Creating and Using Expiring Subscriptions

Overview

The Expiring Subscription feature enables you to introduce time-limited products and discounts to your accounts. This is useful for setting up temporary offers, such as a 10% discount for 12 months or fixed-term installment plans for equipment purchases.

Throughout this article, products and discounts are collectively referred to as subscriptions.

How expiring subscriptions work

Expiration is determined by the number of times a subscription appears on a recurring invoice. This count is set during product creation.

For example, a count of 1 means the subscription will be applied once, then automatically removed from future invoices.

A few additional notes:

• Only subscriptions with a Recurring product strategy can use expiration settings.
• Existing subscriptions cannot be updated to include an expiry; new subscriptions must be created.
• You cannot update the expiry settings for existing products or discounts.
• Fees cannot be configured to expire.
• By default, subscriptions do not expire. You must enable this setting.

Creating an expiring subscription

Expiring subscriptions are created in the Product Catalog. During setup, use the Recurrence Limit section to define how many invoice cycles the subscription will apply to.

Once configured, any time this subscription is added to an account, it will follow the rules set in the catalog.

For full instructions on adding subscriptions, see the Product Catalog Module.

Other Additional settings

• Delay when the discount starts applying:
  You can delay when a discount begins. This allows you to create promotions that begin only after a set number of invoice cycles have passed since the subscription was added to the account.
• Limit how long a discount remains assignable:
  Discounts can be configured with a valid assignment period, using a start and/or end date. If both dates are set, the discount will only apply to accounts during that specific window. 
  
  If the discount is assigned to an account within the valid window, it will automatically apply on the next invoice. Invoice generation usually occurs around 9–10 AM in the organization's local time zone.
• Restrict which accounts can be assigned based on the tags:
  This setting limits assignment to accounts that match at least one of the selected tags. It helps prevent incompatible subscriptions from being added to the wrong accounts.
• Tax group restrictions:
  You can restrict which tax groups apply to the subscription. This setting overrides the default tax rules of the account for the specific product or discount.

Using expiring subscriptions

Adding an expiring subscription works the same way as other recurring subscriptions. However, you'll see alerts in the interface confirming the expiration rules.

Below are examples of what users see when assigning expiring subscriptions, and how these appear in an account before and after expiration.

A note on proration and cancellation

Unlike standard subscriptions, expiring subscriptions are never prorated. This applies whether they are added mid-cycle or cancelled early. You may handle edge cases manually using a one-time debit or discount.

More usage notes

• To switch an account to an expiring subscription, unassign the current one and add the new expiring version.
• Expiration rules cannot be edited once assigned to an account (in the current release).
• Expiration is defined in the Product Catalog and cannot be modified at the time of assignment.
• Expiring subscriptions cannot be reused across accounts. Each instance is account-specific.