Introduction to Rebill Protection
There are many reasons why subscription rebills can fail. For example, a consumer's card-on-file can expire and subsequent rebills will fail until the consumer updates their billing information.
The sticky.io Subscriptions app for BigCommerce offers Rebill Protection, a feature that produces pre-emptive flags on rebill orders that are identified as non-billable and expected to fail. Flagged rebills will be delayed until the issue is resolved. Within the Subscription Management tab of the sticky.io Subscriptions app, you'll also receive recommendations on the actions you can take to rectify the situation and keep your rebills flowing smoothly.
In the following article, we will review the scenarios covered by the feature, where you can find these pre-emptive flags and how you can protect your business from failed rebills.
Without further ado, let's begin!
Rebill Failure Scenarios Covered by Rebill Protection
The following scenarios are covered by the Rebill Protection feature. In-app recommendation messages are listed for reference with additional guidance on the recommended path to reconciliation.
Please note - Some reconciliation paths will link to BigCommerce documentation where proper guidance can be found.
Reason or Scenario | In-App Recommendation Message | Recommended Reconciliation Path |
Product is out of stock | Product ID:<...> is out of stock. | When you encounter this scenario, you can reconcile the related subscriptions by replenishing the stock of the product. Documentation of this process can be found here. |
Product is no longer purchasable | Product ID:<…> is no longer purchasable. Please check settings for the product. | When you encounter this scenario, you can reconcile the related subscriptions by making the product/variant purchasable within your BigCommerce product settings. Documentation of this process can be found here. |
No shipping methods available | There are no shipping methods available. Please check your shipping settings. | When you encounter this scenario, you can reconcile the related subscriptions by adding a zone that is inclusive of the customer’s shipping address. Documentation of this process can be found here. |
No cards on file in wallet | There is no card in the consumer’s wallet. Please ask the consumer to add a card via the consumer portal. | When you encounter this scenario, you can reconcile the related subscriptions by adding a card on file via the consumer portal and associating it to the existing subscription. Documentation of this can be found here. |
Subscription is missing variant(s). | Product ID:<…> requires the consumer to specify a variant at the time of purchase. This is possible if the product was assigned variant options after the consumer subscribed to the product. Please specify a product variant for the order. | When you encounter this scenario, you can reconcile the related subscriptions by selecting a new variant for the product within the consumer portal. |
Subscription is missing shipping address. | This subscription is missing a shipping address. Please ask the consumer to add a valid shipping address via the consumer portal. | When you encounter this scenario, you can reconcile the related subscriptions by adding a valid shipping address to the customer’s address book in BigCommerce and assign it to the related subscription. Documentation of this can be found here. |
Product no longer exists. | Product ID:<…> no longer exists. Please reach out to the consumer and ask them to subscribe to a new product. | When you encounter this scenario, you can reconcile the related subscriptions by cancelling them and having the consumer resubscribe to another product that still exists within the product catalog. |
Subscription is missing required modifier(s). | This subscription is missing required modifier(s). Please contact sticky.io Support directly via live chat, phone or email. | When you encounter this scenario, you can reconcile the related subscriptions by adding the missing modifier value(s) to the existing subscription. |
Modifier no longer exists. | The modifier for product ID:<…> no longer exists. Please contact sticky.io Support directly via live chat, phone or email. | When you encounter this scenario, you can reconcile the related subscriptions by cancelling them and having the consumer resubscribe to the product. |
Customer no longer exists. | Customer account no longer exist. Please ask customer to resubscribe. | When you encounter this scenario, you can reconcile the related subscriptions by cancelling them and having the consumer resubscribe to the product. |
How to View Rebill Protection Flags and Recommendations
To begin, start by logging in to your storefront of interest. From the Home tab, navigate to Apps > sticky.io Subscriptions.
Within the sticky.io Subscriptions app, navigate to the Subscription Management tab.
Next, find the customer of interest using the search function.
Within the customer view, an example order with a Rebill Protection flag is depicted below.
The example rebill failed because there is negative inventory for the product.
Refer to the above table for instructions on how to resolve each anticipated rebill failure scenario.
Congratulations! You're now an expert on keeping your subscription rebill chains alive with the sticky.io Subscriptions app for BigCommerce.