ReCurr Tutorial Series — Part 4: Managing Subscriptions

Welcome back to the ReCurr tutorial series. In Part 3 we configured the PayFast gateway. Now let’s explore the admin dashboard where you’ll manage all your customer subscriptions.

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Before You Begin

Make sure you have completed Tutorials 1–3. If you’ve run a test transaction (Tutorial 3, Step 6), you should have at least one subscription to view.

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The Subscriptions Menu

In your WordPress dashboard sidebar, click Subscriptions. You’ll see these menu items:

Menu Item	Purpose
All Subscriptions	View, search, and filter all subscriptions
Add New Subscription	Manually create a subscription (covered in Tutorial 5)
Settings	Plugin settings (covered in Tutorial 1)
License	License key management (covered in Tutorial 1)

Screenshot 1: The Subscriptions menu expanded in the dashboard sidebar showing all menu items.

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All Subscriptions Page

This is your main subscription management screen. Navigate to Subscriptions > All Subscriptions.

Status Filter Tabs

At the top of the page you’ll see filter tabs showing a count of subscriptions by status:

• All — Every subscription regardless of status
• Pending — Awaiting first payment
• Active — Currently active with payments processing
• On Hold — Suspended, usually after failed payment retries
• Paused — Deliberately frozen by the customer or admin (Plus, v2.7.0 — only appears when Pause & resume is enabled)
• Cancelled — Cancelled by customer or admin
• Expired — Reached end of subscription term

On Hold vs Paused: On Hold is something that happened to the subscription (payments failed, or a trial ended with no card). Paused is something the customer or you chose — a deliberate freeze, with no billing and no penalty. See Plus Tutorial 6: Pause & Resume.

Click any tab to filter the list.

Screenshot 2: Status filter tabs above the subscription list (e.g., All (5) | Active (3) | Pending (1) | Cancelled (1)).

Search

Use the search box to find specific subscriptions. You can search by:

• Subscription ID
• Customer email address
• Customer first name
• Customer last name

Screenshot 3: The search box with placeholder text “Search by ID, email or name…”

Subscription List Table

The table displays the following columns:

Column	What It Shows
ID	Subscription number (e.g., #27) — click to view details
Status	Colour-coded status badge
Customer	Customer name with email below
Product	The subscription product name(s)
Total	Recurring amount and billing period (e.g., R499.00 Every month)
Next Payment	Date of next automated payment (card subscriptions only)
Next Invoice	Date of next invoice (Manual EFT subscriptions only). From v2.8.8 a quarterly or annual subscription is invoiced on the last invoice day on or before its anniversary, and that is the date shown — for one added before 2.8.8, once its first invoice under 2.8.8 has gone out (until then it shows the anniversary)
Order	The original WooCommerce order number

Screenshot 4: The subscription list table showing several subscriptions with different statuses.

Status Badges

Each subscription status is displayed as a colour-coded badge:

Status	Colour	Meaning
Active	Green	Subscription is running, payments are processing
Pending	Orange/Amber	Awaiting initial payment confirmation
On Hold	Orange/Amber	Suspended — usually after maximum failed payment retries
Paused	Blue/Grey	Deliberately frozen by customer or admin; never billed while paused (Plus, v2.7.0)
Cancelled	Red	Subscription has been cancelled
Expired	Grey	Subscription term has ended

Screenshot 5: Close-up of different status badges showing the colour coding.

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Viewing a Subscription

Click on any subscription ID (e.g., #27) in the list to open the detail view.

The detail page is divided into two areas: the main content on the left and a sidebar on the right.

Screenshot 6: Overview of the full subscription detail page showing the two-column layout.

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Main Content Area (Left Side)

Subscription Items

This section shows the products included in the subscription:

Column	Content
Product	Product name (linked to the product editor)
Qty	Quantity
Total	Line item total

The Recurring Total is displayed at the bottom of the items table.

Screenshot 7: The Subscription Items box showing a product, quantity, and recurring total.

Payment History

A complete record of every payment made for this subscription:

Column	Content
Date	Date and time of the payment
Amount	Payment amount
Status	“completed” (green) or “failed” (red)
Transaction ID	PayFast transaction reference, or “MANUAL-EFT-…” for EFT payments
Order	Related WooCommerce order number

Screenshot 8: The Payment History box showing payment records with completed/failed statuses.

