Subscription products: recurring billing with iDeal

[MaartjeS]

Hi there!

I know it is a longshot, but I hope there maybe a solution for it in the meantime.

Current situation: I am from The Netherlands where iDeal is the main payment method. I would like to add a paid newsletter as a subscription product on the website.

I want to use that subscription product as a cross sell product, so I want people to be able to buy it in combination with my regular Shopify products. 

The problem is: Shopify doesn't allow recurring payments with iDeal (via Mollie payment gateway), so I have been looking for different payment gateways. But Stripe is not available for integration on the website and Shopify Payments doesn't allow iDeal for subscription products. 

Does anyone has a workaround for this issue that includes to combine the subscription product and the regular products to checkout on the website and has recurring billing?

I know a lot of people have problems with iDeal/Mollie and subscription products and I know there are really expensive apps for it (like Firmhouse) to solve this issue. But unfortunately that is not an option.

Thank you!

[tijsinternet]

Hey there, another Dutch developer here. Looking into the same stuff (again). We onboarded a previous client to Firmhouse but wanted to search for alternatives again.

What do you mean with: “But Stripe is not available for integration on the website”? Is that then something personal and is Stripe still an option for selling subscriptions on Shopify? 

I have looked into Skio, Recharge and Submarine and all these apps won’t work with iDeal because of Shopify’s payment restrictions.

Hope to hear from you soon! Curious about the options with Stripe.. because I’ve heard that in “some cases” you are able to. Don’t know what that means though..

[WintersNick]

Did any of you guys found a solution to the ideal subscription issue?

The only solution I come across is Firmhouse through Mollie, but Firmhouse is pretty expensive, since they charge 1.5% of collected revenue.

any other ideas?

[MaartjeS]

Hi! 

Firmhouse is not an option for my client either. Do you have any experience with Stripe in combination with Shopify through Zapier?

[MaartjeS]

Hi!

As far as I know, Stripe cannot be used in The Netherlands in Shopify, because we already have access to Shopify Payments. So, maybe it is possible to integrate Stripe in other countries (I don't know).

You can however make a separate payment link in Stripe and add the payment button on the product page of the subscription product. You have to create a product in Stripe for it and the checkout will be processed in Stripe (including de iDeal subscription). But unfortunately that is no option for my client, because she wants the subscription item be cross selled with the regular products in her store. So checkout needs to be together of both products.

Another option might also be a connection between Shopify and Stripe with Zapier, but I have no idea if that works. Maybe you have experience with that option?

For my client Firmhouse is way over her budget, so that won't be an option either. 

[WintersNick]

I just found this one.
https://community.shopify.com/c/shopify-apps/subscription-plugin/td-p/2030633

He is referring to his own app https://apps.shopify.com/recurring-invoices?locale=nl.

And he says: "iDEAL works only when Shopify Payments is active, and it doesn't work when Shopify Payments is in test mode."

That would mean that iDeal payments should work, as long as its through Shopify Payments.

I haven't been able to test it yet, but it is a lot cheaper than Firmhouse.

[MaartjeS]

Hm, sounds promising. I will reach out to them and let you know.

[MaartjeS]

Unfortunately they are an app for subscriptions only and have nothing to do with the payment gateways.

I got below reply:

"Kindly know that our app doesn’t deal with payments and payment gateways. It allows your customers to get subscriptions or deferred payments by creating draft orders in your Shopify. When your customers pay their orders, all processes go through Shopify".

My experience is that when it comes to subscriptions only credit card is an option by Shopify Payments.

[WintersNick]

Yeap I just tested it; doesn't work. Only creditcard allowed... And the Express Checkout methods like Shop Pay, Google Pay etc were also available.

[michiels]

Hey @MaartjeS! I'm sorry our pricing didn't fit your needs previously. I've also added a larger comment at the end of this thread: https://community.shopify.com/c/shopify-discussions/subscription-products-recurring-billing-with-ide... which announces our native Shopify integration and has a link to a demo video and an FAQ article you can read up on!

Also know that we've modified our pricing recently, which is very much in line with what you'll also see in other subscription apps out there! Happy to get in touch to answer any questions and respond to any comments.

[MaartjeS]

I understand, but that is an alternative for Shopify and I need a solution for the Shopify website. 

[tijsinternet]

🤣

[Elinllc]

@MaartjeS @tijsinternet @thesilk @DSV @WintersNick 

The solution looks customized for Shopify, now it's exactly as desired

For video preview >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMIehEd4xHI

[Fepano]

👍 this is it!

[taxej]

iDEAL, Bancontact and SEPA together, thanks!

