Setting up Automatic Re-ordering for items on recurrent basis

[skukreja]

We sell supplements online and need a way for customers to sign up for monthly or 90 day delivery. Ideally, they would be offered a "subscription" when checking out the item for the first time. I can't believe I can't find this feature. The standard subscription feature doesn't work for us as it doesn't solicit details from the customer such as shipping address and isn't available on the online store (link has to be sent to the customer). Am I missing something here? I can't be the only one in need of such an option.

[londontea]

Hi @skukreja! Unfortunately there’s not a simple way to do this with Square. This has been a big pain point for me. Square’s subscription offering has vastly improved since it was first introduced, but it’s still not robust enough for my needs. I’m currently using Subbly for my subscriptions, and it should work for your use case. There are plenty of other subscription platforms out there. 

The only workaround for you is to create recurring invoices, but it’s it requires your customer to contact you to initiate the subscription. One way this works is to create a form on your website that customers can fill in the relevant details (which item(s), the order frequency, shipping address, etc.). When you receive the form you’d create a recurring invoice and send it to the customer to collect payment. That’s a lot of extra work and may not be worth the effort if you have a lot of subscriptions. 

[skukreja]

Thank you, do you use square online for your one time orders and and then direct to Subbly for subscriptions? Can I check out your online store?

[londontea]

@skukreja While you can see my website here, you actually won't see anything about subscriptions anymore. I stopped doing new subscriptions a few weeks ago because I wasn't getting enough of them to justify the effort. If I had at least $500 in recurring sales each month then it would have been worthwhile, but ultimately I never went about $400/month and finished at around $250/month. 

My solution was to put a link to my Subbly page in every item description. Customers clicked on it to be taken to Subbly, then chose what teas they wanted and their order frequency. The link was really easy to miss, which is probably why I didn't get many takers. There's also the problem that customers who wanted to buy something one-time AND get a subscription couldn't check out at the same time. Going to a different website put too much friction into the experience and I had a lot of abandoned carts on Subbly. 

I'm still using Subbly for a few folks who are really good customers. I probably lose money when considering the monthly payment for Subbly and the time I put into ensuring inventory matches, but these customers also buy a lot of one-time items so I'm OK with keeping them happy. 

All that said, I think doing a separate subscription site is great if you think you'll have enough business to justify it. My main problem is that I am very particular about inventory, and I had to update my inventory manually every time I shipped a subscription order. That was a lot of work for me. 

It would be absolutely fantastic if Square had a more robust subscription program. I'd love something the like "subscribe and save" (but maybe not save...) option on Amazon.