To sell subscriptions on your Shopify store using a third-party app like Subi, you need to meet specific eligibility requirements set by Shopify. This article explains those requirements, including supported payment gateways, delivery options, and sales channels.
What payment gateways can I use for Shopify subscriptions?
To sell subscriptions, Shopify requires your store to use one of the supported payment gateways:
Stripe (availability may vary by merchant – please check your Shopify account for feature availability)
Gateways like Flow, Razorpay, or Gokwik are not supported. These limitations are set by Shopify and apply broadly across all subscription apps.
Customers can also pay for subscriptions using Shopify’s accelerated checkout methods, such as Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or PayPal. PayPal shows at a subscription checkout only once it is set up for subscriptions on your store, as explained below.
Important: Customers cannot purchase subscriptions using local payment methods like Klarna, mollie iDEAL, or Sofort. Additionally, unsupported gateways include Flow, Razorpay, and Gokwik, which are restricted by Shopify for subscription payments.
Why does PayPal not show at checkout for my subscription products?
PayPal Express is on the list above, but being supported is not enough. Shopify hides PayPal at the checkout of a subscription order until PayPal is set up for subscriptions on your store. A store can take PayPal on ordinary orders and still not offer it to subscribers.
In the United States and France
PayPal comes through Shopify Payments there, and Shopify says the PayPal wallet in Shopify Payments supports subscriptions. PayPal Express is not available to merchants in those two countries, so a store whose card payments run on another gateway can offer PayPal for subscriptions only through Shopify Payments.
In other countries
Use PayPal Express and finish the PayPal account setup. Once PayPal Express is active and an app such as Subi charges subscribers automatically, Shopify asks PayPal for approval of reference transactions on your account. Until PayPal approves, PayPal stays hidden at a subscription checkout. Shopify shows the status of the request on the Payments page of your Shopify admin settings. If PayPal declines it, contact your PayPal account manager or PayPal through its contact page.
If your store is in a country Shopify Payments does not serve, PayPal Express is often the easiest of the supported providers for a small store to set up, so it is a common route to selling subscriptions there.
PayPal also has to accept your store currency. Shopify asks that, with PayPal Express, your store currency is one PayPal supports, and some are missing from PayPal's list of currencies, for example the South African rand or the Bosnian mark. If yours is missing, PayPal may not be offered at your checkout until you change the store currency to one on the list, such as EUR or USD. Only the store owner can change it: in your Shopify admin go to Settings > General, and under Store defaults open the menu next to Currency display and choose Change store currency (Shopify's steps). Before you do, resolve any pending payments. The change keeps every amount and only swaps the currency (Shopify's example: a product listed at 20 USD becomes 20 CAD), so product prices, discounts and shipping rates have to be re-priced by hand, and gift cards with a balance in the old currency stop working. If your store already has subscribers, contact Subi support before you change it, since their subscriptions were set up in the old currency. If your cards run through a provider other than Shopify Payments, Shopify also switches the currency of all your markets to the new one, so your customers see prices in it.
How to tell it worked
Check the status on the Payments page. Then put a subscription product in the cart on your storefront and go to checkout: PayPal should now be among the payment options.
Which sales channels and delivery methods support subscriptions?
Shopify subscriptions are supported only on specific sales channels and delivery methods:
Delivery options: Shipping, local delivery, and in-store pickup are supported for subscription orders.
Sales channels: Subscription products are only available on the Online Store and Custom Storefront sales channels.
Product bundles: Subscription products are not compatible with Shopify’s product bundles. If you want to sell bundled subscriptions, you can create a Fixed Bundle Subscription Plan in Subi.
How do I check if my store is eligible to sell subscriptions?
If your Shopify store does not meet the eligibility requirements, Subi will display a banner when you try to create a new Subscription Plan:
If you see the banner, your store is not eligible to sell subscriptions.
If you do not see the banner, your store is eligible, and you can proceed to set up subscriptions.
FAQs
Is there a manual workaround for unsupported payment methods in Subi?
No, there isn’t a manual workaround in Subi for recurring billing outside Shopify’s supported subscription payment methods.
Is Subi compatible with Shopify Payments?
Yes, Subi is compatible with Shopify Payments, and subscriptions can be processed using this gateway.
Need Help?
Feel free to contact our support team. We're here for you anytime:
Live Chat: Message us from within the Subi app or your Shopify Admin.
Email: Reach us at [email protected].