Articles on Subscriptions
Recurring charges, renewals, failed payments, and churn: keeping a subscription alive without manual work.
17 articles
Verifactu and stablecoins: 6 payments stories of the week
Possible Spanish tax agency letters over Verifactu and e-invoice mismatches, USDC settlement in LatAm and what the ECB published.
AI risk models, mobile card personalization, and digital money according to the ECB
Plaid unveils AI tools to mitigate fraud and payment risk, Wells Fargo introduces debit card customization in its app, and the European Central Bank addresses tokenization.
Mid-cycle plan changes: proration, immediate charges, and invoice transparency
We explore the mechanics of subscription proration, the operational trade-offs between instant and deferred billing, and how to display charges clearly.
Amending an invoice after a refund: corrective invoices, deadlines, and already declared VAT
Refunding customer funds does not automatically cancel the original invoice or the VAT already remitted. Here is how corrective invoices work, statutory deadlines, and tax adjustments.
Same subscription on web, iOS, and Android: avoiding double billing with a single entitlement state
Allowing a customer to use their subscription across platforms without paying twice requires anchoring billing to a central account. Here is the architecture needed to coordinate web, App Store, and Google Play.
Card Tokenization: What Merchants Store and What They Don't
Learn what card tokens are, gateway vs network tokens, PCI DSS SAQ A requirements, and how Cifrago charges subscriptions without touching card numbers.
Free versus paid trial periods: technical impact on conversion, payment failures, and churn
Choosing between a free or paid trial alters sign-up rates, card processing workflows, payment failure frequency, and exposure to dispute costs.
The hidden cost of failed payments: return fees, retries, and lost customers
When a recurring transaction fails or a customer disputes a charge, the problem goes far beyond unpaid invoices. Direct processing fees, operational overhead, and involuntary churn multiply the true financial impact.
Bizum, card, or bank transfer: which method to offer and what each one costs
We analyse the operational differences, processing fees, fraud risks, and settlement times of cards, Bizum, and bank transfers for an online store in Spain.
What Is an Entitlement: Products, Subscriptions & Access
Learn what an entitlement is and how it differs from products and subscriptions. Check user access across web, iOS, and Android using the Cifrago API.
Payment Retries: 3 Attempts and a 7-Day Grace Period
Learn what dunning is, why recurring payments fail, card network retry limits for Visa and Mastercard, and how Cifrago's 3-retry schedule will work.
Cancelling a subscription in one click: consumer regulations and the true cost of retention tricks
Obstructing digital subscription cancellations not only breaches European consumer law, but also drives bank chargebacks. We examine what the rules demand and how to design clean cancellations.
Key subscription metrics: MRR, voluntary churn, and recovered revenue
Managing recurring revenue requires distinguishing customer cancellations from technical payment failures. We examine MRR calculations, churn types, and recovery workflows.
Payment security: what you must never store, and why webhooks are signed
Most online payment incidents don't come from a sophisticated attack, but from two design decisions: storing card data you never needed, and trusting whatever the customer's browser says.
Invoicing subscriptions in Spain: VAT, renewals, and VeriFactu
A subscription is not a charge that repeats: it is a charge and an invoice that repeat. Who bears the VAT, what happens when the card expires, and what the verifiable invoicing rules demand all change the design from day one.
In-app payments: what the store takes, and when you can charge outside it
App Store and Google Play commissions don't apply to everything you sell from an app. The dividing line is what kind of product you deliver, and knowing where your case falls decides whether you pay 15%, 30%, or your own gateway's fee.
What actually happens inside an online card payment
Between the customer pressing "pay" and the money reaching your account, three separate things happen: authorisation, capture, and settlement. Knowing where each one occurs explains why a payment can show as "approved" and still not be charged.