[tijsinternet]

I'm after some research quite sure only Firmhouse works, because they use their own checkout. All other Shopify apps fall into the Shopify Payments requirements and through that portal iDeal is not supported for subscriptions (yet). I am now checking if it is even possible to get a subscription via Skio or Recharge - via Shopify Payments with Apple Pay with Apple Pay being connected to iDeal. Because it seems also that there is a problem, while it seems only possible to complete this purchase if you have a creditcard or PayPal connected to your Apple Pay. Guess this is the same for Google Pay. 

[WintersNick]

Ah, so if we ever decide to use Firmhouse, our customers won't pay through the Shopify Checkout? 🤔

[tijsinternet]

That's correct. You can either create a checkout from a url (with product id's in parameters), or use their API to send the cart data from Shopify to Firmhouse. 

Firmhouse is also more a partner than an app. Customers also login to the Self service center on Firmhouse domain, or you should use their API to build a complete account environment inside Shopify.

[michiels]

Hey @WintersNick and @tijsinternet 

I added a longer comment to this thread with an update on what we've been working on at Firmhouse: we're introducing a native Shopify Checkout app very soon and are currently getting it submitted in the Shopify App store. Please have a look at the comment and the demo video and FAQ links attached https://community.shopify.com/c/shopify-discussions/subscription-products-recurring-billing-with-ide...

DM or email me if you have any comments and questions!

[thesilk]

Thanks @MaartjeS , @tijsinternet  and everyone else for digging into this.

Do we know whether Shopify has it on its timeline to enable Ideal for subscriptions? @Shopify  They recently made their own subscription app open to the public, so it is the right moment to start supporting this.

If they don't, Shopify as an e-commerce platform for Dutch companies that rely heavily on subscriptions is not (that) interesting. 

[DSV]

Just voicing our wishes here as well. To fully support subscription based services in NL we need IDeal. 90% of our current subscribers (through Woocommerce) use IDEAL so we need this our we will lose a huge chunk of our subscriber base.

[020_clean]

Have you had any luck with finding a solution for this?

[Annemieke]

Hi everyone, thanks for the great thread and all your hard work. I recently set up recurring payments for my online courses, but I'm disappointed that iDeal isn’t supported. Since most of my Dutch customers use iDeal, I’d really appreciate if it could be included for recurring payments. Thanks for considering! 📢 (Hear, hear Shopify!) 

Add: I also found information on Mollie’s documentation about recurring payments here:  https://docs.mollie.com/docs/recurring-payments 

[Kagife]

The latest solution is Easy Pie Checkout for Shopify. With this you can accept subscriptions with iDEAL via Stripe.

Youtube preview: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYcyegf4ttmGdfkCKK0QdRnMu9yUycbJb

@Annemieke @020_clean 

[michiels]

Hi everyone! I want to post a general update to this thread about what Firmhouse has been working on. I know that some people have considered us in the past, and have deemed us either not suitable (because of going around Shopify Checkout) or because we're not an easy-to-install solution you can install on your store.

Over the past years but especially over the past weeks we haven't been "sitting still" (as they say in Dutch 😅). We have worked on a native Shopify app that supports Shopify Subscriptions and also supports starting subscriptions from an iDeal, Bancontact and other local payment methods. We are launching our app in the Shopify app very soon so that it becomes easy for merchants to get set up and use as "plug and play", while also retaining our more advanced integration options suitable for larger and more complex merchants and agencies.

If you want to see a local payment method Checkout in action check out the following demo video that I posted on LinkedIn. Also how that interacts with our backend portal: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/michiels_i-was-so-excited-with-making-this-shopify-activity-723976345...

We also have an FAQ article in our helpcenter where you can read up on how all of this works and what we're planning to ship over the next few days and weeks for a Shopify native integration! https://help.firmhouse.com/en/articles/9521251-the-transition-to-native-shopify-checkout

Looking forward to receiving any feedback or questions you may have. Hit me up via LinkedIn or over email! I'm happy to respond to you personally or direct you to someone on my team who can answer your questions in more detail.

Michiel, CTO at Firmhouse

[Rewolar]

Hi,

Ik ben ook opzoek geweest. Shopify payments omgezet naar stripe en deze hebben sinds kort(?) een automatische betalingen via iDeal https://van-ons.nl/blog/digitale-strategie/ideaal-webshop-automatische-incasso-ideal-2/

ik citeer "Steeds meer payment providers (PSP’s) waaronder Mollie, Buckaroo en Stripe hebben ondersteunen automatische incasso’s (recurring payments) met iDeal."

Als goed is is dit nu de oplossing ben er nu mee bezig.

Hopelijk kunnen jullie hier iets mee

Gr

[sowekok]

Easy Pie Checkout for Shopify werkt perfect, alleen Stripe-commissies worden van de betalingen afgetrokken, u loopt geen extra Shopify- of andere commissies op.