Gifting Subscriptions

Updated December 12, 2025 16:34

Gift Subscriptions allow a customer to purchase a subscription order for another customer.

NOTE: Creating this experience will require work from the client's development team or their technology partners.

Overview

Synopsis	Gift Subscriptions allow a customer to buy a prepaid set of subscription orders for another customer.
Areas Impacted	Order Processing Frontend enrollment experience Backend for handling cancel logic after the gift is complete
Out of Scope of Solution	Different endpoint for gifting orders and standard subscription orders Balance management of gifting funds Order XML modifications Custom messaging (current order count, remaining orders, etc.) in Ordergroove transactional emails Display of current or remaining order counts in Ordergroove Gift subscriptions created via Instant Upsell Gift subscriptions created in Ordergroove Gift subscriptions managed by a different user than the customer making the initial purchase Transactional emails to giftee A cart containing products going to giftee and gifter (separate addresses) Customer-selected number of shipments outside of defined options SKU swap to gift products of different prepaid periods or prices Transfer of subscription to giftee for subscription continuity after gift period ends
Requirements	Merchant must own the setting and update of gift information within subscription extra_data Merchant must own the cancellation of the gift subscription when the term is complete
Resources Required	Client/Systems Integrator [M-L] Create the gift option on the site for subscription enrollment and use that for API calls to Ordergroove post-checkout [M] Create logic that will cancel the subscription once the count of successful orders is reached

How To Set It Up

Goal: The gift-giver can purchase a pre-set number of subscription orders, paying upfront for the specified period.

You can use Prepaid Subscriptions (Shopify guide here) to power this experience. Follow the standard prepaid implementation process, then create a dedicated, gift-specific PDP or landing page. Be sure to configure the renewal experience using this guide so the order is marked as non auto-renew, ensuring the gift recipient receives only the prepaid number of shipments with no ongoing subscription commitment.

This is also an experience you can build by implementing expiring subscriptions.

Expiring subscriptions allow you to cancel a subscription when a certain threshold has been met. That threshold is typically items shipped. In this use case, the gifter would purchase four shipments, be charged each time, and then your application would cancel the subscription after the fourth shipment is created. For more information, click here.

Goal: We want the giftee to continue to receive (and pay for) the subscription even after the gift is 'over.'

This is not an experience that Ordergroove directly powers. However, the use of a marketing platform can accomplish this relatively easily. This is our recommended approach:

Leave the subscription under the gifter's account
Prompt the giftee after the gift has expired to create a new subscription.
- When possible, it is a good idea to direct the giftee directly to the PDP or even to the shopping cart with the product pre-added. These are not experiences that Ordergroove facilitates so the flow for directing them to the PDP or even the shopping cart with a pre-added product would be developed within your marketing campaign and email/text content.
Why can't we transfer the gift?
- Since it would still require that you collect the same information from the consumer that you would during a normal check out - using your existing checkout flow to generate a new subscription record has proven to be the most efficient.