activate grace period
• Day 2: Full charge
• Day 7: Full charge, deactivate grace period
• Day 12: Partial charge (70%)
• Day 20: Partial charge (50%)

For subscriptions with intervals greater than 31 days:

• Day 0 (billing problem detected): Activate grace period
• Day 2: Full charge
• Day 7: Full charge, deactivate grace period
• Day 12: Full charge
• Day 22: Partial charge (70%)
• Day 33: Partial charge (50%)

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Short Retry schedule

For subscriptions with 7-day intervals or less:

• Day 0 (billing problem detected): Activate grace period
• Day 2: Partial charge (70%)

For subscriptions with 31-day intervals or less:

• Day 0 (billing problem detected): Activate grace period
• Day 7: Partial charge (70%), deactivate grace period
• Day 20: Partial charge (50%)

For subscriptions with intervals greater than 31 days:

• Day 0 (billing problem detected): Activate grace period
• Day 7: Full charge, deactivate grace period
• Day 15: Partial charge (70%)
• Day 33: Partial charge (50%)

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Next steps

Understand webhook events sent by the Subscription engine.