FluentCart checkout + subscriptions (NL): transparency needed
I’m using FluentCart for a membership with a staged pricing structure. The €59 startup fee (incl. 21% VAT) is intentionally used to lower the barrier to entry and make onboarding more accessible. After three months, the subscription continues at €19.95 per month.
However, in the current checkout I’m running into two fundamental issues:
1) Lack of clarity about future payments
The customer only sees what they pay today (€59). There is no clear indication of:
- When the next payment will take place (specific date), and
- How much they will pay then (€19.95 per month).
For a subscription product, this isn’t a minor UX detail — it’s essential. In the Netherlands (and more broadly in the EU), customers are expected to be clearly informed about future financial commitments.
Ideally, the order summary should explicitly show something like:
“Next payment on [date]: €19.95 per month.”
Right now, the customer has to infer this themselves, which is poor for trust, compliance, and conversion.
2) Incorrect VAT display
The checkout currently shows:
“NL Standard Tax (Inclusive) — €0.00”
That is factually incorrect, because the €59 does include 21% VAT. The display suggests no tax is being charged, which is misleading and inconsistent with how Dutch customers expect pricing to be presented.
Why this matters
With the current setup, FluentCart is effectively not usable for subscriptions in the Dutch market. It doesn’t just look unprofessional — it also fails to meet reasonable expectations around transparency for recurring payments.
I find it hard to believe this would be considered acceptable in other markets either, but perhaps I’m missing something.
Important note
I’ve already raised both of these issues with FluentCart support. Unfortunately, they indicated that a fix is not currently planned in the short term, which is why I’m bringing this to the community.
Questions for the community / developers:
- Is this a known limitation?
- Are there plans to improve subscription clarity in the checkout?
- Is there a clean workaround that doesn’t require heavy custom code?
Would appreciate hearing how others are handling this.
Shahjahan Jewel hope you see this and give me a reaction.
Sander Wielemaker You are correct on all points, and mandatory improvement work is underway. Thank you for your patience.
Ripon Sarkar Thank you! Can't wait to see the improvements land!
Tagging Ripon Sarkar to take a look and answer.
hey Sander Wielemaker! did you ever figure out a solution for the Checkout in cart transparency. The site we are working on has users that buy a product with a one time cost and they also buy a separate product for a subscription plan. Their previous checkout process showed the customer the recurring amount in the summary on checkout so that they knew what they were signing up for..
Mike - 5 Lakes Marketing hi Mike, at the moment I have my old checkout. And wait for further development and some to play around and test Fcart again.