Control recurring billing

Overview

Use this feature to control recurring billing (the automatic renewal system) for a specific subscription,  limiting the number of future payments, and preventing automated and manual renewals. Stopping automatic recurring billing does not cancel the subscription unless you also check the Cancel subscription when automatic billing ends option. Otherwise, customers have the option of using their subscription beyond the current billing cycle, provided that they purchase renewals manually. 

By using this feature you can:

• Stop automatic recurring billing for a subscription either immediately or at a certain time in the future/after a number of billing cycles.
• Cancel manual renewal emails for the subscription for which automatic recurring billing was stopped after a specific number of billing cycles and prevent the customers from renewing the subscription both manually and automatically after the last payment is made.

Availability

You can stop automatic billing for:

• Active subscriptions
• Expired subscriptions
• Past due subscriptions
• Subscriptions generated for products purchased with a payment method that supports recurring billing, such as credit and debit cards, PayPal and Direct Debit

Auto-renewal (automatic billing) is not available for:

1. Lifetime subscriptions
2. Expired subscriptions with the expiration deadline in the past (before the moment when you attempt to re-enable recurring billing).

Stop automatic recurring billing

To stop automatic recurring billing (auto-renewal):

1. Go to Subscriptions management.
2. Search for the subscription and edit its settings.
3. Click Stop automatic billing.
4. Enter the number of billing cycles to cancel the subscription after.
5. Enable the Cancel subscription when automatic billing ends option.
6. Click Apply.
7. Once disabled, you can switch it back on, provided that payment data is available.

Options

Stop automatic billing:

1. Now - This setting comes into effect at the end of the subscription's current billing cycle. If you also want to disable the subscription when it expires, check the Cancel subscription when automatic billing ends option. 2Checkout disables the automatic renewal system immediately after you click Apply and transitions the subscription to manual renewal payments. 2Checkout will no longer charge the customer automatically for the next billing cycle (when the automatic renewal of the subscription was scheduled). This option enables you to Send a notification email to the customer providing subscription level information about the automated recurring billing settings. When the Now option is selected, customers receive manual renewal emails according to the subscription renewal configuration and can use the links provided in the messages to purchase renewals. In addition, during the ordering process, customers will also have the option of re-enabling the automatic renewal system.
2. After a specified number of billing cycles.  If you also want to disable the subscription when it expires, check the Cancel subscription when automatic billing ends option. The 2Checkout system stops automatic recurring billing after a specific number of billing cycles. Stopping automated recurring billing for subscriptions after a number of billing cycles cancels any manual renewal emails set to be sent to customers associated with the subscriptions according to the global or per-product renewal configurations. When recurring billing/the renewal system is disabled for a subscription, the 2Checkout system will no longer attempt to send the manual renewal messages to the customer using it. For subscriptions with the automatic recurring billing disabled after a number of billing cycles, the manual renewal link won't be visible to customers when they log into their myAccount platform.

FAQ

1. Can I re-enable automated recurring billing?
   
   • You can re-enable automatic recurring billing and have subscriptions renewed automatically as well as customers charged per the recurring billing configuration of the products for which subscriptions were generated only in scenarios in which sufficient payment data is available in the 2Checkout system.  While re-enabling automatic recurring billing is possible for credit and debit cards, the option is missing for subscriptions paid using PayPal and Direct Debit, for which this functionality was disabled.
2. Can I re-enable automatic billing for imported subscriptions?
   
   • Only for subscriptions that were imported into the 2Checkout system along with credit card information attached.
3. Can I re-enable automatic billing for canceled subscriptions?
   
   • To re-enable automatic billing for canceled subscriptions, you need to first reactivate them. In addition, the subscriptions must have credit card information submitted in the 2Checkout system.
4. Is this functionality supported for trial subscriptions?
   
   • Yes. You can disable and re-enable automatic recurring billing for trial subscriptions via the Control Panel or through the 2Checkout API. Customers can do the same when logged into their myAccount. The requirements mentioned above still have to be met. On top of the requirements enumerated above, the payment terminal must support auto-renewal, but the reference of the transaction made for the previous order is not required.
   • When the status of automatic billing is disabled, it means that the 2Checkout system has sufficient data for this functionality to be re-enabled to start charging the customer on the upcoming billing cycles.
   • When the status of automatic billing is N/A (not available), it means that the 2Checkout system does not have sufficient data for this functionality to be re-enabled to start charging the customer on the upcoming billing cycles. In this case, customers can renew their subscription manually and choose to reactivate automatic recurring billing (the renewal system) before placing their order.
   • Customers will be able to disable and re-enable the auto-renewal system of subscriptions on-demand, by logging into their myAccount.
   • Suggestion: In the eventuality in which you canceled automated recurring billing for a subscription after a number of billing cycles, but the new setting has yet to come into effect, you can increase the number of billing cycles and prolong the disabling of the automated recurring billing until after a maximum of 100 billing cycles, for example. Recurring billing will only stop when the number of billing cycles defined passes.
5. Can customers continue to use any ongoing subscriptions they purchased?
   
   • Yes, but only through the duration of the current billing cycle or a number of billing cycles, as it was set when stopping recurring billing. Otherwise, disabling the renewal system has no impact on the subscription usage, it only keeps the 2Checkout system from automatically billing the customer, and the customer from renewing the subscription. Changes to automatic billing will only impact customers:
     
     • starting with the next automatic billing cycle/when the next payment is due - the option Now is selected;
     • after a number of billing cycles/payments according to the setting you configure.
6. Can the subscription be manually renewed by the customer?
   
   • Only in scenarios in which you disabled automatic billing using the option Now. If you stop automatic billing after a number of billing cycles, customers will not be able to manually renew subscriptions for which the auto-renewal system/automated recurring billing was disabled.
   • Please bear in mind that when stopping automatic recurring billing after a number of billing cycles you also stop manual renewal subscriptions from being sent to customers, as such, the 2Checkout system will no longer offer the manual renewal link.
   • In addition, the manual renewal link is no longer available in myAccount for subscriptions with automatic recurring billing disabled.