How Users Renew Subscriptions

In this article, you will learn how your users can renew their subscriptions on your membership site, given the type of their membership, and the various settings that you may or may not have enabled. Please use the menu below to jump to the appropriate section as needed. Each section is written as if writing to a user with that subscription type, so that you can easily copy and send this to your users as needed.

Renewals for Lifetime Subscriptions

Here, the answer is simple. If you have a lifetime subscription there will be no option for you to renew since you will have access to your present membership content indefinitely. There is no need to renew.

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Renewals for One-time Payment Subscriptions

For one-time payment subscriptions, there are several scenarios in which you may find yourself needing or wanting to renew your subscription. Each of these have been outlined below.

Admin Note: For each of these sections below, please be sure to double check which is applicable for your user based on the settings you have enabled for that membership. These settings can be double checked from within the membership edit page by going to the WordPress Admin > MemberPress plugin > Memberships tab > and clicking “edit” on the membership you need to review. 

One-Time payment (expires after X days/weeks/months/years) without “allow renewals” box checked

You cannot renew this type of subscription early, but you can repurchase it after it expires. If you would like to do that, you can do one of the following:

• Login to the site and then navigate back to the registration page for that membership and signup again. 
• Login to the site and go to the Account page > Subscriptions tab. Then, next to your old subscription, click the option that says, “Subscribe”. That will take you to the registration page for that membership. 

One-Time payment (expires after X days/weeks/months/years) with “allow renewals” box checked

If you have this type of subscription, you can easily renew before your expiration date by going to the Account page > Subscriptions tab. Then, next to your current subscription, click the option that says “Renew”. Doing this will take you to a page where you can pay for an additional term of your subscription. 

If your subscription happens to fully expire, then you can repurchase it. If you would like to do that, you can do one of the following:

• Login to the site and then navigate back to the registration page for that membership and signup again. 
• Login to the site and go to the Account page > Subscriptions tab. Then, next to your old subscription, click the option that says, “Subscribe”. That will take you to the registration page for that membership. 

One-time payment (expires on a certain date) without the “allow annual renewals” box checked

You cannot renew this type of subscription early, but you can repurchase it after it expires. If you would like to do that, you can do one of the following:

• Login to the site and then navigate back to the registration page for that membership and signup again. 
• Login to the site and go to the Account page > Subscriptions tab. Then, next to your old subscription, click the option that says, “Subscribe”. That will take you to the registration page for that membership. 

One-time payment (expires on a certain date) with the “allow annual renewals” box checked

If you have this type of subscription, you can easily renew before your expiration date by going to the Account page > Subscriptions tab. Then, next to your current subscription, click the option that says “Renew”. Doing this will take you to a page where you can pay for an additional term of your subscription. 

If your subscription happens to fully expire, then you can repurchase it. If you would like to do that, you can do one of the following:

• Login to the site and then navigate back to the registration page for that membership and signup again. 
• Login to the site and go to the Account page > Subscriptions tab. Then, next to your old subscription, click the option that says, “Subscribe”. That will take you to the registration page for that membership.

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Renewals for Automatically Recurring Subscriptions

For automatically recurring subscriptions, there are several scenarios in which you may find yourself needing or wanting to renew your subscription. Each of these have been outlined below.

Active automatically recurring subscription

An automatically recurring subscription does not need to be renewed manually as it will automatically renew each set billing cycle. If you would like to know when your subscription is going to automatically renew, please login to your Account page and navigate to the Subscriptions tab where you will see an expiration date for your subscription. The expiration date listed there is the date your subscription will renew.

Lapsed recurring subscription

In this case, you have an automatically recurring subscription that has one or more completed payment(s), but that was not successfully billed at your last payment due date because of a lack of funds or expired credit card. Similar to the above, you do not need to renew an automatically recurring subscription. Rather you should just go to your account page > Subscriptions tab > and click the “update” link there. Doing that will take you to a page where you'll be able to update your payment details. After doing that, your subscriptions will usually renew in a few business days.

Cancelled Automatically Recurring Subscription

If you have cancelled your automatically recurring subscription and would like to have continued access to protected content, then you need to simply repurchase it. Remember, if you just canceled your subscription, it may still be active for the remainder of the last billing period, and you must wait for that to expire before re-purchasing. If you would like to repurchase your subscription you can do one of the following:

• Login to the site and then navigate back to the registration page for that membership and signup again. 
• Login to the site and go to the Account page > Subscriptions tab. Then, next to your old subscription, click the option that says, “Subscribe”. That will take you to the registration page for that membership. 

Recurring subscription that the user was added to through an imported non-recurring transaction

This section is only for admins to make note of. This is applicable to you and your users if when setting up your site you imported a Transaction CSV file to grant access. For this scenario, your users cannot renew these early. However, you should create a reminder to go out “0 days after subscription expires” and edit that email to include instructions that point your users to your registration page where they can signup. Be sure to mention that they should be logged in before going to your registration page to avoid this error.

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