Creating a cut-off window

Cut-off windows create an interval between the day a customer goes through checkout to purchase a new subscription, and when the first recurring order is scheduled. Checkout orders submitted before the cut-off day will have the next order process on the upcoming order date. If a customer orders after the set cut-off day, their next order will skip the next upcoming order date.

This guide explains how cut-off windows work and walk through how to configure a cut-off window once a specific charge day has been set.

Before you start

• To enable a cut-off window, you must have subscription rules configured for your products:
  • • Refer to Creating subscription rules if you are using the Recharge Checkout on Shopify or BigCommerce.
    • Refer to Creating subscription rules for the Shopify Checkout Integration if you are using the Shopify Checkout Integration to process subscription orders.
• The cut-off window settings work exclusively with the specific charge day setting. A specific day of the week or month must be set, and customers must be able to skip their next orders in the customer portal for this feature to work.
• The cut-off window is based on Eastern Time. Any order placed at or after midnight Eastern Time 00:00 ET (UTC -4) of the cut-off day will skip the next upcoming order.
• Cut-off windows are affected by Daylight Saving Time. With this in mind, you may need to reach out to the Recharge support team to adjust your store's charge processing time after Daylight Saving Time. 

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How cut-off windows work

By default, when specifying an order day in a subscription rule, Recharge will skip the next upcoming order day when setting the date of the second order. To read more about the skip feature, visit Charging on a specific day of the week or month.

There may be circumstances where an order placed at checkout should be considered part of that fulfillment cycle. Cut-off windows are useful to:

• Prevent customers from being charged for a current month or week's order if they've already been submitted for fulfillment.
• Minimize the time between the placement of the initial order and the first delivery. For example, if a customer makes the cut-off day for this month's box, they will receive the current month's box rather than pre-paying for next month's box.

The following table highlights an example of a monthly subscription with a charge day of the 15th and a cut-off day of the 20th:

Step 1 - Set a specific charge day

You can configure your products so that customers are charged on the same day of the week or month. This applies to customers checking out once the change is made, and does not impact existing subscriptions. 

1. In the merchant portal, click Products and select Products from the dropdown.
2. Select the product(s) you would like to update. 
3. In the Set order schedule section, specify your order schedule to be either months or weeks.
4. Enter the specific charge day. This is the day of the week or month that your customer is charged.
   

Step 2 - Set a cut-off day

1. After setting your specific charge day, select the Set a cut-off date checkbox.
2. Enter either the day of the month or select the day of the week you want your cut-off window to be on.
   
   
3. Select Save.