Retry Policy

Overview

The SmartPay Subscription module provides a structured retry mechanism for handling failed subscription payments, ensuring minimal disruption to recurring billing processes. When a scheduled subscription payment fails, SmartPay automatically initiates a retry process based on the merchant's configured retry policy. This mechanism helps merchants recover outstanding balances, maintain the continuity of service for subscribers, and reduce payment failures.

If all retry attempts are unsuccessful, the unpaid amount is added to the subscription balance, meaning it remains due and is carried forward into future billing cycles until it is successfully collected. SmartPay also sends a webhook notification to inform merchants of retry attempts, providing real-time updates on the retry status and enabling merchants to take necessary actions.

The outstanding balance continues to accumulate with each failed billing cycle until the transaction is successfully processed, the subscription is canceled, or it reaches the end of its billing term.

Automatic Retry Mechanism

The automatic retry mechanism ensures that failed subscription payments are systematically reattempted according to the configured retry schedule, reducing revenue loss and minimizing the risk of payment disruptions. This feature applies exclusively to scheduled Merchant-Initiated Transactions (MIT) triggered by subscription billing cycles.

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Retry policies can be configured according to the merchant's business requirements, and they are applied at the subscription level. For more information, please reach out to your Product Solution Specialist.

Below are the key points outlining how the retry process works within SmartPay:

• The retry mechanism follows a predefined schedule, executing retries at specific intervals.
• The number of retries resets with each new billing cycle, provided the subscription remains active.
• If a retry succeeds, the subscription returns to normal billing status. If all retries fail, the amount remains due, and further retries are scheduled for the next cycle.
• The merchant can opt-in to enable automatic retries when configuring the subscription settings.
• Retry policies are configured at the subscription level and can be adjusted based on the merchant's business requirements.
• Merchants receive webhook notifications for each retry attempt and final failure, enabling them to take necessary actions when needed.

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The retry mechanism does not apply to merchant-initiated payment series where the merchant receives a real-time feedback on the transaction outcome and may decide how/if/when to retry it.
It is only available for scheduled MIT transactions triggered by subscription billing cycles.

Merchant Actions upon Failure

Merchants receive webhook notifications for each retry attempt and final failure, allowing them to take necessary action if needed. Upon receiving a webhook notification about a failed transaction, merchants can take one of the following actions:

1. No Immediate Action: The merchant can rely on the automatic retry mechanism while monitoring the retry execution results.

2. Manual Payment Retry: Merchants can initiate an unscheduled MIT transaction linked to an existing billing agreement. The subscriptionId must be provided in the API call to ensure proper reconciliation by the Subscription module.

3. Customer Payment Option (SPO) Update: The merchant may notify the customer and provide an option to update the stored payment option by reinitializing the SDK using the billingAgreement.id.

4. Subscription Cancellation: The merchant can cancel the subscription and choose to ignore the overdue balances.