When customers are charged vs when orders are fulfilled

The first order is paid in full at checkout. After that, each renewal is charged automatically to the payment method the customer saved at checkout, on the subscription's billing date, and the renewal order appears in Shopify admin > Orders at that moment. The customer does not have to do anything and there is no "pay now" step. This continues until the subscription is cancelled, or until it reaches the number of orders set under Automatic expiry on the subscription option.


For most subscriptions the charge date and the delivery (fulfillment) date are the same day: the customer is billed and the order is created together. Prepaid subscription options, held first orders and the delivery date picker deliberately separate the two. This guide explains how billing and fulfillment timing work so you can answer "when is my customer charged?" and "when does their order ship?".


Table of contents



The default: billed and fulfilled together


With a standard pay-per-order subscription, each renewal charges the customer and creates a new, normal Shopify order on the same date. You fulfill that order like any other. The renewal date follows the delivery frequency (for example every month), or your chosen dates if the subscription option uses Renew on specific dates.


  • Reminder before the charge (optional): the Upcoming subscription renewal email is sent to the customer one day before a subscription renews. Edit it or turn it off in Settings > Notifications. It is a reminder only: the charge happens automatically either way.
  • If the charge fails: no order is created, and the app retries based on your Dunning settings. See Understanding billing attempt failures.


Prepaid: paid once, fulfilled over time


With a prepaid subscription option, the customer pays once for several future deliveries. The single charge covers, say, three monthly shipments. So here the charge date (once) and the delivery dates (several) are intentionally different. See Prepaid Subscriptions.


How it looks in Shopify:


  • The prepaid purchase is one Shopify order. Each future delivery is a scheduled fulfillment inside that order, and it only becomes ready to ship on its own date. Until then Shopify shows it as Scheduled.
  • On the subscription in the app, the Prepaid schedule card lists every delivery with its date and status (Scheduled, In progress, Completed).
  • When the prepaid period ends, the subscription renews and charges the customer again for the next batch of deliveries.


Shipping or fulfillment apps (3PL): Shopify only releases a scheduled delivery on its date. If your shipping app shows every prepaid delivery as due today, it is not reading Shopify's scheduled fulfillments correctly. Ask that app's support whether it supports Shopify scheduled fulfillment orders. You can release one delivery by hand with Fulfill early.


Moving a prepaid delivery


To move a prepaid delivery, for example while a customer is away:


  1. Open the subscription in Supr Bundles & Subscriptions > Subscriptions.
  2. In the Prepaid schedule card, click Reschedule next to the delivery. Only deliveries that are still Scheduled can be moved.
  3. Pick the new date. Reschedule the deliveries after this one too is ticked by default: the deliveries after it are rebuilt from the new date at the subscription's delivery frequency (move a monthly delivery to 10 April and the next ones land on 10 May, 10 June and so on).
  4. Click Reschedule.


Untick Reschedule the deliveries after this one too to move only that one delivery. Dates that would put two deliveries on the same day are greyed out, because Shopify combines two deliveries on the same date into one shipment and marks the other one completed.


Controlling the first order's timing


When a subscription option has Renew on specific dates turned on (the option lists each of its other settings as a small chip that names it and, once it is on, shows On or its value; click Renew on specific dates to open it), its First order setting decides how the very first order behaves:


  • Fulfil immediately: the first order is created unfulfilled right away, like a normal order, ready to ship. Renewals then fall on your chosen date.
  • Wait for the next date: the first order is scheduled and only becomes ready to fulfill on the next chosen date (useful when you want every new customer's first order to ship on the same date).


Either way, the customer pays for the first order in full at checkout. Wait for the next date delays the first shipment, never the first payment. To take a card now and charge it on a later date, see Collect a card now, charge on a later date.


With Fulfil immediately on a weekly or monthly subscription option, a cutoff window decides whether an order placed close to the renewal date is pushed to the next cycle. The Subscription Offers guide has worked examples for every combination.


