Path to selling a subscription box

A subscription box combines two things: a SaaS's recurring charge and a physical product's delivery. What changes is shipping. The subscription always charges the plan's price, so the checkout only offers free shipping methods, and shipping must be built into the price.

1. Connect a provider that handles subscriptionsCopy Anchor Link

The renewal charges the card saved on the first purchase. Stripe, Pagar.me and Paystack handle subscriptions. Asaas does too, as long as your Asaas account manager enables card tokenization. Mercado Pago doesn't charge subscriptions. See how payments work and the step-by-step for Pagar.me.

2. Say where you deliverCopy Anchor Link

In General›Settings›General, in the Selling and shipping locations card, choose the selling and delivery countries and how the checkout asks for the address.

3. Create free shippingCopy Anchor Link

In Catalog›Shipping, create the zones you serve and, in each one, a Free shipping or Local pickup method at no cost. Methods with a cost don't show on a subscription's checkout.

4. Create the productCopy Anchor Link

In Catalog›Products, create the product with Product type set to Physical subscription with delivery. The checkout asks for the shipping address, and the default invoice is the NF-e (Brazilian electronic goods invoice). Fill in weight, dimensions and Fiscal data as for a physical product. See product types.

If the box has tiers (a basic box and a premium one, for example) and the subscriber can switch between them, create one product per tier and put them all in the same family in Catalog›Products›Families.

5. Create the offerCopy Anchor Link

In the offer, set the Billing cycle to match the delivery rhythm, such as monthly or quarterly. The cycle can't change after the offer is created.

Some one-time sale tools don't exist in subscriptions: coupons don't apply, and packs and the order bump only work on one-time offers.

6. Customer portalCopy Anchor Link

In General›Settings›Customer portal, turn on the portal so the subscriber can cancel, switch tiers or update the card without talking to you.

7. Sort out each cycle's deliveriesCopy Anchor Link

Each paid renewal becomes a new order in Sales›Transactions. Use that list to put together the cycle's shipments, and Sales›Subscriptions to see who is active, in trial or with a late payment.

For invoices, connect an integration in General›Integrations›Invoices.

8. TestCopy Anchor Link

Test the store with an end-to-end subscription: the address requested on the checkout, the free shipping method offered and the order in Sales›Transactions.