Frequently asked questions

SMART Subscriptions is a Shopify app for product subscriptions. You create subscribe & save plans, show them on the product page with the Subscriptions Widget, and Shopify Checkout creates a subscription contract when the customer buys. SMART bills each renewal, retries failed payments, and sends the subscription emails you activate. Customers pause, resume, skip, and cancel in their Shopify customer account, and Home shows MRR and active subscriptions.

Yes. SMART Subscriptions is free, with no paid plans and no app fees. Shopify still charges its normal plan and payment-processing fees on orders, the same as for one-time purchases.

SMART Subscriptions focuses on the core loop: plans, the product-page widget, a customer portal in Shopify customer accounts, payment retries, emails, and MRR. It does not include subscription boxes, loyalty, SMS, or cancellation flows, so setup stays short.

Plans (selling plans with one or more options, pay as you go or pay in advance, percentage, amount off, or fixed price, a second discount after X payments, minimum and maximum payments), Subscriptions (contract list and editor), Widget (the Subscriptions Widget theme block), Management (customer portal, thank-you page card, order action button), Emails (17 templates), and Settings (payment and inventory retries). Home shows MRR and active subscriptions. Support by chat or email is included for every store.

Most stores can create a plan, assign products, and add the widget in minutes. Exact time depends on how many products and options you need. There is no code required for the standard product-page widget.

You create a plan under Plans and pick its products or variants. Each plan can have several subscription options, in the order you choose. Each option sets delivery every N days, weeks, months, or years, pay as you go or pay in advance, and an optional discount: percentage, amount off, or a fixed price. On the product page, customers choose one-time purchase or a subscription option before checkout.

Yes. Choose Pay in advance on the option and set Payment every to a multiple of Delivery every, for example delivery every 1 month and payment every 3 months. The customer pays once for the whole period. Pay as you go charges once per delivery.

Yes, on each subscription option. With a minimum, customers can't cancel in the portal until they have made that many payments. You can still cancel from Subscriptions. With a maximum, the subscription ends automatically after that many payments. The first order counts as payment 1.

Yes. Turn on Change discount value after X payment cycles to switch to a second discount, for example 20% off at first and 10% off after 3 payments. The second discount can be a percentage, an amount off, or a fixed price.

Yes. In Shopify admin, use Manage subscription plan on the product's or variant's Purchase options card, or select products in the product list and choose Add to subscription plan. You can also pick products and variants inside Plans.

Yes. In Widget, Hide one-time purchase option hides it on every product that has a SMART plan, and the first subscription option is selected. To make only some products subscription-only, leave that setting off and tick Only sell this product as a subscription on those products in Shopify admin. The widget then hides one-time purchase for them.

Common causes: the Subscriptions Widget app block is not on the product template customers use, the product or variant is not in a SMART plan, or you are previewing a different theme. Open the theme editor, confirm the Subscriptions Widget block is on the live product template, then hard-refresh the product page. There is no on/off switch for the widget in the app.

Yes. Subscriptions are built on Shopify selling plans, subscription contracts, and Shopify Checkout. Customer self-service runs in the new Shopify customer accounts. Legacy customer accounts can't show the subscription page.

In your store's Shopify customer account, on a Subscriptions page you activate under Management. You can also activate a thank-you page card that links to the account, and an Order action button that opens the subscription from the order.

Customers can pause, resume, skip the next order, skip or unskip any upcoming order, cancel, switch to another payment method saved in their account, and edit the shipping address, pickup, or local delivery details. If the plan has a minimum number of payments, cancel stays blocked until it is reached. The portal is available in 33 languages.

No. Customers can't swap products, change quantity, or change frequency in the portal. Merchants can add or remove products and change price, quantity, and frequency in the contract editor under Subscriptions.

No. In the portal, customers can switch the subscription to another payment method already saved in their account. Adding a new card isn't part of the portal.

Yes. The portal is built on the new Shopify customer accounts, so the customer signs in to the account tied to the subscription. There is no separate login or magic link.

Shopify lists Shopify Payments, PayPal Express, Authorize.net, Adyen, and Stripe (select merchants only) for subscription apps. With Shopify Payments, customers can also pay with Shop Pay, Apple Pay (Visa and Mastercard only), Google Pay, or PayPal. Local, manual, or non-card payment methods might not be available for subscriptions.

SMART retries the charge using your Settings. By default it retries 3 times, 7 days apart, then pauses the subscription. You can set 0 to 10 retries, 1 to 14 days apart, and a final action of cancel, pause, or skip. Errors a retry can't fix, such as a disabled payment provider or suspected fraud, go straight to the final action. Out-of-stock renewals have their own retry rules. Customers get emails only for the templates you activate.

With pay as you go, each successful renewal creates a new order on the Shopify Orders page, which you fulfill as usual. With pay in advance, one order covers the prepaid period. It shows as Scheduled and turns Unfulfilled on each delivery date. The original order is never rewritten. Under Subscriptions, each contract shows its status, upcoming orders, and the orders it created.

Yes. Emails has 17 templates for subscription, billing, retry, inventory, and skip events. You edit the subject and the Liquid HTML body, preview it, send a test email, and translate day and month names in dates. You also set the sender name and reply-to address. Every template starts inactive, so nothing sends until you activate it.

Use a development store with Shopify Payments in test mode. Shopify's test payment gateway doesn't work with subscription products. Create a real plan, check out with a test customer account, then try pause, skip, and cancel in the portal. SMART has no checkout simulator and no charge-now button, so to see a renewal, use a plan that delivers every 1 day and wait for the next cycle.

Home shows two numbers: monthly recurring revenue (MRR) and active subscriptions. They refresh about every 10 minutes. Use them to confirm that new plans are converting and active contracts are growing after launch.

SMART has no import tool. Subscriptions created by another app stay with that app, and Shopify cancels them 48 hours after that app is uninstalled. Contact support by chat or email before you switch, and don't uninstall the old app while it still has active subscribers.

Uninstalling stops SMART from billing renewals and running retries right away. 48 hours later, Shopify cancels every active or paused subscription the app created. Past orders stay in Shopify. Contact support before you uninstall if you still have active subscribers.

Contact us by chat in the app or by email at support@etradepartner.io. For written setup help, start in the help center. If you are stuck on widget placement, gateway eligibility, or a failed renewal, include your shop domain and a screenshot so we can move faster.