Paystack Subscription Billing
Managed subscription billing for Paystack merchants: renewals collected by CheckoutJoy, free trials, payment plans, automatic retries and card updates.
With managed subscription billing switched on for Paystack, your customer pays by card at checkout, Paystack saves the card, and CheckoutJoy collects every renewal through your Paystack account.
What Paystack merchants get
- Subscriptions - renewals collected on the billing date, for as long as the subscription runs
- Payment plans - a fixed number of payments, then the plan completes on its own
- Free trials - the first payment is collected when the trial ends
- Automatic retries - a declined renewal is retried on a schedule
- Customer emails - sent when a payment fails and when a subscription ends
- Bank verification links - when the bank asks your customer to verify a payment, the email takes them straight there
- Card updates - by your customer, in your Customer Portal
- Pause, resume and cancel - from your CheckoutJoy dashboard
How it works
- Checkout. Your customer pays by card in the Paystack payment window. Paystack saves the card and gives CheckoutJoy an authorization for it. The card details stay with Paystack.
- Renewals. On each billing date CheckoutJoy asks Paystack to charge the saved card. The payment appears in your Paystack account and settles the way your other Paystack payments do.
- Confirmation. CheckoutJoy confirms the result with Paystack, records the payment on the order and moves the billing date forward.
- Declines. A declined renewal starts failed payment recovery: your customer is emailed and the payment is retried on a schedule.
You do not create a Plan in your Paystack dashboard. The price, billing period and number of payments come from the product in CheckoutJoy.
Capabilities
| Capability | With managed billing on Paystack |
|---|---|
| Currency | Your Paystack account currency |
| Payment method | Card |
| Billing periods | Day, week, month, quarter or year, with any interval |
| Payment plans | Yes, set the number of payments on the product |
| Free trials | Yes, in NGN, GHS, ZAR and USD |
| Retries after a decline | Yes, up to four retries over four weeks by default |
| Customer emails | Payment unsuccessful, subscription ended |
| Bank verification | The email links to the bank's verification page |
| Card update | In your Customer Portal |
| Pause and resume | Yes, from your dashboard |
| Cancel | From your dashboard, or by your customer in the Customer Portal |
Free trials
To save a card, Paystack needs a small card payment. When a product has a free trial, a small verification amount is charged at checkout and refunded automatically. The first subscription payment is collected when the trial ends.
| Currency | Verification amount |
|---|---|
| NGN | 50.00 |
| GHS | 0.10 |
| ZAR | 1.00 |
| USD | 0.20 |
Free trials are available when your Paystack account currency is one of these four. If something else is due at checkout, such as a setup fee, that amount is charged instead and no verification amount is needed.
Updating a card
Your customer signs in to your Customer Portal, opens the order and chooses Update Payment Method. They enter the new card in the Paystack payment window. The same small verification amount is charged and refunded.
If the subscription is past due, the outstanding payment is collected with the new card within the hour.
When the bank asks for verification
Some banks ask the cardholder to verify a renewal payment before they approve it. When that happens, the payment unsuccessful email carries a button that opens the bank's verification page for that payment. Once your customer completes it, the payment goes through.
Before you turn it on
- Webhook URL. Make sure the webhook URL is set in your Paystack dashboard, as described in the Paystack setup guide.
- Customer Portal. Set up your Customer Portal, so that customers have a place to update their card.
Then contact CheckoutJoy support and ask for managed subscription billing on Paystack.
Frequently asked questions
What happens to my existing Paystack subscriptions?
They carry on as they are. Subscriptions sold before managed billing was switched on keep renewing through their Paystack subscription. Subscriptions sold after the switch are collected by CheckoutJoy.
Do I still need Plans in my Paystack dashboard?
Not for subscriptions sold after the switch. The Plans behind your existing subscriptions stay in place and keep working.
Where do I see the renewal payments?
In both places. Each renewal appears on the order in your CheckoutJoy dashboard and as a transaction in your Paystack account.
Why is the checkout card only for subscriptions?
Renewals are charged to a saved card, so the first payment has to be made with one. One-time products on the same account still offer every payment method you have enabled.
My customer's card could not be saved. What happens?
A few cards cannot be saved for later charges. The first payment still goes through, and the next renewal is declined with the reason that no payment method is on file. Your customer receives the payment unsuccessful email and can add a card in your Customer Portal.