How do I enable subscription payments with Shopify?

How do I enable subscription payments with Shopify?

To set up subscriptions on Shopify, you will need to install the PayFast Subscriptions App for Shopify from your PayFast Dashboard. Following this, you will need to set up your products on your Shopify store to create subscriptions on PayFast by defining their product SKU.

Please note: Buyers will only be able to purchase one subscription product per cart checkout. If more than one subscription item is purchased in a single cart, only one of the subscription details will be sent by Shopify. 

There are a number of options you can use to ensure that buyers only purchase one subscription item at a time. A third-party App called OrderLogic is available on Shopify to enforce restraints on what buyers can add to their cart at once. Alternatively, some merchants choose to include instructions in the product description or elsewhere on their website to inform their buyers to add one subscription per cart and checkout using Payfast.

Once created, you may edit, pause or cancel the subscription using your Payfast Dashboard. See how to manage active subscriptions on Payfast.

Install the Payfast Subscription App:

  1. Log in to your Payfast Dashboard and navigate to Settings > Integrations.
  2. Toggle Shopify subscriptions to Enabled and click Save
  3. You will be redirected to log into your Shopify store to install the Payfast Subscription App. Click ‘Install unlisted app’. Following this, you will be redirected back to Payfast.


Set up your subscription products on Shopify:

Payfast will create a subscription by reading the product SKU field of the product on Shopify. The values inputted in the SKU will determine the terms of the subscription, and as such will need to be configured exactly as per the below format:

  1. For the product(s) you wish to be a subscription, enter the following into the product’s SKU as per this example:

            PF-MYREFERENCE-3-12-15000

  • MYREFERENCE can be changed to your own product reference.  Please make sure this is a single word without spaces and special characters. 
  • 3 is the frequency - how often the subscription amount should be charged. The subscription frequency can be configured using the below numbers:
    • 3 – Monthly
    • 4 – Quarterly
    • 5 – Bi-Annually
    • 6 – Annually
  • 12 is the number of cycles - how many times this subscription must run. 0 can be used for infinite cycles
  • 15000 is the recurring amount that will be charged each time the subscription runs, priced in cents (R150).

  • Optional: If you need to charge shipping costs, you can include the shipping charge in the recurring amount as follows:
    • PF-MYREF-3-12-15000-RSC
    • RSC stands for Recurring Shipping Charge. 
    • By adding RSC at the end of the SKU, the shipping charge due will be added to the recurring amount. If RSC is not included on the SKU, shipping will only be charged on the initial payment.

             Example of a subscription product: 


The product configuration as per this example will have an initial subscription charge of R100 plus shipping due immediately. This will be followed by 11 monthly subscription charges of R150 before the subscription completes.


  1. To test that you’ve set this up correctly: You may add the subscription product you created to your cart, and proceed to a test checkout to ensure the subscription product is configured as you would like. 
  2. Once redirected to Payfast, you do not need to complete the payment. You only need to see that the subscription information is displayed on the Payfast payment screen.



Configure subscription variants:


If you would like to create a single product with multiple subscription options, you may make use of variants on Shopify.


For example, you may allow your buyer to select a product and configure their own subscription terms across frequency and cycles. 


  1. In the Options of the product on Shopify, tick the ‘This product has options, like size or color’ box.

  2. Create an option for the frequency of the subscription. You may label this however you wish by typing in the Option name field. 

  3. Populate the Option values with the frequency options you wish to offer. 


The available frequency options values are:

  • Monthly

  • Quarterly

  • Bi-Annually

  • Annually



4. Create an option for the number of cycles of the subscription. You may label this how you wish by typing in the Option name field. Populate the Option values as you did with the frequency. You may offer any number of subscription cycles that you would like. This is completely up to you.


  1. Click Done to finish configuring the variants. You may now populate the respective SKU values for each variant to complete the subscription product setup.



  1. To test that you’ve set this up correctly: You may add the subscription variant you created to your cart, and proceed to a test checkout to ensure the subscription product is configured as you would like. 



As mentioned before, you do not need to complete the payment. You only need to see the correct subscription information displayed on the Payfast payment screen.





Deleting subscription products: When removing subscription products from your store that have existing linked subscriptions, please set the product status from Active to Draft instead of deleting the product so that it is no longer available. This will allow recurring orders to be automatically created for that product on your Shopify dashboard when subscription charges are processed for already existing Payfast subscriptions. If the subscription product is deleted, an order will not be created when the recurring charge is processed on the customer’s card.



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