Updating subscriptions in bulk
Whenever you make an update to a product in your ecommerce platform, changes are reflected on your storefront so new subscriptions are updated by the change. Existing subscriptions retain the product and subscription properties set at the time of purchase. You may need to edit existing subscriptions to ensure that the subscription properties are correct and up to date for existing customers. This guide provides a breakdown of the types of updates available and how to process them.
Types of bulk updates
Bulk update |
Platforms |
Tools |
Resources |
| Applying or removing a discount code |
|
Import tool |
Applying and removing a discount from an existing subscription |
| Cancel or delete subscriptions |
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| Day of the month or week |
|
Import tool | Charging on a specific day of the week or month |
| Expiration after X number of charges |
|
Import tool | Adding or removing an expiration from existing subscriptions |
| Frequency and interval |
|
Adjusting the order schedule for existing customers | |
| Line item properties |
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Adjusting line item properties | |
| Next charge date |
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| Prepaid order date |
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CSV file via Recharge Support | Editing prepaid shipment dates |
| Product swap |
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| Product title or Variant title |
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Renaming products for existing subscriptions | |
| SKU regeneration |
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CSV file via Recharge Support | Updating SKUs for existing and future subscription orders |
| SKU override |
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Updating SKUs for existing and future subscription orders | |
| Updating the number of items |
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Changing the quantity of a subscription | |
| Recurring price |
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| Shipping rates |
|
Import tool | Editing shipping rates for existing subscriptions |
| Update order attribute |
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Import tool | Updating order attributes and notes |
| Import tax codes |
|
Import tool | Bulk import tax codes |
| Update customer communication preferences |
|
Import tool | Bulk update consent statuses |
| Reactivate subscriptions |
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Bulk update subscriptions with filters tool | Bulk update subscriptions with filters |
CSV column reference
Refer to the following table to understand which columns to include in your bulk update CSV and what each column means. This data is required when you bulk update using the Import tool.
COLUMN TITLE |
SUMMARY |
ALL BULK UPDATES |
|
|---|---|
|
address_id |
The numerical Address ID associated with a customer’s subscription. If you need to find Address IDs in Recharge:
This column is optional for all bulk update types except discount and address updates. |
|
subscription_id |
The numerical Subscription ID associated with a customer’s subscription. If you need to find Subscription IDs in Recharge:
This column is required for all bulk update types. |
CHARGE FREQUENCY AND INTERVAL UPDATES |
|
|
subscription_id |
The numerical Subscription ID associated with a customer’s subscription. If you need to find Subscription IDs in Recharge:
This column is required for all bulk update types. |
|
charge_interval_frequency |
The numerical value of how often the product is charged depending on what is configured in the ruleset. For example, if a product were configured to charge every three months, the value here would be three. This column is required for updating the frequency. |
|
order_interval_frequency |
The numerical value of how often the product is shipped depending on what is configured in the ruleset. For example, if a product were configured to ship every month, the value here would be one. This column is required for updating the frequency.
Warning: This update remove skips and manually
updated charges. Error charges will disappear, and Recharge
recalculates
the charge date based on the new frequency.
|
|
order_interval_unit |
The period in which the product is shipped as configured in the ruleset. For example, if a product were configured to ship every month, the value would be "month." This column is required for updating the frequency.
Warning: This update removes skips and manually
updated charges. Error charges will disappear, and Recharge
recalculates
the charge date based on the new frequency.
|
BULK CANCELLATIONS |
|
|
status |
The status of the charge. Depending on which export you pull, the status will be different. Values are ACTIVE or CANCELLED. This column is required for bulk cancellations. |
|
cancellation_reason |
The reason the product has been canceled from the customer's subscription. This can be selected by the store owner, customer, or automatically by Recharge (e.g., max retries reached). This column is optional for bulk cancellations. |
|
send_email |
Determines whether to send an update email to the customer. Values are True or False. This column is only available for bulk cancellations. |
PRODUCT TITLE OR VARIANT TITLE UPDATES |
|
|
subscription_id |
The numerical Subscription ID associated with a customer’s subscription. If you need to find Subscription IDs in Recharge:
This column is required for all bulk update types. |
|
product_title |
The title of the subscription product. This column is required for product title updates. |
|
variant_title |
The title of the specific variant that the subscriber is subscribed to. This column is optional if you do not use variants. |
RECURRING PRICE UPDATES |
|
|
subscription_id |
The numerical Subscription ID associated with a customer’s subscription. If you need to find Subscription IDs in Recharge:
This column is required for all bulk update types. |
|
recurring_price |
The recurring cost for the subscription product. This column is required for recurring price updates. |
NEXT CHARGE DATE UPDATES |
|
|
next_charge_date |
The scheduled date when the system processes the next payment for this subscription in YYYY-MM-DD format. This column is required for next charge date updates. |
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charge_id |
A unique string of numbers given to each charge. The charge ID is used to reference a specific charge. This column is required when completing the Reschedule charges bulk update. |
CHARGE DAY OF THE MONTH OR WEEK UPDATES |
|
|
subscription_id |
The numerical Subscription ID associated with a customer’s subscription. If you need to find Subscription IDs in Recharge:
This column is required for all bulk update types. |
|
order_day_of_month |
The specific day of the month the product is submitted to your eCommerce platform on a recurring basis.
