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Understanding cut-off dates

Probably one of the most useful features to manage fulfillment and shipping when setting up your subscriptions

The cut-off date functionality is part of the product setup when billing and shipping occur on a specific date, so first of all please be aware this functionality is only available for anchored subscriptions.

How does the cut-off date work?

Cut-off date is the last day customers can purchase your product and be eligible for the current cycle's shipment. Customers purchasing once cut-off date has passed are pushed to the shipment of the next cycle and, under the same logic, their renewal is scheduled for the following cycle after their first box has been shipped.

So, on one hand, you can better organize and ship your boxes all together on a certain date and, on the other, you avoid billing customers twice during a short period of time when they haven't got their first box.

By default, cut-off ends at 23:59 of the selected day.

How do I set it up?

When enabling the specific billing date toggle of the anchored subscription, you'll be able to input a specific cut-off date too. This date can be anytime between next billing date and shipping date of the box(es).

For example:

  • Billing cadence: Every 1 month
  • Billing: 1st of April
  • Cut-off: 8th of April
  • Shipment: 15th of April

In practice, this will mean that customers who sign up until the 8th of April, will receive their first box on the 15th of April and their renewals will be scheduled for the 1st of May.

But customers who sign up between the 9th of April to the 8th of May will have their first box shipped on the 15th of May. In consequence, their subscriptions will renew on the 1st of June.

Is cut-off date tied up to the billing cadence?

Absolutely, and there are some implications. 

Dates adjust dynamically every cycle, so if the original setup was for April, since the cadence recurs every 1 month, once cut-off date has passed, the system automatically changes dates to the next cycle, which in this case would be next month.

But this same behavior happens if the cycle or billing cadence recurs every 3 months or every 12 months: once cut-off date has been reached, dates will update to the next cycle, meaning first shipment of customers signing up after cut-off date will be pushed to the next cycle in 3 months/12 months, ie.,  they won't be able to hop into the current cadence

For example:

  • Billing cadence: Every 3 months
  • Billing: 1st of April
  • Cut-off: 8th of April
  • Shipments: 15th of April, 15th of May, 15th of June

Customers subscribing after the 8th of April won't be pushed for May's shipment but for June's, so they would expect their first box to be shipped on the 15th of July and subscription renewal for the 1st of October.

That's why you'll see this prompt when creating the plan:

Some important notes:

  • If the first order is set for charging and shipping immediately, cut-off becomes irrelevant.
  • If the first order is set for charging and shipping on the regular date, customers signing up after cut-off date won't be billed right away but queued up for the next billing date.

FAQ

Can I change the time when cut-off date ends?

It's possible to manually set the time of the day when the cut-off should end.

This feature is available only for Advanced plan users. To check the pricing plan offer visit this page.

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