Subscription billing that recovers failed payments
CheckoutJoy schedules and collects every renewal on PayFast and Paystack. When a payment is declined, it retries on a schedule and emails your customer a link to update their card.
Managed billing works with
Subscription
Active
Inner Circle membership
R497
every month
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Next payment
- 1 November
- Billed through
October payment recovered
Declined 1 Oct, paid on retry 2
Failed payments are retried automatically
A declined card is rarely the end of a subscription. CheckoutJoy tries again on a schedule, so you do not have to chase payments by hand.
- Five attempts over 28 days
- By default a retry runs 3, 4, 7 and 14 days after each failed attempt.
- The billing date does not move
- A payment recovered on a retry keeps the original billing date. The next renewal falls on the same day as before.
- A new card is put to work
- When your customer updates their card on Paystack, the outstanding payment is collected within the hour. On PayFast the next scheduled retry uses the new card.
Retry schedule
5 attempts over 28 days
Day 0
Renewal payment
Billing date
Day 3
Retry 1
3 days later
Day 7
Retry 2
4 days later
Day 14
Retry 3
7 days later
Day 28
Retry 4
14 days later
Your customer gets an email after every failed attempt.
Your customer is told what went wrong
After every failed payment, CheckoutJoy emails your customer with what they need to fix it.
- The bank's reason, in plain words
- The email says why the payment was declined, such as insufficient funds or an expired card.
- The next retry date
- Your customer knows when the next attempt will be made and how long they have to act.
- One button to update payment details
- The button takes your customer to where they update their card. On Paystack it opens the bank's verification page when the bank asks for one.
Payment unsuccessful for your Inner Circle membership subscription
Payment unsuccessful
Hi Thandi,
We could not collect the latest payment for your subscription with Portrait Lighting Co. The payment was declined by your bank or card issuer (insufficient funds).
We will try again on 4 October. To avoid an interruption, please update your payment details before then.
- Subscription
- Inner Circle membership
- Amount
- R497.00
Every attempt, on one timeline
Open a purchase in the admin to see exactly what happened to a subscription and when.
- Each attempt and its result
- The renewal payment, every retry and the bank's answer are listed in order.
- Integrations stay in step
- A successful renewal runs your integrations and your sale notification, the same as any other payment.
- A status you can act on
- Subscriptions show as Active, Past due, Paused or Needs attention, so you know which ones to look at.
Inner Circle membership
R497.00 every month
Active
Payment received
R497.00
1 Sep
Payment failed
Insufficient funds
1 Oct
Past due
Next retry on 4 Oct
1 Oct
Retry 1 declined
Insufficient funds
4 Oct
Retry 2 paid
R497.00
8 Oct
Recovered
Next payment stays 1 Nov
8 Oct
The whole subscription, start to finish
Renewals and retries are one part of it. Managed billing also covers trials, payment plans, pauses and what happens at the end.
- Charged on the due date
- CheckoutJoy checks for due renewals every hour and charges the saved payment method. There is nothing to run or reconcile on your side.
- Payment plans that finish themselves
- Sell a fixed number of payments. The plan completes after the last one and no further charges are made.
- Free trials on both gateways
- The payment method is saved at checkout and the first charge is made when the trial ends.
- Pause and resume
- Pause a subscription from the admin and resume it later, on its existing billing period or on a new one.
- A clear ending
- When every retry fails the subscription expires, or cancels if you prefer. Your customer is emailed and your integrations are notified.
- Needs attention
- A subscription that cannot be billed gets a Needs attention status in the admin, so you can see it while CheckoutJoy tries again every hour.
Supported payment processors
Managed billing runs on your own PayFast or Paystack merchant account. Payments settle with the gateway as they do today.
Card subscriptions in rand, charged to the card saved on PayFast's payment page.
- Currency
- ZAR
- Saved payment method
- The card used at checkout
- Renewals
- Charged to the saved card through your PayFast account
- Free trials
- Nothing is charged at checkout
- Card updates
- On PayFast's secure card update page
- Other currencies
- Prices are converted to ZAR once, at checkout
Card subscriptions in your Paystack account currency, charged to the card saved at checkout.
- Currency
- Your Paystack account currency
- Saved payment method
- The card used at checkout
- Renewals
- Charged to the saved card. No Plan is needed in your Paystack account
- Free trials
- In NGN, GHS, ZAR and USD, with a small card-verification charge that is refunded
- Card updates
- In your Customer Portal
- Bank verification
- A link in the email when the bank asks for it
What failed payments cost you
Enter your own numbers to see how much revenue sits in declined renewals, and how much of it retries bring back.
100
R500
10%
50%
Recovered every month
R2,500
R30,000 over a year
50% recovered
50% unpaid
- Failed renewals
- 10
- Revenue at risk
- R5,000
- Payments recovered
- 5
- Still unpaid
- R2,500
The starting numbers are placeholders, not benchmarks. Set every slider to your own figures.
How to switch it on
There are no settings to configure. Our support team enables managed billing on your account.
- 1
Connect your gateway
Connect PayFast or Paystack with your own merchant account, the same way as for one-off payments.
- 2
Ask support to switch it on
Contact support and say which gateway you want it on. It is enabled for each account and each gateway.
- 3
Sell subscriptions as usual
Subscriptions sold from then on are billed and retried by CheckoutJoy. Your products and checkouts stay as they are.
Frequently asked questions
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