Subscriptions

Creating and Managing Recurring Billing Subscriptions

Overview

HitPay’s recurring billing feature enables you to effortlessly handle membership fees and subscription-based products or services for your customers. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the process of creating and managing your recurring billing subscriptions.

Recurring billing simplifies the collection of payments for products or services on automatic cycles – weekly, monthly, or annually. Moreover, it offers the flexibility to set a maximum number of billing intervals. Regardless of your technical background, you can manage payments seamlessly without needing a website or developer.

Supported Countries

Currently, the recurring billing feature is available in the following countries:

Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, USA, UAE, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, Gibraltar, United Kingdom, Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Czech Republic, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Norway, Poland, Romania, Switzerland

Getting Started

To access the subscriptions page, log in to the HitPay Dashboard and navigate to Recurring Billing > Subscriptions**. Click the Add Subscription button to create a new subscription.

Adding a Subscription:

Fill in the required information on the “Add Subscription” page:

• Currency and Amount: Configure your subscription’s currency and amount.
• Renewal Cycle: Set billing intervals.
• Start Date: First billing date; subsequent billings follow this date.
• Times to be Charged: Specify the maximum deductions allowed for the plan.

Click “Save Subscription” to finalize.

Sending Subscriptions

Sending Invoices: After creating a subscription, you can send an invoice via email by clicking Send Link.

The customer would receive a link to attach their card to the plan.

Manual Link Sharing: Alternatively, you can copy the link and share it directly with the customer.

Subscription Status

Scheduled Status: Subscriptions appear under “Scheduled” status upon creation.

Active: When a customer attaches a card to a plan, you’ll receive an email notification. Additionally, the subscription’s status on the HitPay dashboard changes from scheduled to “Active”.

Retrying: This status arises when the renewal payment has failed. HitPay will automatically attempt to charge the customer for up to 7 consecutive days before moving the subscription to inactive. It’s a grace period to resolve payment issues.

Inactive: When all renewal payment retries have failed during the retrying period, the subscription transitions to inactive status. It’s important to suspend access to your products/services. Customers can still re-activate their subscriptions by adding/updating their payment details.

Paused: Subscriptions can be paused by you to temporarily stop billing without canceling the subscription. This can be set to an indefinite period or until a specific date.

Automatic Cancellation: If a customer doesn’t attach a card to the plan by the subscription’s start date, the subscription is automatically canceled.

Pause and Resume Subscriptions

Pause Subscription

Pausing a subscription allows you to temporarily stop billing without ending the subscription entirely. Here’s how you can initiate a pause:

1. Navigate to Recurring Billing > Subscription > Select Individual Subscription.
2. Click the Pause Subscription option. A popup will appear.
   • Start Date: Select the date when the pause will commence.
   • Pause Duration: Decide between an “Indefinite” pause or a “Specific Date” to end the pause.
   • Next Charge Date: Set the date when billing will resume post-pause.

Extending a Subscription Pause

Should you need to extend a pause:

1. Find and select the paused subscription you wish to extend on your dashboard.
2. Click on Extend Subscription option. The initial settings will be prefilled; update the “Pause Duration” as required.

Resuming a Subscription Immediately

To immediately resume a subscription:

1. Select the paused subscription you’re ready to reactivate.
2. Press Resume Subscription. A popup will display, where you should:
   • Next Charge Date: Select the date for the next billing cycle. This action reactivates the subscription and resumes billing without delay.

Add One-Time Payment to an Active Subscription

The Add Payment feature allows you to charge a one-time amount to a customer’s saved payment method on an active recurring billing plan — without changing the subscription itself. This is ideal for add-ons, usage overages, or one-off services.

When to Use

• Charge for one-time services (e.g., personal training session).
• Apply additional charges (e.g., late fees or extra usage).
• Manually collect top-ups using a saved payment method.

How It Works

Customer Requirements

• The customer must have saved a payment method to their subscription.
• The subscription must be in Active status.

Steps for Merchants

1. Navigate to Recurring Billing > Subscriptions and select the customer’s active subscription.
2. Click on Add Payment (visible only if a payment method is saved and the subscription is active).
3. Enter the required details:
   • Amount
   • Description (e.g., “One-time personal training session”)
4. Click Confirm to process the payment.

⚠️ This is a one-time charge and does not replace failed subscription payments.

After the Payment

• Payment is processed instantly using the saved payment method.
• A confirmation (success or failure) message is shown.
• The customer receives an email with the payment details.
• The transaction is recorded in the subscription’s transaction histories and timeline.

Subscription Settings

With the subscription settings, you have control over what happens when all attempts to charge a subscription have failed. You can choose between canceling the subscription or setting it to inactive, which allows customers to reactivate it later. To access these settings, navigate to Recurring billing > Subscription > Settings and make your selection.

Filters and Exporting

If you have multiple subscriptions, you can use the additional filters on the right side to filter by customer email, customer name, plan name, created date, total amount and status. Additionally, you can also export your subscriptions to a CSV file by clicking on Export Subscriptions

FAQs

Can I change the subscription amount?

Yes, you can edit the subscription amount anytime, including before and after the 1st charge. The new amount will only be reflected from the next charge. All previous charges will not have any impact.

What happens if an attached card associated with an active plan gets declined?

If an attached card associated with a plan gets declined on the scheduled charge date of the plan, the customer is immediately sent an email requesting them to update their card details using the link.

At the same time, the account owner is also notified by email about the failed charge.

If the customer fails to attach a valid card within 7 days from the failed charge date, the subscription will move to a inactive status.

When will a scheduled customer subscription be canceled?

The scheduled customer subscription will be canceled if the customer hasn’t entered their payment details by the billing start date.

Will my customers receive an email notification before being charged?

Yes. To send a reminder email to your customers 7 days before their subscription renewal, navigate to Subscription > Settings and toggle the reminder option on.

Can customers update their card details attached to a plan?

Yes, your customer will find their recurring billing link in the initial email from HitPay. Should you need to resend the link, simply go to your HitPay dashboard, select the relevant customer subscription, and opt for ‘Send Link’ to automatically forward the recurring plan link to the customer, or ‘Copy Link’ for manual sharing. Once the customer accesses the link, they can click on ‘Update Card Details’ to enter their new payment information.”

Can my customers cancel their subscription?

No, customers are not able to cancel their subscription. They will need to notify you, and you can cancel it for them.