How Changes to Pricing Plans Affect Existing Subscriptions

Introduction

When managing pricing plans in eDirectory, you may need to change a plan's price, billing cycle, or availability.

A common question is whether these changes also affect customers who are already subscribed to that plan.

The key point is that, when a customer first subscribes, the subscription information is sent from eDirectory to the payment gateway configured on the site. This information includes details such as:

• The subscription price
• The billing cycle, such as monthly or yearly
• The recurring payment information associated with that subscription

Once the subscription is created, the payment gateway stores and manages those subscription details.

Because of this, changes made later to the plan inside eDirectory do not automatically update subscriptions that already exist in the payment gateway.

How a Subscription Is Created

When a customer subscribes to a plan for the first time, eDirectory sends the current plan information to the configured payment gateway.

For example, if the customer subscribes to a plan that costs $20 per month, that subscription is created in the payment gateway using the $20 monthly billing information that was available at that time.

From that point forward, the payment gateway continues to process the subscription according to the information originally received when the subscription was created.

The subscription is therefore separate from future changes made to the plan configuration in eDirectory.

What Happens If You Change the Price of a Plan?

Changing a plan's price only affects new subscriptions created after the change.

For example:

A plan initially costs:

$20/month

A customer subscribes to it, and the payment gateway creates a recurring subscription for $20 per month.

Later, the site administrator changes the plan in eDirectory to:

$30/month

The existing customer's subscription remains at $20 per month because the payment gateway already has an active subscription created with the original $20 price.

New customers who subscribe after the change will receive the new $30 monthly price.

What Happens If You Change the Billing Cycle?

The same behavior applies to changes in the billing cycle.

For example, if a customer originally subscribed to a monthly plan, their subscription was created in the payment gateway with a monthly recurring billing cycle.

If the plan is later changed in eDirectory so that only yearly billing is available, the existing customer's subscription will continue to renew monthly.

The billing cycle of an existing subscription is not automatically replaced by the new plan configuration.

New customers subscribing after the change will use the current billing cycle configured in eDirectory.

What Happens If You Disable a Plan?

Disabling a plan does not cancel subscriptions that already exist.

Customers who already subscribed to that plan still have an active subscription in the payment gateway, and the gateway will continue processing their recurring payments according to the subscription that was originally created.

Disabling the plan prevents new customers from subscribing to it, but it does not modify existing subscriptions.

What Happens If an Existing Customer Cancels and Subscribes Again?

This is an important distinction.

If an existing customer cancels their current subscription, that original recurring subscription is no longer active.

If they later subscribe again, eDirectory creates a new subscription using the plan information that is current at that time.

This means the customer will receive the latest:

• Price
• Billing cycle
• Plan configuration

For example, if the customer's original subscription was $20/month but the current plan is now $30/year, canceling and subscribing again will create a new subscription using the current $30/year configuration.

The previous subscription terms are not carried over to the new subscription.

Existing Customers vs. New Customers

In summary:

Existing customers continue with the subscription information that was sent to the payment gateway when their subscription was originally created.

New customers receive the latest price and billing cycle currently configured for the plan in eDirectory.

Customers who cancel and subscribe again are treated as a new subscription and receive the current plan configuration.

Conclusion

Changes made to a pricing plan in eDirectory do not retroactively update existing recurring subscriptions.

This happens because the subscription is created in the configured payment gateway at the time the customer initially subscribes. The gateway then continues processing that subscription according to the price and billing cycle it originally received.

Updating the plan in eDirectory changes the terms used for future subscriptions, but it does not replace the information stored for subscriptions that already exist.

If an existing customer cancels their subscription and subscribes again, a new subscription is created using the latest plan price and billing cycle.