How do I manage the subscription order?

This article describes in detail:

• How to recognise a subscription order and how does it work in Admin
• How to close a subscription order

How to recognise a subscription order and how does it work in Admin?

A subscription order is an order that has at least one subscription item.

Most of the properties are as for a short renting order, plus a few specific elements and processes related to subscriptions, such as:

• A long term reservation on the items that user subscribed for
• Specific subscription related delivery statuses
• Specific recurring payments over the order lifetime, related to the subscribed items

To identify that an order has a subscription item inside, look for the subscription icon displayed on an order item

and a specific order line indicating the monthly subscription fee:

As usual, subscription items can have inventory allocation, either via automatic allocation (if active) or by manual allocation. This process is the same as for the normal renting order.

Subscription deliveries can have specific subscription delivery statuses, useful for the subscription lifecycle:

Delivery statuses related to subscriptions

• In Transport Out: Can be useful to mark that the delivery has been sent to the user
• Closed: This status is required to release a subscription item that has been returned and make it available for new customers. Note: Leaving status on Returned or Checked is not enough, since the item may be damaged, require cleaning, etc. 
• Swap In Ready: Automatic status, triggered when the user initiates a Swap Request from "My Orders" page in the webshop - for the ongoing item
• Swap Out Request: Automatic status triggered when a user initiates a Swap Request action from "My Orders" page in the webshop - for the new requested item
• Other Swap statuses: Manual statuses, optional for the manager to use
• Subscription End Request: Automatic status, triggered after a user initiates the Subscription End Request from "My Orders" page in the webshop

Notes: The system will automatically allocate a default booking end date, which is based on a site configuration setting, which can be very far in the future. The default assumed return date is 365 days, but this can be changed to 3 years, 5 years or more.

For configuring custom communication flows with users during their subscription lifecycle one can use user notifications in combination with subscriptions. Read about user notifications here.

Common situations can include:

• Sending a “check-in” email on day 10 / day N of subscription, to check that all is ok with the product or share maintenance instructions
• Sending subsequent reminders, linked to any subscription specific statuses

The system will automatically send, by a trigger, the following emails to the shop manager and end customer

• End subscription request
• Order placement
• Swap request

How to close a subscription order?

Important: a user can initiate a subscription end request (read more here), however, this will not automatically close the order, as physical products may need to be returned and checked.

A subscription order should always be closed at the end of its lifetime.

These are the actions to take:

• Set the Order Status to "Closed", or use the Actions button ⏵ Close order, on the order page. Then any further payments will not be processed
• You can also manually set the next payment to " Inactive" from the payments list (see screenshot), in case you are still checking the returned item or have some communication with the customer

Closing the order can also be beneficial for other Admin users when they browse the Order List.