Subscriptions | Pausing & Resuming

The Subscriptions section in Orbit allows you to pause an active subscription and resume it later, so billing stops while a customer is away or on a temporary hold and restarts when they are ready to continue.

Pausing is useful when a customer is going on holiday, wants a short break, or asks you to hold their subscription without cancelling it altogether. Their plan and details are kept, so you can pick up exactly where you left off.

When to pause a subscription

Pausing is a good alternative to cancelling when the break is temporary. Common reasons include:

• A customer is going away and does not need deliveries for a period

• A customer wants a temporary hold rather than ending the subscription

• You need to put billing on hold while resolving a query with the customer

Pausing a single subscription

You can pause an active subscription from its detail page.

To pause a subscription:

1. From the left-hand menu, go to Subscriptions.

2. Open the subscription you want to pause.

3. Click Pause in the header.

The subscription status changes to Paused and billing stops. No further payments are taken while the subscription is paused, and the date it was paused is recorded so you can see how long it has been on hold.

The Pause button is only shown for active subscriptions.

Resuming a subscription

When the customer is ready to continue, you can resume the subscription from the same detail page.

To resume a subscription:

1. From the left-hand menu, go to Subscriptions.

2. Open the paused subscription you want to resume.

3. Click Resume in the header.

The subscription status returns to Active and billing restarts on the normal cycle. The Resume button is only shown for paused subscriptions.

Pausing and resuming in bulk

If you need to pause or resume several subscriptions at once, you can do this from the Subscriptions list rather than opening each one. Tick the subscriptions you want to update, then choose the pause or resume action. This is helpful when the same change applies to a group of customers.

Letting customers pause themselves

You can also allow customers to pause and resume their own subscriptions from their account, without contacting you. This is turned on in Subscription settings, where you can enable customer self-service pause. Once enabled, customers can place their subscription on hold and resume it themselves, and the change is reflected in your dashboard.

Why pausing is important

Pausing gives customers a flexible way to take a break without losing their subscription, which often prevents them from cancelling entirely. Keeping the subscription in place means it is easy for them to come back, and easy for you to retain the recurring revenue once they resume.

If you have any questions, please contact us at support@orbitcommerce.net