Reactivating subscriptions

Customers can reactivate previously cancelled subscriptions from the customer portal, however, merchants can also reactivate subscriptions on behalf of the customer from the merchant portal. This guide provides instructions for reactivating a cancelled subscription for a customer and the steps for processing a bulk reactivation.

Before you start

• Customers can cancel and reactivate their subscriptions in their customer portal. 
• For instructions on cancelling subscriptions review Cancel a subscription.

Reactivate a subscription

Reactive a customer's subscription in the Recharge merchant portal.

1. Select Customers in the merchant portal and click Customers from the dropdown.
2. Search for and select the customer.
3. Hover over the subscription you wish to reactivate to open the Actions menu.

4. Select Reactivate subscription.
    

   

5. Click Confirm: reactivate subscription.

Understanding the next charge date after reactivating

When a subscription is reactivated, Recharge determines the next charge date based on the last successful charge and the subscription’s billing frequency.

If the subscription is reactivated after a scheduled charge date has passed, Recharge does not attempt to process the missed charge. Instead, the next charge date is set to the next available date that is at least one full billing interval after the last successful charge.

For subscriptions with a fixed charge day (for example, the 10th of each month), this may result in skipping the nearest upcoming date and scheduling the following cycle.

Example:

• Last charge: February 28
• Charge day: 10th of each month
• Reactivation date: April 30
• Next charge date: June 10 (not May 10)

This behavior helps prevent duplicate charges or shipments within a short period.

If you need the subscription to charge sooner or align with a specific shipment schedule, you can manually update the next charge date after reactivation. If you manually process a charge after reactivation, the next charge date will move to the following billing cycle

Reactivate subscriptions in bulk

There are two methods for reactivating your subscriptions in bulk. Review the methods below and select the method based on your needs and preference. 

Method 1 - Multi-select tool

You can use the Multi-select tool to reactivate individual subscriptions on the Subscriptions page. Follow the steps below to process the bulk update. 

1. Select Customers from the merchant portal, then click Subscriptions in the dropdown.
2. Use the checkboxes to select the subscriptions you want to update. 
3. Click More actions and select Update status.
4. Select Active from the drop-down menu. Click Next.
5. Click Confirm: prepare update and then select Check update progress.
6. Click Process update for the Bulk updates row with the current date. 
7. Click Update subscriptions.

Review the Multi-select tool guide for detailed instructions and next steps.

Method 2 - Import tool

You can use the Import tool to reactivate subscriptions. To process this type of update you must prepare a CSV template with the following required columns:

• subscription_id - Use Subscriptions - All export to gather the IDs requiring update.
• status - Value should be set to ACTIVE

Once the CSV is prepared follow steps 2 and 3 in the Bulk update subscriptions with the Import tool documentation to complete the update.