Setting up a subscription online

[MisterPip]

Hi!

I've been back and forth on this for at least an hour, trying to find a definitive answer.

How can I set up a subscription to send items on a regular basis to my customers?

Subscriptions are an option, but I can't make an item from them.  So I've created a button and linked to the payment checkout from there, but that only collects phone number and email address...  There's no way for a customer to add their address, even after the set up through their management link.

I've seen recurring payments at checkout mentioned a few times, but I can't see how to do this.

Is there any advice at all?  There have been forum posts asking about this functionality since 2016!

Thanks,

Phil

[Breffni]

Hi there @MisterPip, sorry for the late reply on this one. 

In terms of setting up a subscription to send customers items on a regular basis, do you mean physical or vitual items? What are the components you would need as part of your online subscription? 

Knowing this will help me come up with the most appropriate idea here, I'l keep an eye out for your response! 

[MisterPip]

Hi @Breffni, sorry for the late reply myself!!

When I talk about items it's always physical - otherwise it's just an email/download and I don't need a physical address.

I (and many other Square users) need the ability to take a customer's shipping details and bill them automatically every month.  An example is a month's worth of dishwasher tablets (like Smol).

It may be nice to enable the customer to set their own renewal - some may use them faster than others - but the basic functionality of a subscription that you already have in place for services is fine.

It NEEDS to integrate with an ecommerce website.  I do not have time to email my customers after they've ordered through a non-checkout link to ask what their address is, and keep a separate list of my subscribers.  It has to work alongside the normal ecommerce.

Because of the lack of anything suitable, I've had to set up my website as WordPress with the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin and Square as my selected payment processor.  They charge $199 a year for that plugin - which shows you exactly how popular this need is.

Thanks,

Pip

[Breffni]

Thanks for clarifying, Pip. I've shared your feedback with the appropriate team for future consideration. 

At the moment for storing customer information you would need to use Customer Directory which would be a manual input. 

And from there make use of either Checkout Links or Subscriptions, as you mentioned. 

Hopefully this is something we'll be able to all incorporate together soon! @MisterPip

[MisterPip]

Thanks @Breffni - I'm beyond understanding as to why this hasn't been done within the six years it was first asked for...  I'll wait but not hold my breath 🙂