Subscriptions Frequency and Discounts

[P2W1]

I’m trying to set up a flexible subscription model using Square, but I’m running into an issue with how billing frequencies are handled.

Right now, billing frequency is automatically assumed to be tied with service/product delivery frequency. If I create a service (e.g., $30/month), and add another billing option like quarterly, Square charges $30 every 3 months as if I'm providing the service quarterly along with billing quarterly (when in reality id like the price of the quarterly option to scale, as I'm providing the monthly service and billing per quarter). I'm looking for a workaround where the several different billing frequency options I assign to subscription plan actually show different prices irrespective of a discount (right now, my only option seems to be making the price of the item $90, and then giving the monthly frequency option a discount of -$60 to make it $30 for monthly and $90 for quarterly. However, doing this makes the monthly seem like a discount.

Here’s what I want to achieve:

Let customers choose how often they receive the service (e.g., biweekly, monthly)--(I understand I can do this by making several items with titles referencing delivery frequency)

Separately, let them choose how often they pay (monthly, quarterly, annually).

Ensure that the billing frequency multiplies the base price appropriately (e.g., $30/month billed quarterly = $90, with optional discounts for commitment).

Is there a way to decouple service delivery frequency from billing frequency, or at least set up subscriptions so that billing intervals reflect the correct total price (e.g., monthly price × 3 for quarterly billing)?

Any workarounds or tips would be appreciated!

My final suggestion to square would be, instead of only offering a "discount" option for billing frequencies, there is a toggle to enable some other option that allows for freely altering the price irrespective of the "original" price (which is currently done through a discount).

Maybe this already exists and I'm clueless. Like I said, any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[P2W1]

Frankly, the current discount system doesn’t make much sense in this context. If I apply a discount to a longer billing frequency, like bi-annually, I’m essentially giving the customer a discount for purchasing less often. On the flip side, offering a discount for more frequent delivery (like biweekly) seems logical at first since they’re engaging with the service more, but because the billing is also more frequent (biweekly in this instance), there is less commitment involved. Ideally, discounts should reward longer-term billing commitments, not simply lower delivery frequency or shorter billing cycles.

[ryanwanner]

@P2W1 Hello and welcome to the Seller Community!

What you are asking makes perfect sense to me, but unfortunately it's not that easy with the subscriptions model we have to work with currently.

My current setup is for weekly, biweekly, and monthly subscriptions, and I'm able to just play with a discount amount for price breaks. Payment happens on the time period selected. I don't have a prepayment option or a way to batch multiple payments at once, mostly because there isn't a good way to do that currently.

I really think your best bet is to create multiple items for each billing period you want and price accordingly. Yes, that means a little more back end work, especially if inventory is involved. 

The subscription system as is has many limitations, and I'm hoping at some point some engineering resources are tasked to fixing a lot of the missing components. For now though, if you're wanting that detailed of billing and payment flexibility you may be better off looking at the App Integrations section of the dashboard to see if a third party subscription provider would be better for you. 

Wish I had better news! 😞