If a customer needs to make a change to their next continuity order, but it does not need to persist for all future orders, then you can make a one-time update to the subscription. This update will be applied to the subscription's next continuity order, but will not persist to all future orders.
This currently supports adding a one-time purchase product, applying a coupon, or using a different shipping method, shipping address, or payment.
Initiate Update
When viewing an active or paused subscription, click Update Next Order Only in the top right. This will add a new tab next to Subscription Details, which contains a copy of the subscription (including all subscription items, pricing, next order date, frequency, and payment information).
This tab will allow you to make edits for the subscription's next continuity order. You cannot change the customer details, edit the totals in the subscription summary, or perform actions such as pausing.
If you click Order Now from the Subscription Details tab and a one-time update exists for that subscription, the order will be created based on that update and include any changes you have applied. The update will then be discarded (at which point you can create a new one if needed). You can also discard this update without submitting an order by clicking Clear Updates in the top right.
Note that if you make edits to the parent subscription while a one-time update exists, those edits will not be reflected on the update version.
Make One-Time Updates
After changes are made, pricing will be updated for the continuity order in real-time and displayed on the page. This will evaluate one-time item and order-level discounts as well as tax. If a subscription item is modified (such as to reduce quantity), then the subscription discount will be evaluated for that item.
You can also make these changes via the Subscription APIs. Make an Update Fulfillment Info, Add or Delete Subscription Item, Update Item Quantity, or Update Payment call with the parameter ?updatemode=applyToDraft
appended to the endpoint. This will make the change as a one-time update and not apply it to the original subscription. Note that in order to retrieve the one-time update data for a subscription, you must make a Get Subscription call with the query parameter ?draft=true
in the endpoint.
Once the next continuity order is placed with these changes, these updates will be discarded.
Update Shipping Details
In the Shipping section, you can select a new shipping method or shipping address for this continuity order. Select a new value from the Shipping Method dropdown and/or click Change Address to either select a different customer address or enter a new one.
If the selected shipping method is not available for a new address, the dropdown menu will automatically open with a message that says "Preferred one time shipping method is no longer available for the updated address. Please select a different one time shipping method."
Update Payment
In the Payment section, you can select a new payment type and method for the next continuity order. Click Change Payment to view a list of all available payment type options and enter the details for the customer's payment method. The new payment will be validated just like on a usual subscription or order.
Apply a Coupon
Apply one or more subscription, item, or shipping coupons by entering the coupon code(s) in the Add a Coupon section and clicking Apply. The coupon will be validated and an error message will be displayed if you attempt to apply an invalid coupon.
You can enter either one-time or subscription-only coupons. The coupon will only be applied to the appropriate items (one-time or subscription items) in the next order.
If a coupon was valid but then the subscription is repriced for any reason and the discounts or coupons are no longer valid, the coupon will be removed.
Add and Update Items
Click Add Item in the Items for Next Order Only table to select a one-time purchase item. You must enter the fulfillment method and quantity before you can successfully add it to the order or add another item.
You cannot directly increase the quantity of an existing subscribed item, and must instead add the additional quantity as a new line item. However, you can directly decrease the quantity of a subscribed item. The order must always include at least one subscribed item—it cannot contain only one-time purchase products or have all subscribed item quantity reduced to zero.
All items added to a continuity order will be a one-time purchase by default and thus will use non-subscription pricing (even when adding an additional line item to increase quantity for a subscribed product).
This also means that you cannot add a subscription-only product as a one-time change.