Re: Free Trials with different billing or shipping policies

simplee_chris · ‎01-11-2022

Hello,

I want to confirm that this isn't currently possible using the Subscription APIs. I'm allowing customers to purchase a subscription product with a free or discounted trial, but as far as I can tell, there is no way to tell Shopify if the billing or shipping policies will change after the free trial.

As an example, if I have a monthly subscription, and want to give customers the chance to test it out for 14 days, that doesn't' appear to be possible. I can set two different pricing policies, and say the price will change after 1 cycle, but I can't specify that the first cycle is 14 days, and following cycles are 1 month.

Does anybody know of a way around this? I know that I can essentially make this possible by updating the contract after it is created, but this will not be shown accurately at checkout. Customers would see that the first order is free, and that they would be billed full price every 14 days after that.

Thanks!

Chris

dwyckoff · ‎01-12-2022

Hey Chris,
I can confirm that you are correct, variable first cycle lengths are not supported with the subscriptions API.
We are always looking to improve and expand upon our functionality, so I've shared this post with the team.

One workaround which might be possible for you is splitting this problem between two products:
One of which has a try-before-you-buy selling plan, representing no initial cost and a single re-billing period 14 days later, and another product carrying the recurring monthly subscription, also with no upfront cost, and bundling them together. Might be a lot to manage though.

Best wishes,
-Daniel, Subscriptions Dev

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

simplee_chris · ‎01-18-2023

Hi @dwyckoff,

cc: @Philibert_Dugas

It's been a year since I brought this up, and many disappointed merchants who don't have the option of offering a short trial on an annual membership.

Is there any update on this? It feels like it wouldn't be a big change to the API and would allow for so much more flexibility than currently possible.

Thanks

Chris