The Shopify Release, and more!

Shopify native checkout with iDEAL, Bancontact, and more

Hold your horses! Our Shopify native checkout is finally here. Since November, we’ve been working hard on getting our new integration ready. In that time, we’ve been onboarding new and existing merchants into our private beta.

We’re now ready to accept more merchants. Our Shopify native checkout features an easier setup and integration that takes advantage of everything the Shopify ecosystem has to offer.

Subscriptions on Shopify native checkout

You can now use Firmhouse to power your subscription products on the Shopify native checkout. There’s no more need for a third-party checkout workaround. Merchants currently using the Firmhouse checkout can be migrated to Shopify as well.

Simply install the Firmhouse app into your Shopify store, add one of our pre-made theme blocks or customize your own, define your subscription plans, and go live on the Shopify checkout!

Please note: Certain limitations may still apply to specific subscription setups. Give us a shout if you want to transition to the Shopify checkout.

iDEAL, Bancontact, and more automatically convert to SEPA direct debit for subscription plans

At the Shopify checkout, we have added a local payment methods layer to support recurring payments. This allows your customers to subscribe using iDEAL, Bancontact, and more, which automatically convert to SEPA direct debit.k

Our subscription theme block allows you to seamlessly add subscription options to your Shopify product detail pages. You can either use the standard widget or build a custom subscription widget. This involves adding a block to your theme using the Shopify theme editor or using Liquid tags for more advanced customization. The widget allows customers to manage their subscriptions, select product variants, and adjust quantities, all directly from the product page. Additionally, you can customize the widget's colors and text to match your store's branding.

Shopify discount codes

You can now manage discount codes directly through Shopify, which will be automatically applied at checkout and on recurring Firmhouse orders. When adding a product to a subscription after signup (through the portal or Self Service Center), we now take the Shopify base price and apply the selling plan discount to set the appropriate custom price on the ordered product in Firmhouse. This make sure the right amounts are charged, especially for SEPA workaround scenarios, and ensures that the price in Firmhouse matches the price in Shopify for native Shopify subscriptions.

Payment dunning and reminder flows

Our retry and reminder payment dunning flows will continue to work as normal for regular subscriptions. These automated payment reminders and retry attempts ensure that subscriptions are processed smoothly and that customers are reminded to update their payment information if needed.

Automatically pause empty subscriptions

We’re excited to introduce a new feature that helps merchants automatically pause subscriptions that have no active products remaining. This ensures cleaner analytics and better subscription management for your business.

In smart, order-based projects, when customers are enabled to manage their products themselves, they can remove all active products from their subscriptions. In this case, the subscription remains active even though there are no products left or future shipments scheduled, which can clutter analytics and complicate subscription management.

You can read more here.

Uncollectible invoice status via API

We’ve introduced a new invoice status called "UNCOLLECTIBLE" to help you manage invoices deemed uncollectible. You can now set this status via the API. While the invoice will still show as outstanding, you’ll be able to filter these invoices separately for better tracking.

Why this feature matters

For merchants like you, who send your own reminders on outstanding invoices, it's necessary to have a way to mark invoices as uncollectible after multiple collection attempts, including by third-party agencies like Intrum. This status ensures you can stop sending reminders and better manage your tax refunds, as the tax has already been paid but the amount was never collected.

How it works

We’ve added a new argument to the UpdateInvoiceMutation called status. You can now set the status to:

• PAID: If the funds were collected outside of Firmhouse.

• UNCOLLECTIBLE: If the funds were deemed uncollectible.

You can update this status via the API. For now, you’ll mark invoices as uncollectible manually, but we’re considering further automation, such as automatically marking an invoice as uncollectible if a collection case closes unsuccessfully.

Example mutation:

mutation(
  $id: ID!,
  $externalUrl: String,
  $status: InvoiceUpdatableStatusEnum
) {
  updateInvoice(input: {
    id: $id,
    externalUrl: $externalUrl,
    status: $status
  }) {
    invoice {
      id
      externalUrl
    }
    errors {
      message
      attribute
    }
  }

Shopify product sync improvements

Create products to be shipped together on one subscription schedule.

A new FIRMHOUSE_SHIPMENT_ON_BILLING_CYCLE tag was added, allowing you to create products that will be shipped together according to the subscription schedule. 

Please note: This is only relevant for smart, order-based projects for subscriptions all recurring products are shipped together.

Freeze price for one-time products

A new SHOPIFY_PRICE_FOR_ONE_TIME tag has been added. This is the price of the product or variant in Shopify that will be used for one-time products, overriding the subscription_price metafield. Both the tag and metafield work together to set different prices for one-time and recurring products.

You can learn more about how to import your product catalog in this Help Center article.

Push orders to Shopify via API

Now, you can create an automation to push orders to Shopify via the Firmhouse API.

When an order is confirmed in Firmhouse and you have a Shopify app connected to your store, Firmhouse automatically pushes all confirmed orders to Shopify by default. This ensures that all orders are promptly sent out for processing and delivery to your customers.

However, if you want more control over order generation in Shopify, it’s now possible to disable our default behavior and set up your own rules for pushing orders to Shopify.

For example, you can use the order_confirmed outgoing webhook and the PushOrdersToShopify API endpoint to create your automation.

Please reach out to our support team if you need further assistance with setting this up.