This was a question from one of our merchants that we thought could help others, too.

Question: What happens when a trial expires and a credit card has not been captured on the subscription?

• Since the current_period_ends_at date for the subscription is the end of the trial and not the product duration, does a new subscription (minus trial) get created when payment is successful? Or does the subscription current_period_ends_at apply the product duration then slide?

• What statuses can result and what is the reason?

• Does the new end date include/exclude the trial period?

Answer

A new subscription is not created when the trial ends. It's the same subscription, and the product duration is applied and the window slides.

So, say it's Jan. 1 and I sign up for a product with a 10-day trial and a 1 month billing cycle:

• Jan. 1 - Jan. 10 - trialing
• Successful payment
• Jan.10 - Feb. 10 - active

If, in the above example, if the payment had failed on Jan. 10, the period would still be updated to Jan. 10 - Feb. 10, but the subscription would move to Past Due status.

The new end date is independent of the trial. Whenever the trial ends, the new current_period_ends_at date is calculated by sliding the window by 1 normal period.