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Use this setup when you want to sell a prepaid subscription as a gift through Shopify Checkout.

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Before you begin

Make sure you have:

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Shopify requirement for physical gifts

Set the Shopify product as a physical product so Shopify Checkout collects the recipient’s shipping address. If the product is set to not a physical product, Shopify Checkout will not collect a shipping address for the recipient. In that case, the buyer cannot enter a separate recipient address, and the gift will ship to the buyer’s own address instead. Shopify product set as physical product If you do not want to charge shipping for the gift subscription, set up free shipping separately. See Free shipping for Shopify Native subscriptions.

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Set up a gift subscription

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1. Create or choose the Shopify product

Use the Shopify product customers will buy as the gift subscription. Make sure it:
  • is tagged with FIRMHOUSE_SUBSCRIPTION
  • is configured in Shopify as a product that requires shipping for physical gifts

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2. Create the prepaid plan

In Firmhouse, create a prepaid plan for the gift duration, for example:
  • 3 months prepaid
  • 6 months prepaid
  • 12 months prepaid
Choose the renewal behavior carefully:
  • Stop after the first billing cycle ends the prepaid subscription automatically with no renewal. This is the right choice for most gift subscriptions.
  • Renew for the next billing cycle continues the subscription under the same conditions after the prepaid period ends.
For setup details, see Prepaid subscription plans and Shopify selling plans and selling plan groups.

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3. Recipient shipping address and buyer billing details

In Shopify Checkout, the buyer enters the recipient’s shipping address and can provide separate billing details. Firmhouse then imports those addresses from the Shopify order automatically.

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4. Set up free shipping if needed

If the gift subscription should not charge shipping, set up free shipping for subscriptions. This setup includes setting the Free shipping threshold in Firmhouse and creating the Shopify free shipping discount from the same shipping settings page. See Free shipping for Shopify Native subscriptions.

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5. Test the checkout

Place a test order and confirm that:
  • Shopify Checkout shows the shipping address fields
  • the recipient’s address can be entered as the shipping address
  • the buyer can use separate billing details
  • the prepaid plan behaves as expected
After the initial signup, open the subscription in Firmhouse and click Ship now to simulate the next shipping cycles and confirm the prepaid setup behaves as expected.