Smart retries provide an intelligent, data-driven approach to recovering failed subscription payments by choosing when to retry each payment based on its decline reason and payment history.
You do not need to build or maintain a fixed retry schedule. Smart retries adjust the timing for each payment to recover more eligible failures while limiting unnecessary retry attempts.
How smart retries work
Smart retries use an intelligent algorithm that adapts retry timing based on payment history, decline patterns, and other related details.
- Payments to retry - temporary issues like insufficient funds or card activity limits.
- Payments not to retry - permanent issues like expired cards, closed accounts, or fraud.
The process unfolds as follows:
- When a payment fails due to a transaction decline, the subscription goes into the redemption state.
- If it is a decline that can be retried, the system schedules a retry based on an intelligent algorithm.
- If it is a decline that should not be retried, no retry is made.
- The set number of retries is attempted within a defined period.
- If the retry is successful, the payment is recovered, and the subscription becomes active.
- If all retries fail, the
Guide
Learn about invoice statuses and how they change throughout the invoice lifecycle. invoice status depends on the configured setting: it is marked as not paid, or it is voided and the subscription is cancelled.
You can decide whether to grant access during the retry period. Solidgate provides a subscription status that indicates when the subscription is in redemption. If you choose to allow access, include the retry period in the next billing cycle.
The timing and frequency of these retries are automatically optimized to align with the subscription billing cycle and business preferences. This approach ensures that subscriptions are not retried too often or too infrequently.
Configure smart retries
Smart retries are enabled by default with four retries within four weeks. These settings can be modified based on your business requirements. Your changes are saved and applied automatically.
- Go to Billing > select the version > Settings.
- Navigate to the Smart retries tab.
- For the Retry frequency, set:
- number of retry attempts
- timeframe for processing retries
- Depending on the Billing version:
- In Billing 1.0, optionally click on Discounts to add discounts to retry attempts.
- In Billing
2.0, set whether the
Guide
Learn about invoice statuses and how they change throughout the invoice lifecycle. invoice status becomes unpaid or voided once all retries fail. Voiding the invoice also cancels the subscription. Marking it as unpaid does not cancel the subscription.
Discounted retries count toward the total retry limit, which cannot exceed 14 attempts due to limits set by card networks.
Discounted retries
Discounted retries give customers a chance to complete a failed payment at a temporarily reduced amount. This can help merchants recover revenue and retain subscriptions that might otherwise become unpaid, while giving customers a chance to keep access to your product.
Use discounted retries to:
- reduce subscription churn caused by failed payments due to insufficient funds
- recover some revenue instead of losing the payment entirely
- offer a temporary discount without changing the regular plan price
Billing 1.0 and Billing 2.0 both support discounted retries, but they apply the discount differently.
Discounted retries in Billing 1.0
The discounted retry charges a reduced amount directly on the existing invoice.
Example: retry attempt flow
3.02)| Attempt | Retry type | Invoice transition | Amount | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Regular retry fails (non-3.02) | Charges an existing invoice | $100 | Payment fails |
| 2nd | Regular retry fails with error 3.02 | Charges an existing invoice | $100 | Payment fails, triggers discounted retry |
| 3rd | Discounted retry in 30 min with 10% off | Charges a reduced amount on the same invoice | $90 | Payment fails |
| 4th | Regular retry (no discount) | Charges an existing invoice | $100 | Paid $100 |
In total, 4 out of 5 possible attempts are used.
Discounted retries in Billing 2.0
In Billing 2.0, the amount of a finalized invoice cannot change. When a retry discount applies, the current unpaid invoice is voided and a new invoice is issued for the same billing period with the discount applied.
If the retry for a new invoice succeeds, it becomes paid. If the retry fails, the invoice is re-issued whenever the amount needs to change, either because a new discount applies or because the price reverts to the regular amount.
If all retries fail, the final invoice in the chain follows the configured
Guide
Learn about invoice statuses and how they change throughout the invoice lifecycle.
invoice status
setting: unpaid or voided.
Example 1: Retry discounts without tax
3.02)| Attempt | Retry type | Invoice transition | Amount | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Regular retry fails (non-3.02) | Invoice #1 OPEN | $100 | Payment fails, no re-issue |
| 2nd | Regular retry fails with error 3.02 | Invoice #1 OPEN | $100 | Payment fails, triggers discounted retry |
| 3rd | Discounted retry in 30 min with 10% off | Invoice #1
VOIDED
→ Invoice #2 OPEN | $90 | Invoice re-issued, payment fails |
| 4th | Regular retry (no discount) | Invoice #2
VOIDED
→ Invoice #3 OPEN | $100 | Invoice re-issued, paid $100 |
Invoice #3 is paid in full ($100).
If attempt 4 also fails with error 3.02 instead of succeeding:
| Attempt | Retry type | Invoice transition | Amount | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4th | Regular retry fails with error 3.02 | Invoice #3 OPEN | $100 | Payment fails, triggers discounted retry |
| 5th | Discounted retry in 30 min with 25% off | Invoice #3
VOIDED
→ Invoice #4 OPEN | $75 | Invoice re-issued, paid $75 |
Same attempt shape as Billing 1.0 (3 regular retries, discounts on attempts 2 and 3), only the discount moves through a new invoice instead of a reduced charge on the original one.
Example 2: Retry discounts with tax
3.02)| Attempt | Retry type | Invoice transition | Subtotal | Tax (19%) | Total | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Regular retry fails (non-3.02) | Invoice #1 OPEN | $100.00 | $19.00 | $119.00 | Payment fails, no re-issue |
| 2nd | Regular retry fails with error 3.02 | Invoice #1 OPEN | $100.00 | $19.00 | $119.00 | Payment fails, triggers discounted retry |
| 3rd | Discounted retry in 30 min with 10% off | Invoice #1 VOIDED → Invoice #2 OPEN | $90.00 | $17.10 | $107.10 | Invoice re-issued, payment fails |
| 4th | Regular retry (no discount) | Invoice #2 VOIDED → Invoice #3 OPEN | $100.00 | $19.00 | $119.00 | Invoice re-issued, paid $119.00 |
Invoice #3 is paid in full ($119.00).
If attempt 4 also fails with error 3.02 instead of succeeding:
| Attempt | Retry type | Invoice transition | Subtotal | Tax (19%) | Total | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4th | Regular retry fails with error 3.02 | Invoice #3 OPEN | $100.00 | $19.00 | $119.00 | Payment fails, triggers discounted retry |
| 5th | Discounted retry in 30 min with 25% off | Invoice #3 VOIDED → Invoice #4 OPEN | $75.00 | $14.25 | $89.25 | Invoice re-issued, paid $89.25 |
Tax is recalculated on the discounted amount, the same way it would be for an invoice with a coupon applied. Coupons on the original invoice remain in place, and the retry discount stacks on top of them.
Apply smart retries to product
Based on your preferred flow, you can apply smart retries to products via API or the Solidgate Hub.
retry_mode field to
smart
in your request.
next_charge_at value if it is unavailable in real time.
In this case, you need to request the
subscription status
API v1
after 5–15 seconds of receiving the webhook to retrieve the next_charge_at information.
In some cases, it may take up to 15 minutes, so retrying requests is recommended.This logic is being improved, and changes are coming soon.
- Go to Billing > select the version > Products.
- Find the product and click on it.
- In the Product section, click on Edit.
- Next to Retry mode, select Smart retries.
- Click on Save changes.
Once you start using smart retries with your products, all new subscriptions created with such products use the intelligent retry approach automatically. This method increases the chances of recovering failed payments, helping businesses reduce revenue loss and improve customer retention.