Cancel subscription

[ { "title":"Testing", "link":"https://docs.solidgate.com/payments/testing/", "text":"Simulate payments to test your integration before launching in production.", "imgSrc":"https://solidgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/icon-customizable.svg" } , { "title":"Create your payment form", "link":"https://docs.solidgate.com/payments/integrate/payment-form/create-your-payment-form/", "text":"Understand how to integrate the payment form into your product.", "imgSrc":"https://solidgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/icon-payments.svg" } , { "title":"Subscriptions", "link":"https://docs.solidgate.com/subscriptions/", "text":"Create and maintain a stable and healthy business subscription model.", "imgSrc":"https://solidgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/icon-global.svg" } ]

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Analyze cancellations, offer soft and hard cancellation options, and restore subscriptions

Subscription cancellations help merchants reduce risk and give them control and flexibility in managing customer expectations. Subscription cancellation options range from soft to hard and can also occur automatically to align with the payment process best practices.

Merchants can cancel subscriptions when needed, or there are scenarios of automatic cancellations when further billing attempts are not recommended. This can happen if a customer revokes their payment information or if payments are blocked by the fraud prevention system. Each automatic cancellation includes a specific Guide
A subscription cancellation code is used to describe the reason the subscription was cancelled. cancel code that explains the subscription termination.

By analyzing the cancel codes, merchants can identify patterns and trends in cancellations, understand the reasons behind them, and take steps to reduce the number of cancellations.

  • If a large number of cancellations are due to Guide
    Solidgate sets a limit on discounts, and if a discount applied to a payment goes beyond this limit, the final amount might become invalid.     invalid amounts     , the merchant may need to adjust their discount thresholds or pricing.
  • If cancellations are due to issues with the Guide
    This cancel code is used when the customer attempts to use a card brand that is not supported or whether his payment instrument does not support recurring payments.     payment processor     or Guide
    This cancel code is used when a fraudulent alert is received for one of the customer’s invoices.     fraud prevention     systems, the merchant may need to improve their security measures or work with the payment processor to address the issues.

Cancellation options
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Solidgate subscriptions include soft and hard cancellation options that offer flexibility in managing subscriptions for both merchants and customers. The soft cancel delays cancellation until the end of the billing period, while the hard cancel cancels the subscription immediately.

  • Soft cancel
    This cancellation option allows the subscriber to continue using the services until the end of the paid period while maintaining the subscription in an active status. After the current paid period is completed, the subscription status changes to cancelled automatically.
  • Hard cancel
    This cancellation option involves an immediate change of the subscription status to the cancelled one. If the cancellation occurred by mistake, the subscription can be Guide
    Subscription restoration resumes a cancelled subscription with the billing period adjusted based on the defined expiration date.     restored.

Hard cancellation is suitable for cases when the merchant and customer have agreed to terminate the subscription with no intention of reactivating it. This type of cancellation occurs when the force parameter has the true value in the cancel subscription by subscribing ID and cancel subscriptions by customer ID methods. It ensures the immediate cancellation of the subscription, regardless of the billing period. However, merchants can not only disable subscriptions via HUB or API but also have the alert-based auto-cancellation to manage subscriptions with a tailored approach. This helps implement better strategies for handling disputed transactions.

Disable subscription
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By subscription ID
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The cancel subscription API method allows merchants to cancel a specific customer's subscription by providing the subscription_id and specifying whether to cancel the subscription immediately or at the end of the billing period. Additionally, a Guide
A subscription cancellation code is used to describe the reason the subscription was cancelled. cancel code can be provided to indicate the reason for cancellation.

By customer ID
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The cancel subscriptions by customer ID API method allows merchants to cancel all subscriptions for a specific customer. This method requires the customer_account_id and it allows merchants to specify whether to cancel the subscription immediately or at the end of the billing period and a cancel code to indicate the reason for cancellation.

You can check the status of a subscription or obtain particular information related to it by Guide
Retrieve subscription data methods enable the efficient acquisition of specific subscription information using subscription ID or customer ID. retrieving the subscription data.
To cancel a subscription

  1. Go to Subscriptions.
  2. Find the needed subscription and click on it.
  3. In the top-right corner, click on Cancel subscription.
  4. In the pop-up window, select the suitable option:
    • Soft to schedule the cancellation for the end of the current billing cycle
    • Hard to cancel the subscription immediately
  5. Click on Cancel subscription to confirm cancellation.

Alert-based cancellation
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The system supports flexible subscription cancellation rules based on different types of alerts for both card payments and PayPal. This approach allows merchants to manage alerts according to their business needs and risk strategy, potentially reducing operational workload and chargeback rates, but also making smart decisions when choosing between soft and hard cancellations.

Merchants can have one of the available actions based on the alert type:

  • Do not cancel subscriptions means that the system takes no action and the subscription continues its normal lifecycle when receiving an alert. This action is only available for the Inquiry alert type.
  • Cancel subscriptions at the billing period end applies a soft cancel that keeps the subscription active until the current billing period ends, with a webhook notification sent to the merchant.
  • Cancel subscriptions immediately applies a hard cancel that instantly ends the subscription and sends a webhook notification. Merchants can restore it if necessary.
This feature is available by default if prevention/chargeback alerts are active for your account. If you do not have such alerts, contact your account manager to activate them.

Card payments and PayPal have auto-cancellation rules based on their specific alerts.

Card payments
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Alert type Do not cancel subscriptions Cancel subscriptions at billing period end Cancel subscriptions immediately
Fraud alert ✓
Prevention alert:
Inquiry		 ✓
Prevention alert:
Init refund		 ✓
Prevention alert:
Resolved		 ✓
Chargeback ✓

PayPal
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Alert type Do not cancel subscriptions Cancel subscriptions at billing period end Cancel subscriptions immediately
External chargeback ✓
Alert ✓
Claim ✓
Inquiry ✓
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