Activity Log

A chronological record of everything that has happened with this subscription, newest entries first. Examples of logged events:

• created — Subscription was created
• status_changed — Status changed (e.g., from pending to active)
• payment_completed — A payment was successfully processed
• payment_failed — A payment attempt failed
• renewal_skipped — A renewal was skipped
• invoice_sent — An invoice was sent (Manual EFT)
• manual_payment — A manual EFT payment was marked as received
• manual_created — Subscription was manually created by admin
• payment_updated — A new card was registered against the subscription
• card_update_redirect / card_update_return — The customer was sent to PayFast’s own card-update page, and came back from it (v2.7.24). From v2.7.26 these appear only on a store that has opted in to that page; by default Update Card runs the R5.00 registration instead. PayFast does not call back to your store, so neither entry can say whether a card was saved — PayFast emails you when one is, which is your confirmation
• payment_update_failed — A card update was started but not completed. The card already on file is unchanged (v2.7.24)
• itn_echo_ignored — PayFast sent a payment notification for a card registration or a first payment that was already complete — for example, the notification for a later renewal charged to the same card. It is recorded and nothing else changes: no second credit, no second email (v2.8.5)
• card_cancelled — After an Update Card, the card it replaced was cancelled at PayFast, so it can no longer be charged (v2.8.8). card_cancel_failed — PayFast did not cancel it (it refused, or did not answer within 15 seconds): the new card is on file and in use, and the old one can be cancelled by hand in PayFast’s Tokenization list. card_cancel_skipped — the replaced card was not cancelled, and the entry says why (for example, another subscription uses the same card)
• trial_card_registered / trial_card_registered_after_end — A card was registered with Update Card during a free trial, so the trial’s end charges the first payment to it; or after the trial ended, so the subscription stays on hold until the customer activates it (v2.8.8)
• itn_held — PayFast confirmed a card update or a trial’s activation without a card token: the payment is recorded, the order is put On hold for your review and you are emailed (v2.8.8)
• plan_change_not_applied — A plan change queued to a variable product (queued before v2.8.8) was not applied at the renewal; the subscription renewed on its current plan (v2.8.8)
• invoice_not_repeated — A Manual EFT subscription’s date belonged to an invoice already raised, so it was moved on without a second invoice (v2.8.8)

Plus (v2.7.0) adds further entries for the lifecycle features — an immediate plan switch (with the credit and amount charged), a refunded cancellation (with the refund amount and PayFast refund reference), and pause / resume events (including the date shift applied on resume). The customer’s consent text for any charge or refund is written to the log verbatim as a permanent audit record.

Each log entry shows the date, event type, and a description. A long entry wraps inside the box, and a recorded consent (cancelling with a refund, changing plan) reads as a short list of its details instead of raw data (v2.8.8).

Screenshot 9: The Activity Log box showing a timeline of subscription events.

Notes and Account Credit (v2.7.27)

To the right of the Activity Log is the Notes box, and under it the Account Credit box.

Account Credit shows the credit the customer is holding against this subscription. The figure in the heading is the balance available now. The table lists every ledger entry, newest first:

• Date and Amount
• Reason — Card registration (the R5.00 charged when the customer updates their card), Plan switch, Trial overage or Manual — with the PayFast transaction it came from
• Status — Available (will come off the next renewal), Applied (with a link to the order it was applied to) or Refunded (with the refund transaction)

The box is read-only. Credit is applied to the next renewal automatically, and any credit still available is refunded if the subscription is cancelled first.

(v2.8.8) On a Manual EFT subscription the box says that invoices do not take account credit: its credit is refunded to the customer’s card if the subscription is cancelled. If a refund on cancellation could not be made, the cancelled subscription’s box says the amount could not be refunded — refund it by hand in your PayFast dashboard. (Before 2.8.8, PayFast refused every refund ReCurr asked for: look for “Cancel-with-credit refund: … failed” in the Activity Log of your cancelled subscriptions.)

Screenshot 9b: The Account Credit box showing a R5.00 card-registration credit as Available.

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Sidebar (Right Side)

Actions

This section contains buttons to change the subscription status:

• Set to Active — Activate or reactivate the subscription
• Set to On Hold — Suspend the subscription
• Set to Cancelled — Cancel the subscription
• Set to Pending — Reset to pending status
• Set to Paused — Freeze the subscription (Plus, v2.7.0 — only shown on active subscriptions when Pause & resume is enabled)

Only statuses different from the current status are shown. For example, if the subscription is already Active, you won’t see a “Set to Active” button.

When cancelling, you’ll see a confirmation prompt: “Are you sure you want to cancel this subscription? The customer will retain access until the end of their current billing period.”

Plus (v2.7.0): if Pro-rata cancellation refunds are enabled, cancelling a mid-term quarterly or annual card subscription refunds the customer’s unused time and ends access within 24 hours instead of at period end. See Plus Tutorial 5.

