Enabling automatic order merging

Automatic order merging combines upcoming subscription orders that are scheduled close together into a single order. This reduces multiple shipments and charges for the same customer.

This guide explains how automatic order merging works, how to enable it, and key considerations.

How it works

Recharge merges orders when:

• Products are associated with the same address (Address ID), and
• Orders share the same charge date or fall within your configured merge window

Recharge adjusts the charge dates so orders can be processed together as a single charge and shipment.

The merge occurs when the upcoming order email is generated, and a charge activity is created for each merge. You can use this activity to manually undo a merge if needed.

Merged orders appear in the Charges exports under the merged_at column.

Same-day merges

Recharge automatically merges same-day charges with the same Address ID, even if automatic order merging is disabled.

Prepaid queued orders are excluded, but prepaid renewals may still merge if they meet the same-day criteria.

Enable order merge

To enable automatic order merging: 

1. Click Settings in the Recharge merchant portal and select Order processing.
2. Navigate to the Order merge section. 
3. Enable Merge orders the process around the same time. 
4. Choose the number of days between orders for merging. 
5. Optionally, you can choose to merge orders with bundle subscriptions.
   • If enabled, bundle subscriptions are merged like other subscriptions.
   • If disabled, bundle subscriptions are excluded. This is recommended if your bundles include a customization period, as merging may shift their charge date.
6. Click Save to confirm changes. 

Customer notifications

Customize your upcoming order notifications to display a predefined message when orders are merged.

Upcoming order email

Use the {% if charge.merged_at %} variable in your Upcoming order emails to let customers know when Recharge merges their orders.

Example:

{% if charge.merged_at %}
<p>
To reduce the overall environmental impact of shipping products, we have merged this
order with others that were scheduled to be shipped a few days later. This will help
reduce the amount of packaging that we use, as well as the environmental impact of
sending multiple packages instead of just one.
</p>
{% endif %}

Subscriptions upcoming charge notification

Use the {% if merged_at %} variable in your Subscriptions upcoming charge notifications to let customers know when Recharge merges their orders.

Example:

{% if merged_at %}
<p>
To reduce the overall environmental impact of shipping products, we have merged this
order with others that were scheduled to be shipped a few days later. This will help
reduce the amount of packaging that we use, as well as the environmental impact of
sending multiple packages instead of just one.
</p>
{% endif %}

Klaviyo

Use the merged_order property when creating Klaviyo flows using the Order upcoming metric. This property indicates if the charge was merged with other charges as a result of automatic order merging.

Examples of order merging

The following examples illustrate how automatic order merging behaves across different subscription cadences.

Example 1: Subscriptions with aligning cycles

In this example, the upcoming order notification is sent three days in advance, and order merging is set to include orders within a two-day window.

Setup:

• Subscription A: February 28 charge date, every 6 weeks
• Subscription B: March 1 charge date, every 12 weeks

What happens:

• On February 25, Recharge identifies that the charges fall within the merge window and combines them into a single charge on February 28.
• Both subscriptions are processed together.
• Future charge dates are recalculated based on their respective cadences.

Over time, the charge dates for both subscriptions continue to align, and future orders are merged automatically.

Key takeaway:

Subscriptions with compatible cycles will continue to align, resulting in consistent merged orders.

Example 2: Subscriptions with non-aligning cycles

Setup:

• Subscription A: February 28 charge date, every 5 weeks
• Subscription B: March 1 charge date, every 12 weeks

What happens:

• On February 25, the initial charges are merged into a single order on February 28.
• Future charge dates are recalculated, but the cycles do not stay aligned.
• Some future orders fall too far apart to meet the merge window and are processed separately.

Key takeaway:

Subscriptions with different cadences may occasionally merge, but they will not remain consistently aligned.

Example 3: Subscriptions that become aligned over time

Setup:

• Subscription A: February 28 charge date, every 4 weeks
• Subscription B: March 1 charge date, every 30 days

What happens:

• The initial charges are merged into a single order on February 28.
• On the next cycle, the charge dates are close enough to merge again.
• Over time, Subscription B’s charge date continues to shift to match Subscription A.

This results in both subscriptions effectively following the same cadence.

Key takeaway:

Order merging can gradually align subscription schedules, potentially changing the subscription's original cadence.

Considerations

Consider the following when automatically merging orders: