This tutorial is geared for a merchant who is selling publications (example: magazines, newspapers and so on).
In this example let's imagine a scenario where Game Informer (http://www.gameinformer.com/p/subscribe.aspx). There is one product - the magazine. There are two types of subscription offers: 12 Issues and 24 Issues. Both are available for an annual term. We will dig deeper and show how to also allow monthly subscription option and one time purchase for a flat fee.
Step-by-step guide
One simple way to get this setup would be to create a simple product "Game Informer Magazine" and setup annual and 2 year subscription plans with preset quantity.
- Creating "Game Informer Magazine" product
- Product Name: Game Informer Magazine
- SKU: gameinformer
- Price: $24.99 (original price)
- Click on Advanced Inventory link
- Change Manage Stock to "No"
- Click Done
- At this point our basic product setup is complete
- Scroll down to Subscription Options section and open it
- Available For: set to "One-Time and Recurring", since we want this magazine to be purchased as a one-off as well as allow customers to subscribe to it.
- Is Trial Offered: Off (we are going to keep this out from our basic demonstration)
- Start Date: Last Day of the Current Month (since we want to bill people at the end of the month)
- Lock Product Price: Off (will allow us to set a custom price for each billing frequency)
- Unlock Preset Qty: On (this option will help us specify a preset qty to be purchased by the customer. Example: 12 for 1 year, 24 for 2 years).
- At this point basic configuration of a subscription is done
- Now, let's connect this product to a Monthly billing frequency (how to set up a billing frequency)
- Click on Add Recurring Option button
- Select "Monthly" in the Billing Frequency drop down
- Set the Price to "24.99"
- Leave the Initial Fee to "0.00"
- Set Preset Qty to "1" (since this is only for a single issue of the magazine)
- Click on Add Recurring Option button
- Select "Annual" in the Billing Frequency drop down
- Set the Price to "19.98"
- Leave the Initial Fee to "0.00"
- Set Preset Qty to "12" (since this option will contain 12 issues of the magazine)
- Click on Add Recurring Option button
- Select "2 Year" in the Billing Frequency drop down
- Set the Price to "24.98"
- Leave the Initial Fee to "0.00"
- Set Preset Qty to "24" (since this option will contain 24 issues of the magazine)
- Click Save to save the product
- At this point your configuration should look like this
Result
One-Time Purchase
Monthly Subscription
Annual Subscription
2-Year Subscription
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