Shopify subscription APIs (Application Programming Interface) currently has set a few criteria for its merchants who want to offer recurring orders to their customers. Appstle Subscriptions, similar to any other subscription app in Shopify, is bound by these criteria.

While you will find the detailed list of Shopify limitations and conditions (for subscriptions) in this link, we have outlined a few of the key criteria below.

One of the most important limitations set by Shopify is that it currently requires all merchants looking to install any subscription app to use one of their supported payment gateways, which are:

Shopify currently does not support adding a new and separate orders within an on-going subscription. A merchant can add or swap products in a subscription, and also skip a scheduled delivery. but he/she cannot manually insert a new order.

Accelerated or express checkout helps returning customers to checkout quickly by using their pre-saved billing and shipping information.

The limitation to use the accelerated or express checkout features comes directly from limitation No. 1 (around the payment gateway). Since accelerated checkouts are usually with third-party gateways such as Apple Pay, Google Pay etc, and as Shopify currently limits subscriptions to Shopify Payments, Stripe, Shop Pay and PayPal Gateway, the accelerated checkout feature for other payment gateways cannot work with any subscription application right now.

Currently, Shopify, by default, shows your customers who subscribe for recurring orders only the cheapest shipping plan within your store, and does not provide multiple shipping options. This is to save shipping costs for the merchant (and customer) on orders that are placed well in advance - the recurring orders.

A buy button is a shortcut that leads to the checkout process. It basically allows the merchant to embed their product/service card in other non-Shopify websites or blogs, such as Wix.com. Currently, Shopify does not allow any subscription apps to integrate with the Shopify Buy Button.

If you have any questions about the Shopify limitations, or want to talk about any other features, please reach out to us at subscription-support@appstle.com. Our 24x7x365 available experts will be happy to assist you further.