Your experience with Store Managed Subscriptions!!
Hello great people!
It's been nearly 2 weeks since we launched the Managed Subscriptions. As we work on the Woo Migrator (for which the Store Managed Subscriptions was a prerequisite), we anticipate there might be caveats and nuances in how the subscriptions system will interact with the Woo Migration process.
Before we launch the Woo Migrator, we would prefer to make any neccessary changes to the Managed Subscription System. What we change really depends on your experience with it.
So we're looking for feedback on the Store Managed Subscriptions. Anything from a bug report, ux insight to feedback on the management system itself is welcome.
Your feedbacck will not only improve the Subscriptions capabilty, but also create a stronger foundation for our Woo Migrator.
Thanks in advance for any constructive feedback we get.
Cheers!
Rasel Siddiqe Hi Rasel, we're not using Woo but this should be relevant anyway.
For us, store managed subscriptions are a big no-no until FluentCart automatically detects when it's running in a staging site and stops all communications and payment renewals for non-test users/transactions (but keeps them for test users/transactions).
We've had this issue when testing EDD/Paddle migration, and it's been a real problem as duplicate payment renewal emails were sent to real users (not test users) from staging because the notifications were scheduled in production, and the schedule was mirrored on staging.
Until you provide a way for us to specify the staging domain in the settings so that fluentcart auto-detects when it's running on staging (or at the very least gets a manual "Staging" mode, not just a "Test" mode), store managed subscriptions are a disaster waiting to happen, because every time we create a staging site (mirror of production, we're on Rocket.net), to test or debug something, we'd fear that staging is going to duplicate an email notification or worse a renewal/payment and spook or annoy our customers.
At least, when the subscription is scheduled and processed externally (such as with Paddle for us), a duplicate payment can't happen, even if a duplicate notification (sent from production and staging) can.
Not to mention that such emails come from a weird domain name (on Rocket.net, staging has a different domain name than production), which would instantly break trust.
We managed to not lose a customer when this happened while testing the EDD/Paddle migration on staging, but we wouldn't want this to happen again.
Disabling fluentsmtp on staging can prevent some of the duplicate emails (some fluentproducts might send emails even with fluentsmtp disabled), but it won't prevent the payment renewal if it's store managed. Also disabling fluentsmtp prevents from testing email-related communications, such as renewal notifications or subscription confirmations in Fluentcart.
Please implement an automatic staging detection in FluentCart (or manual Staging mode), or beware of the side effects on staging when staging is a mirror of an active production site with membership renewals & subscriptions!
I hope this helps :)
Screenplay Unlimited Appreciate the honest feedback. Staging sites have been an issue for the licensing system as well. I agree, a toogle for Staging mode (as available for testing and live mode) is a reasonable ask. We'll look into it.
Waiting for the migrator, before I can really use it, but really appreciate this while testing. Easily managable and a clear view of the subscription statusses. I like the simplicity of the store managed renewals, our clients renew once per year, so manual renewal is no problem.
I would like to be able to import existing subscriptions from another provider with just a csv with the renewal date, customer data and the product + price + interval. Since the store will send a simple payment mail, this should make migrating from diverse software easy, at least i hope this will be possible.
Martijn Meijer CSV import for subscription records for the Managed system. Got it!
Hi team, thanks for the update
As someone who manages both physical and service-based stores with highly active subscriptions, I am very excited about the upcoming Woo Migrator. However, dealing with live subscriptions means we have a very small margin for error.
Here is my feedback and what I’m hoping to see to ensure a smooth transition:
1. Subscription Continuity (Stripe & PayPal Tokens) This is my biggest fear regarding the migration. When moving away from WooCommerce Subscriptions, we need absolute certainty that the switch won't interrupt our users' access or billing cycles. Specifically, how will the migrator handle the Stripe and PayPal payment tokens? It is critical that the automatic renewal triggers linked to these gateways continue seamlessly in FluentCart without requiring customers to manually re-enter their payment details.
2. Payment Gateways & Alternative Methods (e.g., Crypto) Managing renewals and tying them to specific resource access (especially for services) is a highly complex process. While FluentCart's custom payment webhooks are a great start, the platform still feels a bit limited regarding native payment options. For example, in one of my projects, I rely heavily on cryptocurrency payments (like CoinPayments). Having more native gateways, or robust, ready-to-use integrations for alternative methods, would make the platform much stronger.
3. Safe Staging and Testing Environment Echoing what others have mentioned above, because Woo Subscriptions is slow but highly reliable, we can't afford to break what already works. To confidently make the switch, I need the ability to test the Woo import in a staging or sandbox environment first. We absolutely must verify that customer data, active subscriptions, and exact expiration dates map perfectly. Furthermore, the system must automatically recognize it's in a staging environment so it doesn't accidentally trigger real renewals, webhooks, or emails to our live customers while we are testing the migration.
I really hope this feedback helps the developers!
I'm digging through woocommerce to fluent cart migration since few months (side project). honestly my CartShift plugin to migrate can be tested in sandbox (staging) but it's not production ready. There are tons of scenarios and woocommerce configs and requirements. So far I made 4 store migrations, all were done in stages with additional scripting and some manual work. I really hope FluentCart team come up with all in one solution. Migration process from WooCommerce, WooCommerce Subscriptions, Memberships etc is really painful. It's like giving a birth of watermelon through a hole size of lemon.