Memberships usually start when a customer buys a membership product at checkout. When you need to start one yourself, for example for a customer who paid you in person, you can create it from the app. You choose the plan, the customer and the first renewal date, and the membership renews from then on like any other.
Availability: all paid plans. On the Free plan, the page is grayed out and shows a link to upgrade.
Before you start
Create the membership plan and attach it to a membership product. See Create a membership plan.
Make sure the customer is in your Shopify customer list. The app finds them by name or email.
Check that the customer has a payment method saved in Shopify, for example from an earlier membership or subscription purchase. Without one, the membership can only be created as Paused.
Create the membership
In your Shopify admin, open Apps → Appstle℠ Memberships and click Memberships.
Click More actions → Create Membership. The Create Membership Manually page opens.
Fill in the page from top to bottom, as described below. Nothing is saved until you click Save at the end.
Set the billing details
In Next Order Date and Billing Information, set when the first renewal happens and how often it repeats. The fields are:
Field | What to enter |
Next Order Date and Next Order Time | When the first renewal runs. They start at this time tomorrow. |
Billing frequency and Billing Interval | How often the membership renews, such as every 1 Month(s). The interval can be Day(s), Week(s), Month(s) or Year(s). It doesn’t fill in from the plan, so set it to match the plan you choose under Products. |
Minimum Number Billing Iterations | The minimum commitment before the customer can cancel. Leave it blank for no minimum. |
Maximum Number Billing Iterations | When the membership ends by itself. Leave it blank for unlimited renewals. The count includes a starting order, so to allow 2 charges, enter 3. |
The minimum and maximum fields are under Show Advanced Options, in Order Limits.
Then, in Currency, check Subscription Currency. It starts as your store’s currency.
Add the product
In Products, click Browse Product.
Tick the membership product, then click Add.
Check Unit Price, the price charged at each renewal. It starts as the variant’s price.
In Selling Plan Id, choose the membership plan.
Choose the customer
In Customer Details, click Choose Customer and search by name or email.
Click the customer, then click Select Customer. Customer ID, Email ID and the customer’s name fill in for you.
In Payment Method, choose the saved payment method to charge.
Choose a Status: Active, Paused or Cancelled. Only an Active membership renews.
In Customer Information, check First Name and Last Name, which are required, and Phone No., which is optional. If the product shows Requires Shipping, also check the address, and under Shipping, tick Provide your own price if you want to set the shipping price yourself.
Accept the terms and save
In Accept payment terms, tick the box. This confirms that the customer agreed to be charged automatically on each billing date until the membership is paused or canceled.
Before you save, check the Summary card on the right. Then click Save in the bar at the top of the page.
When the membership is saved, you see “Subscription contract created” and the new membership’s page opens.
Create a membership without a payment method
If the customer has no saved payment method, the Payment Method field says there is none on file. You can still create the membership: tick Create membership without payment method. The membership is created as Paused and can’t be charged until a payment method is added.
To collect the customer’s first payment yourself instead, send them a Quick Checkout Link. See Quick Checkout Links for Memberships.
What happens after you save
No order is created and no charge is made when you save. The first order and charge happen on the Next Order Date, as long as the status is Active.
If the plan has a free trial, the first charge happens when the trial ends, counted from when you save, instead of on the Next Order Date.
If you set a Renewal Time in Shop Settings, the membership renews at that time of day instead of the Next Order Time. See Shop Settings: change how memberships behave across your store.
The customer gets the plan’s member tag, so the perks and member-only access you set up apply to them like any other member. If the plan sends a discount code or a gift card when someone joins, the customer gets it too.
A few minutes later, the customer gets the Membership Created email, unless you switched that email off. See Manage and customize your membership emails.
If Allow membership per customer is on in Shop Settings and the customer already has a membership that the rule counts, the new membership is canceled right after it’s created. See Limit how many memberships a customer can buy.
Things to know
Manual creation has limits that protect your customers. If one applies, the page tells you when you choose the customer or when you save.
If you choose a currency other than your store’s, the membership uses the product’s price in that currency and ignores Unit Price.
Memberships you create this way appear in the Memberships list like any other and can be paused, changed or canceled from their own page.
FAQs
Why is the page grayed out with an upgrade message?
Your plan doesn’t include manual membership creation. Click the plan name in the message to upgrade.
Why can’t I choose a payment method?
The customer has no payment method saved in Shopify, so the field says “No payment method on file for this customer.” Tick Create membership without payment method, or send them a Quick Checkout Link so they can pay at checkout.
Why does Save say “We couldn’t create this membership”?
Read the line under it. “Review the highlighted fields below” means a required field is empty or invalid. The page scrolls to the first one, marked in red, which is often Accept payment terms or Selling Plan Id. Fix it, then save again.
Why does Selling Plan Id say “Invalid Product or Variant”?
The product isn’t in a membership plan. Choose the product your plan uses, or add this one to a plan first. See Create a membership plan.
Why does it say this customer can’t have more memberships?
The message appears under Customer Details when you choose the customer. That customer already has as many memberships as one customer can have, and canceled ones count too, so manage their existing memberships from the Memberships list instead.
Why does Save say manual creation needs more existing memberships?
Manual creation isn’t available yet in stores with only a few memberships. Until it is, send customers a Quick Checkout Link so they can join and pay at checkout.
Why was the membership canceled right after I created it?
Allow membership per customer is on in Shop Settings, and the customer already has a membership that the rule counts. Check the rule in Limit how many memberships a customer can buy, or change the customer’s existing membership instead.
Need help? Email [email protected] and tell us your store address.