How to Import Subscriptions in Bulk from Another App (Essential Subscriptions app)

Moving from another subscription app? Our support team can import all your active subscriptions in one go from a CSV file. You do not have to recreate them one by one.

We check the file, create the subscriptions in your store, and you switch each one on when you are ready.

Before You Start

Each customer's payment method must be saved in Shopify. The import uses the payment method on the customer's Shopify account. Payment methods saved through Shopify Payments or Shop Pay usually work. Payment methods your old app kept in an outside gateway, such as Stripe or Braintree, do not. Those customers need to subscribe again through your store. See Migrating to Essential Subscriptions from Another Subscription App.

The next billing date must be tomorrow or later. A subscription with a billing date of today or in the past cannot be imported.

Set up the app for new customers first. Activate the app embed, create your campaigns and turn on the customer portal. Imported subscriptions do not need a campaign, but new customers do.

Step 1: Send Us a CSV File

Export your active subscriptions from your old app as a CSV file. Contact support from the app and attach it.

Each row is one product in a subscription. A subscription with three products has three rows with the same subscription contract ID.

Required for every subscription:

• Shopify subscription contract ID (from your old app)
• Shopify customer ID
• Shopify payment method ID
• Currency
• Next billing date
• Interval (day, week, month or year), deliver every and bill every
• Whether it ships
• Shopify product ID and variant ID, quantity and unit price for each product

The unit price is the price in the subscription contract, not the current price in your store.

Required if the subscription ships:

• First name, last name, address line 1, city, country, ZIP code
• Province or state, where the country has them
• Shipping price

Optional:

• Shipping method name (blank means Shipping)
• Address line 2
• Payments already made
• Minimum and maximum number of payments
• Order tags

Step 2: We Check the File

Before anything is created, we check every subscription against your store:

• The customer exists
• The payment method is active
• The currency is enabled in your store
• You ship to the delivery country
• The product and variant exist
• The same subscription was not imported before

The import only runs when every subscription passes. If some fail, we tell you what to fix.

Step 3: Subscriptions Arrive Paused

When we run the import, each subscription is created in Shopify. It appears in Subscriptions with the status Paused and an Imported badge.

Nothing is charged and no emails go out:

• Your customers do not get the New subscription email.
• You do not get a staff notification.

Open any imported subscription and check its Timeline. It reads Subscription imported, with the name of your old app, the old subscription ID and the number of payments made before the import.

Step 4: Cancel in the Old App, Activate Here

Your old app keeps billing until you cancel there. The import does not touch it. Work through your subscriptions one at a time:

1. Cancel the subscription in your old app.
2. Here, open the matching subscription from Subscriptions. Use the Paused tab to find it.
3. Check the products, price, schedule and next order date.
4. Click Activate subscription in the top right, then Activate imported subscription.

Orders are created from the next billing date. The Imported badge disappears. The customer gets no email from us when you activate.

Note: Most apps email the customer when a subscription is cancelled. Before you start, turn off cancellation emails in your old app, or ask its support to cancel without sending them. Otherwise customers think their subscription has ended.

Note: Customers see imported subscriptions as paused in the customer portal and can resume them there. Do not leave a subscription running in the old app for long after the import, or a customer who resumes can be charged twice.

What Carries Over

• Price. Each product is charged at the unit price in your file.
• Payment count. Payments made in the old app count toward any minimum or maximum. A customer who had to pay 6 times and already paid 4 needs 2 more before they can cancel.
• Schedule. The delivery and billing frequency from your file. The schedule runs from the next billing date.
• Order tags. Added to every order the subscription creates.

Imported subscriptions are not tied to a campaign. Campaign changes do not affect them.

Analytics

If a date range in Analytics includes an import, you see a banner: Imported contracts may show up inaccurately in data. Imported subscriptions can change some numbers for that period, such as activation and churn. See Subscription app Analytics.

Common Questions

Can I import the subscriptions myself? Not yet. Our support team runs the import for you.

Can I import prepaid subscriptions? A prepaid customer already paid for the whole term. Leave them in the old app until the term ends. See Migrating to Essential Subscriptions from Another Subscription App.

What if a customer's payment method is not saved in Shopify? That subscription fails the check. Ask the customer to subscribe again through your store.

Can I edit an imported subscription? Yes. It works like any other subscription. See How to Manage Subscriptions.

Can the same subscription be imported twice? No. The check blocks a subscription that was already imported.

Last updated September 2026