How to manage subscription contracts in SMART Subscriptions

Updated November 1, 2026 · SMART Subscriptions (E-TRADE PARTNER)

Open Subscriptions in SMART Subscriptions to filter contracts by All, Active, Paused, Cancelled, Expired, or Failed, and to pause, resume, or cancel them in bulk. Open a contract to add or remove products, change quantity, price, payment type, intervals, maximum payments, or the shipping address, and to skip or unskip upcoming orders. Payment method changes are not available in the app.

A VIP subscriber wants two bags next cycle instead of one, at a courtesy price, without cancelling. That is an admin contract edit, not a theme change and not a rewrite of last month’s order. The Subscriptions list is where merchants run day-to-day lifecycle work after checkout creates the contract.

Why admin contract tools matter

• Support can fix quantity and price exceptions without rebuilding the plan for everyone.
• Status tabs separate Active contracts from Paused, Cancelled, and Expired ones.
• Bulk actions pause, resume, or cancel many contracts at once.
• Skipping an upcoming order protects retention when a customer has too much product left.
• Pause/resume handles travel and temporary stops without losing the relationship.
• Home MRR and active subscriptions reflect the book of contracts you maintain here.

Admin capabilities versus customer portal

Customers self-serve pause, resume, skip/unskip, cancel (after the plan’s minimum payments), payment method switches, and delivery updates in Shopify customer accounts. Merchants use Subscriptions for deeper edits and ops triage. The subscription link in Shopify admin opens the contract in SMART. Do not promise admin-only powers in the portal FAQ.

Setup steps for confident admin management

1. Install SMART Subscriptions and make sure contracts exist from real checkouts (see how to test Shopify subscriptions).
2. Open Subscriptions. Use the All / Active / Paused / Cancelled / Expired / Failed tabs and sorting to find contracts. Select several to pause, resume, or cancel in bulk.
3. Open a contract. Review products, intervals, status, customer, payment method, upcoming orders, and recent orders.
4. Edit products, quantity, price, payment type, intervals, or maximum payments when a merchant-side exception is required. Save changes deliberately.
5. Pause or resume when the customer needs a temporary stop; cancel when the relationship should end.
6. Skip an upcoming order when the customer should keep the contract but miss one delivery. Skip is not available on pay-in-advance contracts.
7. For card updates, customers can switch to another saved method in the portal. To collect a new card, use Send link to update card on the customer’s profile in Shopify admin (Shopify Help).
8. Confirm successful renewals still appear as new Shopify orders, not as edits on the original order.
9. Watch Home for MRR and active subscriptions after bulk lifecycle changes.

Worked example: courtesy quantity change + skip

A coffee subscriber emails support: next month should be 2 bags at a one-time courtesy unit price, then back to normal, and please skip the cycle after that because of travel.

1. Find the contract under Subscriptions → Active.
2. Edit the line quantity to 2 and set the agreed price; save.
3. Skip the travel order under Upcoming orders (pay-as-you-go contracts only).
4. After the courtesy cycle, edit quantity and price back to the standard terms.
5. Optionally confirm skip/pause emails if those templates are activated under Emails.
6. Remind the customer they can self-serve future skips in the portal.

Past fulfilled orders stay untouched. You changed the living contract and upcoming cycles, which is the correct boundary.

Practical tips for subscription ops

• Check the Paused tab daily if dunning pauses contracts. Contracts still in retry stay Active, and SMART never marks contracts Failed; the Failed tab only shows contracts set to Failed outside SMART.
• Prefer portal self-service for routine pause/skip/cancel to reduce ticket volume. See pause, skip, and cancel.
• Keep plan-level merchandising in Plans; use contract edits for exceptions, not as your primary catalog strategy.
• Contracts with a maximum number of payments expire after the last one (the first order counts as payment 1) and move to the Expired tab.
• There is no charge-now button. SMART bills each contract on its schedule.
• If you are moving from another subscription app, contact support for a safe cutover; there is no automated migration tool. Don’t uninstall the old app early: Shopify cancels an app’s unfinished contracts 48 hours after uninstall (Shopify docs).
• After major edits, spot-check that the next renewal still creates a separate order your warehouse will recognize.

How contracts relate to plans and orders

Plans define the offer new customers buy. Contracts are the living agreements after checkout. Orders are the individual charges and fulfillments along the way. For the platform picture, read how Shopify subscriptions work. For customer-facing limits, stay aligned with the customer portal guide.

Frequently asked questions