Introduction (Background):
Appstle Subscriptions offer two types of purchases:
One-time Purchase
Subscription Purchase
As Appstle Subscriptions works on a Shopify ecosystem, we follow their flows how the information is passed on every step. In very simple words, the general flow of information for any type of purchase looks like this:
As per the above diagram when passing the information from Product Page to the next step. There are some set of variables that are passed with the purchase. For the above two mentioned types of purchases those information varies:
For One-Time Purchase: whenever a one-time purchase call is initiated the following variables are compulsory to be passed (sent):
Quantity - this variable helps in identifying the quantity of the product/variant selected.
Variant_id - this variable helps in identifying what exactly the variant of the product has been ordered. Shopify assigns every product and it's variant a unique ID termed as variant ID; that helps to identify which product (or it's variant is ordered). If a product has no variant; still that listing will be assigned a variant ID along with a product ID. However, if a product has multiple variants that product listing will be assigned as 1 product ID and a variant ID against every variant. Shopify follows a more specific approach and identify each ordered product/variant by passing it's variant_id.
For Subscription Purchases: for a subscription purchase session, along with the quantity and variant_id variable. There is one additional variable passed called as selling_plan_id
What is a selling_plan_id?
For every subscription plan that you create in Appstle Subscriptions (or any other subscription platform); all the information you define in that subscription plan (like the order frequency, billing frequency, discount on subscription plan etc) is encrypted or compiled in a selling_plan_id that helps Shopify to decode and associate that information whenever a purchase for specific frequency is done.
What happens if a selling_plan_id is not passed for a subscription purchase?
When we say a selling_plan_id is getting passed in a purchase it means that specific purchase is being recognized as a subscription (recurring) purchase by Shopify. If a selling_plan_id is not getting passed during the checkout/purchase process then even on the product page a customer is selecting a subscription option for their purchase Shopify will recognize that as a one-time purchase.
Why selling_plan_id fails to pass for a subscription purchase?
There can be multiple reasons why selling_plan_id is failing to pass for a subscription purchase. The very common of those are:
Theme Customization:
Some merchants perform customizations within their theme's code that prevents the selling_plan_id to pass through the checkout process. For this issue, we recommend you to check with your theme developer or internal team developer who made the theme customization to have him pass the selling_plan_id when a subscription purchase process is initiated.Third-party application:
Some merchants are usually using any third-party application that is controlling their cart page or any other functionality related to the store is over-riding and not allowing the selling_plan_id to actually pass. For this, we recommend you to getting in touch with that app support team; or you can open a thread with their support team keeping us in a CC thread we will work with their support team to have this sorted. Our email is [email protected]
Don't hesitate to reach out to us
If you have any questions on selling plan ID, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected]. Our 24x7x365 available experts will be happy to assist you further.