How to Create a Subscription for a Customer Manually (Essential Subscriptions app)

Most subscriptions start when a customer checks out with the subscription widget. Sometimes you need to create one yourself: a customer asked you over the phone, you are moving a subscriber from another app, or you want a plan that is not in any campaign.

Subscriptions in the sidebar has a Create subscription button in the top right. The subscription is created in Shopify and appears in your Subscriptions list like any other. You choose whether the customer gets a confirmation email.

Moving subscribers from another app? Our support team can import them in bulk, without the New subscription email. See How to Import Subscriptions in Bulk from Another App.

Before You Start

The customer needs a saved payment method. You cannot type in payment details. The payment method lives in Shopify, and the app can only use one that is already saved on the customer's account.

A customer gets a saved payment method in one of two ways:

They complete a subscription purchase on your storefront.
They add a payment method themselves in their customer account.

If the customer has none, the page shows a red banner and you cannot save. The quickest fix is to ask the customer to subscribe through your store once. After that you can create and adjust subscriptions for them any time.

Note: Payment methods saved in an outside gateway by another subscription app are not visible to Shopify, so they cannot be used here. Payment methods saved through Shopify Payments or Shop Pay usually can. See Migrating to Essential Subscriptions from Another Subscription App.

Step 1: Select the Customer and Payment Method

Click Create subscription. In the Customer card on the right, click Select customer. Search by name, email or address, then click Select.

The card then shows the customer's name, email, default address and Payment method. If they have more than one saved payment method, the first one that can be used is chosen. A method that cannot be used is marked Expired or Inactive. Click the pencil icon to open Select payment method and pick another.

Note: The address on this card is for reference only. It is not copied into the delivery address. You enter that in Step 3.

Step 2: Set the Next Order Date and Currency

In the Next order card:

Next order date must be tomorrow or later. This is the date of the first charge and the first order. You cannot charge today.
Currency defaults to your store currency. If you sell in other currencies you can pick one. Product prices are converted from your store currency at the current exchange rate.

Send new subscription confirmation email. Tick it to send the customer the New subscription email. It is unticked by default, so no email is sent unless you tick it. This box decides on its own, whatever the email's setting in Settings. Click Notification settings next to it to edit the email.

The schedule is anchored to this date. A monthly subscription starting on the 15th keeps charging on the 15th. A weekly one keeps the same weekday.

Step 3: Delivery

In the Delivery card:

Tick This is a digital product if nothing ships. The address and delivery price fields disappear.
Otherwise fill in Address line 1, Country, the state or province where the country has them, City and ZIP code. Address line 2 is optional. The name on the address comes from the customer.
Delivery price is the shipping charge added to every order. Enter 0 for free shipping.
Delivery name is the shipping method label on the order, for example Standard shipping. Left empty it reads Shipping.

The country list is your store's shipping countries.

Step 4: Products

In the Products card click Select products and pick products or variants. Each variant becomes a line with a Quantity field. Click X to remove a line. You need at least one product.

Prices come from the product's current price in your store. The discount in the next step is applied on top.

Step 5: Pricing Policy

Discount is a percentage or a fixed amount off each product. Use the toggle to switch between % and your currency. Leave it at 0 for no discount.
Change discount after a number of payments lets the discount change later, for example 10% off for the first 3 payments and 15% after.

Step 6: Billing and Delivery Policy

The toggle has two options. Pay as you go charges the customer on the schedule you set:

Deliver every: how often orders are created. Enter a number and pick day(s), week(s), month(s) or year(s).
Subscription expires automatically after (optional): end the subscription after a set number of payments.
Customers can cancel after (optional): require a minimum number of payments before the customer can cancel from the portal.

There is no Charge customers on field here. The charge day comes from the next order date in Step 2.

To charge for several deliveries at once, switch the toggle to Prepaid. Set Deliver every, then Charge for a number of deliveries. For example, deliver every 1 month and charge for 3 deliveries: the customer pays for 3 months at a time. It renews at the end of each term until the customer cancels, unless you tick Subscription expires automatically after. See Prepaid and Pay as You Go Subscriptions Explained.

Step 7: Tags (Optional)

Order tags are added to every order this subscription creates. Customer tags are added to the customer. Both default to Essential Subscriptions. Each tag can be up to 40 characters.

Step 8: Save

Click Save in the save bar. If something is missing the page scrolls to the first problem and shows the error under the field. On success you see Subscription created and land on the subscription's detail page.

What Happens Next

The subscription appears in Subscriptions with status Active. Its Timeline reads Merchant created subscription.
The customer gets the New subscription email only if you ticked Send new subscription confirmation email. in Step 2. There is no checkout order behind it, so the email has no order number and no View your order button.
You get a New subscription staff email if your staff notifications are set to For every event.
Nothing is charged when you save. The first charge runs on the next order date. See When Customers Are Charged and What Happens When a Payment Fails.
The customer manages it in the customer portal like any other subscription.

Editing After Creation

Open the subscription from the Subscriptions list. You can change the delivery and billing frequency, the shipping address, skip orders, and send the customer a link to update their payment method. Under Edit on the main card you can also add, remove or change products and quantities, and click a price to change it. To stop orders for a while, click Pause subscription at the top, and Resume subscription to start again. See How to Manage Subscriptions and What You Can Change and What Only Your Customer Can Do.

To cancel, open the subscription and click Cancel subscription in the top right, then confirm. This cannot be undone. The customer gets the Subscription cancelled email if it is on in Settings.

Common Questions

Can I create a subscription for a customer who has never bought from me? Only if they have a saved payment method on their Shopify account. Without one, ask them to subscribe through your storefront first.

A customer bought as a one-time purchase. Can I turn that order into a subscription? No. An order cannot be converted after checkout. A one-time purchase usually does not save the payment method either, so creating it manually will most likely not be possible. Ask the customer to place a subscription order.

Can I set the first charge for today? No. The earliest next order date is tomorrow.

Can I give one customer a different first billing date and then a regular schedule? Yes. Set the next order date to the date of the first charge. The schedule from Deliver every runs from that date. This works only for subscriptions you create here, not for checkout subscriptions.

Will the customer be charged twice if they already paid me another way? The first charge happens on the next order date you set. If the customer has already paid for the coming period, set the next order date to the day their paid period ends.

I created a subscription by mistake. Can I remove it? Yes. Open it and click Cancel subscription. Nothing was charged if the next order date has not come yet.

Does the subscription need a campaign? No. A subscription created here has its own schedule, discount and products. It is not tied to a campaign, so campaign changes do not affect it.