Billing and inventory settings
Sometimes a subscription order can't be processed — a customer's card is declined, or a product is out of stock. Billing and inventory settings control how Essential Subscriptions retries these orders and what happens if they keep failing.
To change them, go to Settings → Billing and inventory settings → Change.
Payment Method Failure
Controls what happens when a subscription charge is declined.
- Number of retry attempts — how many times to retry a failed charge. (0–10, default 3)
- Days between retry attempts — how long to wait between retries. (1–14 days, default 7)
- Action when all retry attempts have failed — choose one:
- Pause subscription and send notification - Cancel subscription and send notification (default)
Customers are emailed about failed payments based on your Customer Notification Emails settings, so they have a chance to update their card before the subscription is paused or cancelled.
Not Enough Inventory
Controls what happens when an order can't be created because a product is out of stock.
- Number of retry attempts — how many times to retry. (0–10, default 5)
- Days between retry attempts — how long to wait between retries. (1–14 days, default 1)
- Action when all retry attempts have failed — choose one:
- Pause subscription and send notification - Cancel subscription and send notification (default)
Tip: Inventory issues are often temporary, so the defaults retry more often and over a shorter gap than payment failures — giving stock time to be replenished before the subscription is paused or cancelled.
Saving Changes
Make your changes and click Save. The summaries on the main Settings page update to reflect your new retry and failure rules.
Last updated June 2026