Requiring a minimum number of payments before cancellation

Want customers to commit to a few deliveries before they can cancel, for example a 3-month minimum, or stop people subscribing just for the discount and cancelling straight away? Turn on Minimum commitment on the subscription option. To end a subscription automatically after a set number of orders, turn on Automatic expiry. Both count orders, including the first order placed at checkout. This guide explains how they work, what they do and don't restrict, and how to model a payment plan.


Table of contents



Set a minimum commitment


  1. Go to Supr Bundles & Subscriptions > Offers and open the offer.
  2. Open the subscription option. Under its main fields, each of its other settings is a small chip that names it and, once it is on, shows On or its value. Click Minimum commitment to open it in the option's Additional settings.
  3. Turn it on and set Minimum orders.
  4. Click Save.


Minimum orders counts every order on the subscription, including the first order the customer places at checkout:


  • Minimum orders 2: the customer has to pay the first renewal before they can cancel. This is the usual setting against "subscribe for the discount, then cancel".
  • Minimum orders 3 (a "3-month minimum" on a monthly option): the first order plus 2 renewals.


What the minimum actually does


Until the subscription reaches the minimum number of orders, the customer cannot cancel or pause it from the customer portal. The buttons are still shown but are disabled, and the portal shows the customer how many orders are left in their commitment. Once the minimum is reached, both unlock and the subscription carries on renewing until someone cancels it.


A few important clarifications:


  • It only limits the customer in the portal. You can still cancel or pause the subscription yourself from the Subscriptions page at any time, see Managing a customer's subscription on their behalf.
  • Other portal actions, such as skipping an order, follow your customer portal settings. Whether customers can change their dates during the commitment is its own setting there: Change dates before commitment period ends.
  • It doesn't force the customer to keep paying if their card fails. Failed payments are handled by your dunning settings.
  • It cannot guarantee that every payment is collected. It can't stop a customer's bank from declining a renewal, or the customer from removing their card, letting it expire, or disputing a charge. The app has no way to force a payment through.


A minimum commitment is a soft commitment, not a payment guarantee. If you need to guarantee that the full commitment is paid, collect the money up front instead of relying on recurring charges: sell a prepaid subscription option, or use a buy now, pay later provider such as Klarna or Clearpay (Afterpay) at checkout, which pays you up front and then collects from the customer themselves.


Ending a subscription after a set number of orders


On the same option, click Automatic expiry, turn it on and set Orders before it ends. The subscription ends automatically after that many orders, including the first one. Use it for fixed-length subscriptions, for example 6 for a 6-box series (the first order plus 5 renewals).


Minimum commitment and Automatic expiry are independent: use either one, or both. They do different things, so a minimum never ends a subscription by itself.


Selling a payment plan


There is no dedicated instalment mode, where a customer pays for one expensive product in several monthly payments. You have two choices:


  • Recommended: a buy now, pay later provider such as Klarna or Clearpay (Afterpay) at checkout. You get the full amount up front, and the provider collects the instalments and carries the risk.
  • A subscription option that ends by itself. For a product paid in 10 monthly payments: an option that repeats every 1 Month, with Discount set to Fixed price at one tenth of the total, Automatic expiry with Orders before it ends set to 10, and Minimum commitment with Minimum orders set to 10 so the customer cannot cancel from the portal. Keep in mind that every payment creates an order for the product in Shopify, so you ship the first one and handle the later orders without shipping. A Fixed price applies to every product in the offer, so use one offer per price point. Payments can still fail, as described above.


Prepaid is not the right tool for this: it charges up front for several deliveries, the opposite of spreading one payment out. The wording Shopify shows at checkout about recurring charges is Shopify's own.


Good to know


  • These limits are stored on each subscription at the time of purchase. Changing the option later doesn't change customers who already subscribed. When you edit a single subscription from Subscriptions, the same limits appear as Minimum number of renewals and Maximum number of renewals, which count renewals only (without the first order): a minimum of 2 renewals there is the same as Minimum orders 3 on the option.
  • On a prepaid option, each payment is one order covering several deliveries, so both settings count payments. A One-off prepaid option always ends after its single payment.
  • Make the commitment clear to customers in the subscription option's Description so they aren't surprised later, and remove any "cancel anytime" wording from its Benefits.


Common questions


Does Minimum orders include the first order?
Yes. Minimum orders 3 means the first order plus 2 renewals before the customer can cancel or pause.


If I set a minimum of 2, will the subscription be cancelled after the second order?
No. A minimum only stops the customer cancelling early. To end a subscription automatically, use Automatic expiry.


Can the customer still pause or skip during the minimum?
Pausing is blocked until the minimum is reached, like cancelling. Other actions follow your customer portal settings.


Can I cancel a customer's subscription before their minimum is reached?
Yes, from Subscriptions. The minimum only applies to the customer in the portal.


I added a minimum, but existing customers can still cancel.
The minimum only applies to subscriptions started after you saved it. Existing subscriptions keep the terms they were bought on.


Can I guarantee that every payment in the commitment is collected?
No. Take payment up front instead, with a prepaid subscription option or a buy now, pay later provider.



Updated on: 10/05/2026

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