Letting customers pick a delivery date


If you want customers to choose when they receive their first (or next) delivery, separate from when they're billed, enable the Date picker add-on in Supr Bundles & Subscriptions > Design. You can configure:


  • Available delivery days of the week.
  • Processing days before delivery: a buffer between order placement and the earliest delivery date customers can pick. When a customer picks their first delivery date, it also sets how many days before the matching delivery their first renewal is charged, see Common questions.
  • Order cutoff time: the latest time to order for same or next day delivery.
  • Maximum first order date and blocked dates (for example holidays).


See Product Page Add-ons.


When charges are processed each day


The time of day renewals run is set in Settings > Billing and renewals:


  • Based on time of purchase (the default): each subscription renews at the same time of day it was originally bought.
  • In bulk (daily): all of the day's renewals are processed together at one time you choose, in your selected time zone.


Fulfilling a scheduled order early


Orders or deliveries that haven't reached their date yet show as Scheduled: you'll see these for prepaid subscriptions and for first orders held until a renewal date (First order set to Wait for the next date, or an order caught by the cutoff window). To ship one ahead of schedule, open the order in Shopify admin > Orders and click Fulfill early to release it, then fulfill it as usual.


Fulfill early releases one scheduled delivery at a time. If you have several to bring forward, click it again for each one.


Renew immediately: charging a renewal now


Renew immediately (in the Upcoming renewals card on an active subscription) charges the customer now and creates the renewal order straight away. Use it after fixing a failed payment or a stock problem, or to test a renewal.


It brings the next scheduled renewal forward to today, it does not add an extra order. After a successful charge, the next billing date becomes the date that was scheduled plus one billing interval. For example, a monthly subscription due on 15 October that you renew on 24 September next renews on 15 November. The 15 October renewal has been used up by today's order.


  • To send a genuine extra order and keep the next date: after renewing, open Edit schedule in the Upcoming renewals card and set the next date back to the original one. Or create a normal order for the customer in Shopify instead.
  • If the renewal date had already passed (for example a renewal that failed and you have now fixed), the next billing date is set one billing interval from today.
  • Many subscriptions at once: select them on the Subscriptions list and choose Renew immediately from the bulk actions. Only active subscriptions are renewed.
  • Paused or failed subscriptions do not show Renew immediately. Click Activate subscription instead: if the billing date has already passed, the customer is charged within the hour.


Renewing can take up to a minute. Check the orders on the subscription page before clicking again: if an order was already created for this renewal, renewing again charges the customer twice. The confirmation window has its own Renew button in its title bar. If you don't see it in the Shopify mobile app, use Shopify admin in a desktop browser.


Common questions


Do customers need to pay for each renewal themselves?
No. Every renewal is charged automatically to the saved payment method. The optional Upcoming subscription renewal email only tells them a charge is coming.


When do renewal orders show up in my Orders list?
At the moment the renewal is charged successfully. A failed charge creates no order.


Can renewal orders come into Shopify a few days before the delivery or pickup date?
There is no separate lead time setting. A renewal order is created the moment it is charged, on the billing date, so the billing date is the day the order arrives. The one exception is a subscription where the customer picked their first delivery date with the date picker: the app then sets the next billing date to one delivery interval after that date, minus your Processing days before delivery, so that renewal arrives that many days before the delivery it is for. Later renewals follow the delivery frequency from there. For any other subscription, move its next billing date earlier, see Changing the next billing or charge date.


Why is a subscription order marked Scheduled in Shopify?
It is a prepaid delivery or a held first order that has not reached its date yet. Open the order and click Fulfill early to ship it now. See Fulfilling a scheduled order early.


If I click Renew immediately, will the customer still get their normal next order?
No, the next scheduled renewal is brought forward to today and the dates after it stay the same. See Renew immediately: charging a renewal now.


My shipping app shows all prepaid deliveries as due today. Why?
Shopify only releases each prepaid delivery on its date. Your shipping app needs to support Shopify's scheduled fulfillments; contact that app's support.


How do I move one delivery of a prepaid subscription?
Click Reschedule next to it in the Prepaid schedule card. See Moving a prepaid delivery.



Updated on: 09/29/2026

Was this article helpful?

Share your feedback

Cancel

Thank you!