Recurring subscriptions
Set up plans billed every month, quarter or year, and see how online renewals through Stripe keep a membership active.
A subscription is a plan with a price per period: monthly, quarterly or yearly. Bought online, it renews by itself and the member's card is charged every period through Stripe. Assigned at the desk, it works like a membership you collect payment for yourself.
Subscription plans live on their own page, separate from one-time plans.
Before you start
- You need the membership_subscriptions.view permission to open the page.
- Automatic renewals need online payments with Stripe. See Online payments with Stripe. Stripe is the only gateway that supports recurring charges.
Create a subscription plan
- Open Memberships, Subscriptions.
- Click Add Subscription.
- Fill in Name and Price per Period ($). The amount is in your gym's currency even though the label shows $.
- Choose the Period Type: Monthly, Quarterly or Yearly.
- Fill in the optional fields below as needed.
- Click Create.
The plan appears as a card with its price per period, contract terms, features and the number of subscribers. Click the status badge to switch it between Active and Inactive.
The fields
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name, Description | What members see on your plans page and in the portal shop. |
| Price per Period ($) | Charged once per period. |
| VAT group | The tax letter your fiscal printer applies. |
| Period Type | How often the member pays and how far each renewal moves the end date. |
| Contract Months | The commitment length, shown on the card. When you assign the plan at the desk, the end date is set this many months after the start. Leave it empty and a desk assignment has no end date. |
| Min Months Before Cancel, Cancel Fee Type, Cancel Fee ($) | Your cancellation terms, shown on the plan card. Per Remaining Month multiplies the fee by the months left on the contract, Fixed Amount is a single fee. FitManager displays these terms but does not collect the fee for you, so charge it at the desk if it applies. |
| Features (one per line) | Bullet points on the card, website and shop. |
| Billed to | The member, or A partner company for corporate cards. See Partner billing. |
| Daily access window | Optional From and Until times for an off-peak subscription. |
| Status | Only Active plans can be assigned and sold. |
How online renewals work
When a member buys a subscription on your website or in the portal Shop, they pay in Stripe Checkout and Stripe keeps their card on file.
- After the first payment, the member gets an active membership that runs for one period.
- At the start of every new period Stripe charges the card. When the charge succeeds, FitManager records the payment and moves the end date forward by one period.
- If a charge fails, the payment is recorded as failed and the membership becomes Frozen. The door denies entry until Stripe retries successfully, which sets it back to Active.
- If the subscription is cancelled in Stripe, the membership becomes Cancelled with the cancellation date.
All of this runs through the Stripe webhook, so it only works when the webhook is set up as described in Online payments with Stripe.
Cancelling an online subscription
Members cannot cancel a subscription from the portal. To cancel one, open your Stripe Dashboard, go to Customers, open the member, choose their subscription and click Cancel subscription. FitManager marks the membership Cancelled when Stripe reports it.
Subscriptions assigned at the desk
You can also assign a subscription plan at the desk: choose Subscription as the Plan Type in the Assign Membership form. See Assign or renew a membership.
A desk assignment is not linked to Stripe. Nobody's card is charged automatically. You record each period's payment yourself, and the end date comes from Contract Months as described above.
Membership statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Active | Valid. The member gets in. |
| Frozen | A Stripe renewal payment failed. Entry is denied until the payment succeeds. |
| Expired | The end date passed without a renewal. |
| Cancelled | The subscription was cancelled in Stripe. |
Common questions
Can I change the price for existing subscribers? Editing the plan changes it for new purchases. Members who already subscribed online keep paying the price their Stripe subscription was created with.
Can I delete a subscription plan that has subscribers? The page allows it, but the members' memberships then lose their plan name. Set the plan to Inactive instead, which stops new sales and keeps the history readable.
A member says they were charged but their membership is frozen. Check the payment in your Stripe Dashboard and the webhook deliveries there. If the webhook failed, FitManager never heard about the successful retry. Fix the webhook and resend the event from Stripe.
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