Adding one-time products to an upcoming order
Customers may wish to add a single product to one of their upcoming subscription orders. This is called a one-time product, and it can be added to an existing subscription address by following the Add Product flow in the customer portal.
Understanding one-time products
The difference between a one-time product and a subscription product is the frequency. As the name suggests, a one-time purchase is only added to the specified upcoming order. Customers will not receive the item again in future recurring orders unless they manually add the product.
If a customer does not have any upcoming recurring orders, a one-time purchase can be added to an unused address with a custom charge date.
Adjust one-time product settings
You can determine which products will be visible as one-time products by adjusting your customer portal settings.
- In the merchant portal, click Storefront and select Customer Portal.
- Under Subscription details, select Storeowner and customer from the dropdown for Add products to subscriptions.
- Under Products available for purchase on the customer portal, select your product options from the dropdown.
Selection |
Action |
| All products | Both products in Recharge and products in your ecommerce platform will be visible for purchase. |
| Recharge products | Only products added to Recharge will be available for one-time purchase (if the subscription rule is set to One-time and subscription) |
| Recharge collection | Only products added directly to a Recharge collection will be available for one-time purchase. |
Add one-time products through the customer portal
Note: This feature is in Early Adopter status. For more information on Early Adopter features, see Early Adopter Program. To request access to this feature, fill out the opt-in form.
The option to offer specific one-time products that customers can add to upcoming orders from the customer portal is available for merchants participating in the Early Adopter Program. With this feature enabled, customers can add another product to their subscription through the Subscriptions tab by clicking Add Product. Through the customer portal, they can view and select a product as a One-time option. For more information on this feature, see One-time only products Early Access Feature.
The following examples display what subscribers see in each customer portal theme:
In Novum
In Prima
In Affinity
Learn about these themes in Understanding the customer portal, and more on what your customer can manage in Instructions for your customers.
Note: When a one-time purchase product is added to an existing subscription order, Shopify displays the subscription and delivery verbiage on the one-time purchase product. However, the order will process the add-on product as a one-time purchase, not as a subscription product, ensuring the customer is only charged once for their add-on product.
Add one-time products through the merchant portal
You can add a one-time product for the customer through the merchant portal.
- From the merchant portal, click Customers.
- Locate and click on your desired customer.
- Click + Add product.
- Choose the product and select the One-time purchase button.
- By default, the order date is set to Include in next order. Either keep this selection or choose Custom date to set a custom order date.
- Click Add product to finish adding the one-time product.
- Confirm the one-time product has been added from the Customers page.
Note: When a one-time purchase product is added to an existing subscription order, Shopify displays the subscription and delivery verbiage on the one-time purchase product. However, the order will process the add-on product as a one-time purchase, not as a subscription product, ensuring the customer is only charged once for their add-on product.
Because Shopify does add subscription properties to one-time products added through the customer portal, a View subscription link will be visible in the Shopify admin. This is expected and the customer is only charged once for their add-on product.
Remove a one-time product from an order
You can remove a one-time product from a customer's upcoming order by selecting Delete from the Actions menu beside the product on the Customer details page.
Your customers can also delete the one-time product directly from their end within their customer portal.
