Subscription/Automatic Recurring Orders

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Autoship - Subscription Orders

This document describes the process of configuring a store for Automatic Recurring Orders with your payment gateway and setting up product subscriptions. Please read the following requirements and limitations before beginning.

Authorize.net CIM is the only payment gateway that we support for this feature.
Authorize.net CIM will securely store the customer's payment profile.
PayPal and Gift Certificate payment methods will automatically be excluded for orders that contain subscription products.
Guest checkout will not be an available option for orders with subscription products.
You can use the Digital Good's group feature in conjunction with subscription groups to provide digital files to your customers.

Configure Payment Gateway for Subscriptions

The feature to use AutoShip (Recurring Subscription Orders) needs to be enabled in a new installation. Before doing so, you must have the Authorize.net CIM payment gateway installed and working with the Customer Information Management (CIM) option enabled for your Authorize.net merchant account. You must also have at least one payment method that is configured for subscriptions. This next section outlines the process of setting up the gateway and payment method. If you have already completed this step, proceed to the next section, Configure Automatic Recurring Subscriptions.

If you need a merchant account, please signup for an Authorize.net account today!

If you have an existing Authorize.net account, make sure the Customer Information Manager (CIM) service is enabled by logging into your account and going to your Merchant Profile page.
Using your Authorize.net API Key and Transaction key, you will need install and Setup the Authorize.net CIM gateway in AbleCommerce.
Confirm the payment gateway is working with AbleCommerce before continuing.

Configure Payment Methods for Subscriptions

After your Authorize.net CIM gateway is setup, make sure that you assign the gateway to your payment methods (e.g. Visa, Mastercard, AMX, etc).
For each payment method that will be assigned to the Authorize.net CIM gateway, and used for Recurring Order Subscriptions, make sure you check the box to Allow Subscription Payments. Select only the payment methods that are accepted by your Authorize.net merchant account.

IMPORTANT: You must have at least one payment method with the 'Allow subscription payments' option activated. Otherwise, if your customer tries to purchase a product using the Recurring Order subscription feature, they will not be able to checkout.
When finished, click the SAVE button.
Repeat for each payment method that will be available to customers purchasing the recurring order subscriptions.

Configure Subscription Orders and Notices

Before enabling the subscription feature, make sure that you understand the following, and ensure that the necessary steps have been taken before turning this feature on.

To enable the Automatic Recurring Orders feature, go to Configure > Store > Subscriptions page using the menu.
To enable Recurring Orders (AutoShip) feature, press the button Enable Automatic Recurring Orders. A confirmation page will be shown:
Click the CONFIRM ENABLE button to continue with setup and configuration steps.

Subscription Settings and Email Notifications

The settings shown on this page will determine when email is sent, when new orders are created, and when changes or cancellation of a subscription can happen. Please carefully review the settings. Default values are entered for your convenience, however, they may not be appropriate for your fulfillment and shipping practices.

Go to the Configure > Store > Subscriptions page to view the settings available.
The sample screenshot below shows all available features. If you need to disable the feature immediately, use the red Disable button. You can re-enable the feature at any time, although any subscriptions that were in progress would have been stopped during the period of disablement.
The Create Next Order setting is used to determine when the NEXT subscription order will be generated in the system. The order can be generated before the next subscription payment is due. Once the order is generated, any changes to the subscription will be disabled until the payment and shipment are processed. After that has completed, subscription changes may be enabled again. This value needs to be SMALLER than the values for both Allow Cancellation and Allow Changes.

The default value is '0' days which means the next order will be created on the day that it is due for processing. If the new order is created before payment is due, then it may be in an 'Unprocessed' state until the actual payment date arrives. Then the payment will be processed by the gateway automatically. If, for some reason, the payment fails, a payment status of failed will be visible for the order. This value needs to be equal to or SMALLER than the setting for number of days to send Payment Reminder notification.
The Allow Subscription Changes setting will be necessary if you would like to allow the customer to make updates to the subscription plan, like changing the shipping address, billing profile, or frequency (if option is available). The default value is 8 days before the next payment renewal date arrives. To disable this feature, enter a value of 0. This is not recommended.

The value entered here needs to be greater than the value entered in the Create Next Order field. This is to ensure that any subscription changes are reflected on the next order being generated.

Uses the Subscription Updated Email setting with the email template "Subscription Updated". Modify as needed.
You can Allow Cancellation by entering a number of days before the next subscription payment is due. To disable this setting, enter 0.

The value entered here needs to be greater than the value entered in the Create Next Order field. This is to ensure that a new order is not generated after cancellation.

Uses the Cancellation Email setting with the email template "Subscription Cancellation Notice". Modify as needed. Select "None" to deactivate.
The Enrollment Email should use the template, "Subscription Enrollment". We highly recommend you modify this email to include your company's terms and conditions for subscription orders.
You may use the Send Payment Reminder setting as a way to send an email reminder to your customer to let them know that their credit card will be charged soon. If the credit card will expire within 30 days, then a special note will be included in the email to let them know they need to return to the store and update their billing profile.

Uses the Payment Reminder Email setting with the email template "Subscription Payment Reminder". Modify as needed. Select "None" to deactivate
You can send multiple Send Expiration Reminder emails to notify customers that their subscription will be expiring soon. The field accepts multiple values separate by comma. The default settings are 30,14,7,1. The email will only be sent for subscriptions that have an expiration date.

Uses the Expiration Reminder Email setting with the email template "Subscription Expiration Notification". Modify as needed. Select "None" to deactivate.
The last email setting allows you to select a Subscription Expired Email using the template "Subscription Expired". Modify as needed. Select "None" to deactivate.

NOTE: All subscription email templates can be modified by going to the Configure > Email > Templates page. The default settings will send an email to the customer only. We highly recommend that you add the merchant's email address to any email that you wish to receive a copy of. For example, if you would like to receive a copy of the "Subscription Cancellation" email, then add the keyword "merchant" to the Send To field.

Adding Subscription Plans to Products

To continue, please see Recurring Orders Subscriptions for instructions on how to create products with subscription plans.