Note: Only valid if order_interval_unit
is month.
|
|
order_day_of_week |
The specific day of the week the product is submitted to your eCommerce platform on a recurring basis.
Note: Only valid if order_interval_unit
is week
|
EXPIRE AFTER [x] AMOUNT OF CHARGES UPDATES |
|
|
subscription_id |
The numerical Subscription ID associated with a customer’s subscription. If you need to find Subscription IDs in Recharge:
This column is required for all bulk update types. |
|
expire_after_specific_number_of_charges |
The number of charges before the subscription expires. |
PRODUCT SWAP UPDATES |
|
|
subscription_id |
The numerical Subscription ID associated with a customer’s subscription. If you need to find Subscription IDs in Recharge:
This column is required for all bulk update types. |
|
product_title |
The title of the subscription product. This column is optional for product swap updates. |
|
variant_title |
The title of the specific variant that the subscriber is subscribed to. This column is required for product swap updates. |
|
external_variant_id |
A unique string of numbers is used to identify the specific variant on the subscription. Even if a product has no variants created in your eCommerce platform, it will still have one variant ID assigned. Recharge uses the variant ID to create each charge. This column is required for BigCommerce stores. To locate variant IDs for this column, see Finding and exporting BigCommerce product and variant IDs. This column is optional for Shopify stores if you do not use variant IDs. |
LINE ITEM PROPERTIES UPDATES |
|
|
subscription_id |
The numerical Subscription ID associated with a customer’s subscription. If you need to find Subscription IDs in Recharge:
This column is required for all bulk update types. |
|
properties |
Line item properties are custom forms on a product used to collect additional customization information. Must be styled in JSON format.
For example: |
SKU UPDATES |
|
|
subscription_id |
The numerical Subscription ID associated with a customer’s subscription. If you need to find Subscription IDs in Recharge:
This column is required for all bulk update types. |
|
sku |
This column reflects if any SKU overrides exist and will be populated if `sku_override` is set. |
|
sku_override |
If a SKU override exists, this column will show the actual SKU used to create the charge. Retrieved from `general_arttributes[sku_override]` Values are True or False. If set to True, we will override the SKU set on Shopify. |
OTHER UPDATES |
|
|
subscription_id |
The numerical Subscription ID associated with a customer’s subscription. If you need to find Subscription IDs in Recharge:
This column is required for all bulk update types. |
|
created_at |
The date the product was added. |
|
quantity |
This is the number of products ordered. |
STORES WITH MULTI-CURRENCY |
|
|
subscription_id |
The numerical Subscription ID associated with a customer’s subscription. If you need to find Subscription IDs in Recharge:
This column is required for all bulk update types. |
|
presentment_currency |
The currency that the customer uses when they pay for their orders at checkout. This can differ from your store's default currency. The value used in this column is the abbreviated version of the currency, ie. GBP, AUD, CAD, or USD.
This column is required for multi-currency price updates. |
|
recurring_price |
The recurring cost for the subscription product. This column is required for recurring price updates. |
BULK ADDING AND REMOVING FREE GIFTS |
|
|
external_variant_id |
A unique string of numbers is used to identify the specific variant of a product in a subscription. This field specifies the variant IDs of the free gifts variant to be added. This column is required for adding or removing a free gift. |
|
charge_id |
A unique string of numbers given to each charge. This field specifies the upcoming charges to add the free gift to. This column is required for adding or removing a free gift. |
|
quantity |
This is the number of free gifts added. This column is required to add a free gift. |
BULK DELETE DYNAMIC BUNDLE CONTENTS |
|
|
subscription_id |
The numerical Subscription ID associated with a customer’s subscription. If you need to find Subscription IDs in Recharge:
This column is required for bulk deleting products from dynamically priced bundle subscriptions. |
|
external_variant_ids_to_delete |
A unique string of numbers is used to identify the specific variant of a product in a subscription. This field specifies the variant IDs of the products to be removed from a customer's bundle. Recharge uses the variant ID to create each charge. This column is required for bulk deleting products from dynamically priced bundle subscriptions. |
Bulk swap bundle selections for specific subscriptions |
|
|
bundle_variant_id |
The identifier for a specific variant within a bundle |
|
source_external_variant_id |
The original variant ID for the product you are swapping from |
|
target_external_variant_id |
The new variant ID for the product you are swapping to |
Updates via Recharge Support
If your business model requires frequent updates it is recommended to use the available tools or the Recharge API.
Recharge Support processes specific bulk updates, as noted above, as a courtesy during Support hours Monday to Friday, excluding holidays, on a first come first serve basis. CSV files must be received at least five business days before the changes need to take effect. The minimum number of orders that can be bulk edited is 50.
Once the CSV file is prepared and the file reviewed for accuracy, send a copy to the Recharge Support team. Include the following information in your request:
- The type of bulk update.
- The number of rows contained in the file.
- The myshopify.com or store URL.
Considerations
Consideration |
Notes |
| Free gifts | Bulk updates remove free gifts applied to upcoming orders. Refer to our guide to bulk add free gifts. |
| Number of bulk updates | Avoid running too many bulk updates at once, as this can cause errors. |