Plus (v2.7.0): Set to Paused behaves exactly like the customer’s own Pause button — it records the paused-since time and sends the pause emails. Likewise, Set to Active on a paused subscription resumes it and shifts every forward date by the paused duration. See Plus Tutorial 6.

Screenshot 10: The Actions box showing the available status change buttons.

Details

Key subscription information at a glance:

Field	Description
Billing Schedule	e.g., “Every month” or “Every 3 months”
Start Date	When the subscription began
Next Payment	Date of the next automated payment (card subscriptions)
Last Payment	Date of the most recent payment
Payment Method	“PayFast” or “Manual EFT Transfer”
Token	First 20 characters of the stored card token (card subscriptions only)
EFT Reference	The bank reference for EFT payments (Manual EFT only)
Paused Since	When the subscription was paused (Plus, v2.7.0 — paused subscriptions only)

Screenshot 11: The Details sidebar box showing billing schedule, dates, and payment method.

Customer

Customer information for this subscription:

• Customer name
• View Profile link (opens the WordPress user profile)
• Email address (clickable mailto link)
• Phone number
• Address

Screenshot 12: The Customer sidebar box showing customer details and the View Profile link.

Related Order

A link to the original WooCommerce order that created this subscription:

• View Order #123 button — opens the WooCommerce order edit screen

Screenshot 13: The Related Order sidebar box with the “View Order” button.

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Common Management Tasks

Cancelling a Subscription

1. Open the subscription detail view
2. In the Actions sidebar box, click Set to Cancelled
3. Confirm when prompted
4. The subscription status changes to Cancelled
5. The customer retains access until the end of their current billing period

Putting a Subscription On Hold

This is useful when a customer has a temporary issue:

1. Open the subscription detail view
2. Click Set to On Hold
3. Automated payments will stop while on hold
4. To resume, click Set to Active

Note (Plus, v2.7.0): if a customer is asking for a deliberate billing break, use Set to Paused rather than On Hold. Pausing freezes the subscription properly — on resume, the next payment date, end date and licence expiry all shift forward by exactly the paused duration, so the customer loses nothing. On Hold does not shift any dates. See Plus Tutorial 6: Pause & Resume.

Pausing a Subscription (Plus, v2.7.0)

Requires a Plus licence with Pause & resume enabled in settings.

1. Open an active subscription’s detail view
2. Click Set to Paused in the Actions box
3. No payments are attempted while the subscription is paused
4. To resume, click Set to Active — every forward date shifts by the paused duration
5. Pauses are capped at 90 days, after which the subscription auto-resumes

Reactivating a Cancelled Subscription

1. Open the subscription detail view
2. Click Set to Active
3. The subscription resumes and automated payments restart

You receive “[Subscription Reactivated] Subscription #N reactivated”, naming the status it came from (v2.8.8) — whenever a subscription becomes active again: set by hand, a missed payment paid, or a card updated while on hold. “[New Subscription]” is sent only when a subscription is first activated.

Manual EFT: a subscription set back to Active with its date behind is invoiced for every period not yet invoiced, one invoice each morning, until it is current (v2.8.8). To stop billing for a while, use Pause (Plus) instead — it moves the dates on when the subscription resumes.

Changing the Next Payment Date (v2.8.2)

Use this to line a subscriber’s payment up with their payday, or to set the date back where you want it after a pause.

1. Open the subscription detail view
2. In the Details sidebar box, click Change next payment date under Next Payment
3. Pick any date from today to one billing cycle after the current date — the form shows how many days later or earlier that is
4. If you pick today, tick the extra confirmation. It says what will happen: a card subscription is charged on the next hourly renewal run; a Manual EFT subscription still gets its invoice only on your invoice day, and the form names that day
5. Click Change date, and confirm when prompted

On a Manual EFT subscription the form names the invoice day. A monthly subscription’s next invoice goes out on the first invoice day on or after the date you pick. (v2.8.8) A quarterly or annual subscription’s goes out on the last invoice day on or before the date you pick — ahead of the period it bills, as a monthly one is — and the form says when that is (“Now: …”).

It changes the date only: nothing is charged, refunded or credited, and the time of day stays the same. A later date moves the licence expiry on by the same number of days; an earlier date never shortens a licence. Every change is recorded in the subscription’s Notes (visible to administrators only) and its Activity Log. The customer is not emailed — and customers cannot change their own date from My Account.

The date can be changed on an Active subscription only. It is not offered while a subscription is paused, in its free trial, has a failed payment being retried, or has an unpaid invoice; the screen says why instead. Available on every licence, Standard and Plus.

