Mail Order Subscriptions

[BidwellPerk]

Hi There, I currently sell coffee subscriptions and am having an issue with the fact that encouraging someone to pay yearly or semi-annually gives them a discount but doesn't factor in the higher price they need to pay. 

Basically coffee costs $22 per pound and my shipping profile figures out the shipping fee based on the quantity (weight) of the order. If I encourage people to sign up for a year and give them a discount on the Frequency Options, it doesn't factor in that the person will get 12 shipments. I'm not sure how to figure this out except to create items that are priced specifically for a 3, 6 or 12 month option, but then you would show the frequency discounts on the check out screen, so it defeats the purpose. 

Any ideas? Here's my current site, in case you want to look at what I have now: https://bidwellperk.square.site/coffee-subscriptions

[Stacelyn24]

It sounds like you're facing a pricing issue with offering discounts on longer subscription terms, which don't account for the full cost of shipping over time. While there’s no direct way to modify Square’s subscription feature to factor in multiple shipments and adjust pricing accordingly, here are a few potential solutions:

1. Create Separate Subscription Items Based on Duration:

• You mentioned this idea already, and while it’s not ideal, it can be effective. You can create custom items for each subscription term (e.g., 3-Month Coffee Subscription, 6-Month Coffee Subscription, and 12-Month Coffee Subscription).
• These items can have the appropriate price that includes shipping costs for the duration, factoring in the discounts for longer subscriptions. This would allow you to set a fixed price for the subscription while ensuring you're covering the full cost.

2. Adjust Shipping Charges with a Custom Shipping Profile:

• To ensure the shipping costs are accounted for properly across multiple shipments, consider creating shipping rules based on order weight or quantity and then adjusting them manually depending on the subscription duration. For example:
  • For a 1-time purchase, the shipping fee could be standard.
  • For a 12-month subscription, the shipping fee can be calculated based on the total number of shipments.
• You can use the Shipping Profiles in Square to create different rates for different subscription periods, but this might require manual adjustments on your end when fulfilling the orders.

3. Include Shipping in the Subscription Price:

• Another approach is to bundle the shipping cost into the product price. For example, you could increase the subscription price slightly for longer terms (e.g., adding the total estimated shipping cost for 12 months upfront), so customers paying for a 12-month subscription aren’t getting an unintended discount that doesn’t account for shipping.

4. Offer "Bundled" Options Instead of Discounts:

• Instead of offering a discount for longer subscriptions, you could create bundle pricing. For example, a customer signing up for a 6-month or 12-month subscription would receive additional perks (like a free bag of coffee or an exclusive item) to offset the cost, rather than offering a straight discount. This way, the cost remains consistent with your expenses, and it avoids the discounting issue.

5. Use Square’s Recurring Billing Features:

• Square’s recurring billing allows you to create automatic payments, but this doesn’t automatically adjust for multi-shipment pricing. However, if you manually adjust the payment plan for larger orders, you can set it up so customers are paying for the full shipping cost upfront or in installments over the subscription period.

6. Custom Discount Logic:

• If you're using Square's online store, you can apply custom discount codes based on your business needs, but this would not automatically calculate shipping. However, if your customers sign up for a longer-term subscription, you could create a coupon code for each subscription length (e.g., YEARLYSHIP, SEMIYEARLYSHIP) that factors in the cost of 12 shipments upfront.

7. Consult Square Support for Custom Solutions:

• If you’re finding that none of the available options give you the flexibility you need, I’d recommend reaching out to Square Support. They may be able to offer more specific guidance or even customized solutions that better fit your business model.

[BidwellPerk]

Thank you so much! I’ll weigh these options and see which is the best fit. I appreciate all the time you took to write these. And your website looks great!

[Ellie_]

Hi there, @BidwellPerk,

We appreciate you posting this and providing all of the details about how your subscriptions are currently set up. Unfortunately, at this time, there is not an option to add shipping costs directly into the subscription features. You would have to manually include that in the pricing. We recommend that you submit this feedback on to our Square Ideate board so other Sellers can vote on a feature like this.