How to recover failed subscription payments with SMART Subscriptions

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

When a renewal fails, SMART Subscriptions retries it using your Settings. For payment method failures you get 0–10 retries (default 3), 1–14 days apart (default 7), then Cancel, Pause, or Skip order (default Pause). For not enough inventory you get 0–10 retries (default 5), 1–14 days apart (default 1), then Skip order, Cancel, or Pause (default Skip).

A monthly coffee subscriber’s card expires. Without retries, that contract dies quietly and your MRR drops for a fixable reason. Dunning is the controlled retry loop: attempt again on a schedule, notify the customer, then take a clear final action so failed renewals do not sit in limbo.

Why failed-payment recovery matters

• Expired and declined cards are common; one soft failure should not end a healthy subscription.
• A retry gap gives customers time to fix the problem, for example by switching to another saved payment method in the customer portal.
• A final action (cancel, pause, or skip) keeps ops predictable after the last attempt.
• Inventory shortages need a separate retry path so a temporary stockout does not behave like a bad card.
• Home MRR and active subscriptions stay healthier when recoverable contracts stay in the recovery path.

What Shopify provides versus what SMART configures

Shopify stores the payment method and processes each charge, but the app starts every billing attempt (Shopify docs). SMART checks every 15 minutes for due renewals and retries. You decide how many times to retry, how many days to wait, what happens after the last failure, and which emails go out.

Errors that skip the retries

Some failures can’t be fixed by trying again, such as suspected fraud, a payment provider that is not enabled, a payment method the gateway can’t use, or a missing customer. SMART skips the retries for these and runs the payment failure final action right away.

Setup steps in SMART Subscriptions

1. Install SMART Subscriptions and open Settings.
2. Under Payment method failure, set Number of retry attempts (0–10). Default is 3.
3. Set Days between payment retry attempts (1–14). Default is 7.
4. Choose Action when all retry attempts have failed: Cancel subscription, Pause subscription, or Skip order. Default is Pause subscription.
5. Under Not enough inventory, set Number of retry attempts (0–10). Default is 5.
6. Set the days between inventory attempts (1–14). Default is 1.
7. Choose the inventory final action: Skip order, Cancel subscription, or Pause subscription. Default is Skip order.
8. Open Emails and activate the billing failure, billing retry, final billing retry, and inventory failure templates you want customers to receive. Templates stay inactive until you activate them.
9. Confirm the customer portal is active under Management, so customers can switch to another saved payment method.
10. Test with a development store and Shopify Payments in test mode before relying on production dunning. See how to test Shopify subscriptions.

Worked example: every-4-weeks coffee, patient payment recovery

A roastery bills every 4 weeks. Most declines are expired cards that customers fix within a few days. Inventory is usually stable, so inventory retries can stay at the defaults.

1. In Settings, keep payment retries at 3 and days between retries at 7 (defaults), with final action Pause.
2. Keep inventory retries at 5 attempts every 1 day, final action Skip, so a brief stockout skips one cycle instead of cancelling the contract.
3. In Emails, activate Billing failed, Billing retry failed, Final billing retry failed, and Inventory failed.
4. Train support to help customers switch to another saved payment method in the portal, or send a card-update link from the customer’s profile in Shopify admin. Then resume the contract if the final action paused it.
5. Watch the Paused tab under Subscriptions. Contracts still in retry stay Active, and SMART never marks contracts Failed. Confirm recoveries show up again in active subscriptions on Home.

That setup favors recovery over immediate cancel for bad cards, while inventory problems skip a delivery instead of ending the relationship.

Practical tips before you rely on dunning

• Zero retries means no retry loop: the final action runs right after the first failure. Use that only when you want a fast cutover.
• Longer gaps (closer to 14 days) help when customers are slow to fix cards; shorter gaps recover faster when your audience is highly engaged.
• Match email copy to the final action. If the last step pauses, say pause, not cancel. See subscription email notifications.
• Admins can still pause, resume, or cancel a contract, and skip upcoming orders on pay-as-you-go contracts, under Subscriptions. See manage subscription contracts.
• Renewals that succeed after a retry still create a new Shopify order. See where subscription orders appear.

How dunning fits the wider subscription loop

Dunning sits after checkout and contract creation. Plans and the widget create the offer; Settings protects renewals; Emails keep customers informed; Subscriptions and Home show which contracts recovered. For the platform model behind renewals, read how Shopify subscriptions work.

Frequently asked questions