Viewing a Customer’s Order

1. From the subscription detail view, click View Order #123 in the Related Order sidebar
2. This opens the WooCommerce order for the initial purchase
3. You can view payment details, customer info, and order notes

Unpaid Renewals (v2.7.23)

Subscriptions → Unpaid renewals lists every card payment that was recorded as paid but never actually taken. Before 2.7.23, a renewal charge the bank declined was booked as a successful payment — the customer was even emailed “Payment received” — so a store that has been running for a few months may have some of these. The screen shows who, which order, how much, when, what the subscription looks like now, and the total never taken. A warning on the other Subscriptions screens tells you how many are outstanding.

For each row you have two choices:

1. Retry charge now — reopens the same order and charges the stored card. If it goes through, the real payment is recorded, the billing date stays where it was, the licence ends up where a real payment on the original date would have put it, and the customer receives a “Payment received” email. If the card declines again, the customer gets the normal failed-payment email (with PayFast’s update-card link) and the retry schedule takes over.
2. Mark as failed — no charge now. The customer gets the failed-payment email straight away and the retry schedule makes the next attempt.

Retry all runs the first option down the whole list.

Two things to know before pressing anything:

• Every action emails the customer its result. If they were told “payment received” weeks ago, a short note from you first is kinder than the email arriving cold.
• The false payment is not deleted. It is marked Reversed in Payment History, with a note saying why, so the record shows what happened.

Where a subscription has been paid since the false payment, the tool keeps its billing schedule exactly as it is and will not start reminders for the old amount; a second decline in that case is recorded for you to collect by hand.

How to spot one yourself: in Payment History, a Completed payment with a blank Transaction ID (—) is a payment that was never taken.

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Understanding the Payment Lifecycle

Here’s how subscription statuses typically flow:

Pending → Active → (renewals continue) → Cancelled/Expired
                 ↓
            Payment fails
                 ↓
          Retry (up to 3x)
                 ↓
            On Hold (if all retries fail)
                 ↓
         Admin/Customer action
                 ↓
        Active (reactivated) or Cancelled

• Pending → Active: Happens automatically when PayFast confirms the first payment via ITN
• Active → On Hold: Happens automatically after the configured number of failed payment retries (default: 3). A card the bank declines is a failed payment; since v2.7.23 it can never be recorded as a paid one
• On Hold → Active: Requires admin action — or the customer updating their card from My Account, which on hold goes through a real R5.00 verification charge, and a completed charge reactivates the subscription
• Active → Cancelled: Admin or customer action
• Active → Expired: Automatic when the subscription term ends
• Active → Paused → Active: (Plus, v2.7.0) A deliberate freeze by the customer or admin. No billing occurs while paused; on resume all forward dates shift by the paused duration. Auto-resumes after 90 days.

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What’s Next?

You now know how to navigate and manage subscriptions from the admin dashboard. The next tutorial covers creating Manual EFT subscriptions for corporate clients who pay via bank transfer.

Up next: Tutorial 5: Manual EFT Subscriptions — Creating subscriptions for corporate clients paying via bank transfer.

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Quick Checklist

• [ ] Located the Subscriptions menu in the dashboard sidebar
• [ ] Viewed the All Subscriptions list page
• [ ] Used status filter tabs to filter subscriptions
• [ ] Used the search box to find a subscription
• [ ] Opened a subscription detail view by clicking the ID
• [ ] Reviewed the Subscription Items section
• [ ] Reviewed the Payment History section
• [ ] Reviewed the Activity Log
• [ ] Reviewed the Details sidebar (billing schedule, dates, payment method)
• [ ] Reviewed the Customer sidebar
• [ ] Understand how to change subscription statuses via the Actions box

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Need Help?

• Email: [email protected]
• Support Hours: Monday to Thursday, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM (SAST)
  Friday, 09:00 AM – 12:00 PM (SAST)
• Website: cyberdummies.co.za/recurr

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This is Part 4 of the ReCurr Tutorial Series. All tutorials are available at cyberdummies.co.za/recurr.

Tutorial	Topic
1. Getting Started	Install, activate, and initial configuration
2. Creating Subscription Products	Billing periods, pricing, and discounts
3. Configuring PayFast	Gateway credentials, sandbox vs live, ITN setup
4. Managing Subscriptions	Admin dashboard, status management, details (you are here)
5. Manual EFT Subscriptions	Corporate clients paying via bank transfer
6. Customer Experience	Checkout flow and My Account subscription management
7. Invoicing	Invoice generation, PDF attachments, email delivery
8. Settings Reference	Complete reference of all available settings