CUROBI
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Glossary

Fixed-Calendar Billing

Also known as: Anchored billing, Anchor dates, Same-day billing, Rolling schedule

Fixed-calendar billing charges every subscriber on the same calendar dates — the 1st of every month, say, or the 15th of February, May, August, and November — regardless of when each of them signed up, as opposed to a rolling schedule, where each subscriber is billed on the anniversary of their own signup date.

Most subscriptions run on a rolling schedule: the clock starts the day the customer signs up, so someone who subscribes on the 8th is charged on the 8th of every month and someone who joins on the 20th on the 20th. That suits everyday replenishment — coffee, vitamins, pet food — where each order stands on its own. It is awkward for a box that ships the same thing to everyone, because 400 subscribers become 400 separate orders trickling out across the month, and stock is bought and packed every day.

A fixed calendar puts the whole program on one date. Shopify supports this natively through anchor dates on a selling plan's billing and delivery policies, and the settings that make it workable are an order cutoff (how many days before the charge day the batch closes, so late orders roll into the next one), a ship day when packing needs time after the charge, the months it bills in for a quarterly or seasonal box, and whether a new subscriber's first box ships right away or waits for the next charge day. The trade-off is operational, not financial: one buying decision and one packing day, against a customer who may wait a few weeks for a first box.

In Curobi, every plan bills on a Rolling schedule unless the merchant chooses Fixed calendar in the plan or box editor's Schedule section, which is a Pro feature. The charge day is 1 to 28 so it exists in every month, fixed calendars apply to monthly plans only, and a plan that bills in chosen months can't also be prepaid. Skip moves a subscriber to the next charge date on the calendar rather than one interval later, a reschedule moves forward to the next charge date, and the product-page widget tells shoppers 'Order by … · ships …'. A plan already on a fixed calendar keeps charging on its dates after a downgrade, but its calendar can't be changed until the store is back on Pro.

Related terms

  • Billing Cutoff — A billing cutoff is the point before a subscription renewal after which the contents of the next box are locked and can no longer be edited — it exists so the merchant can finalise picking, packing, and stock while still giving subscribers as long as possible to change their mind.
  • Curated Box — A curated box is a subscription box whose contents the merchant selects and rotates on a schedule — the customer subscribes to the experience and the merchant decides what ships each cycle, such as a monthly coffee sampler that changes every month.
  • Subscription Box — A subscription box is a recurring package of physical products delivered on a schedule — weekly, monthly, or another cadence — which the merchant either curates or lets the customer build, and which the customer pays for automatically each cycle.
  • Selling Plan — A selling plan is Shopify's definition of how a product can be purchased on a recurring basis — the frequency, any subscription discount, and billing terms — and a selling plan group bundles related plans and attaches them to specific products, variants, or collections.
  • Skip vs Pause — Skipping omits one scheduled delivery and its charge while leaving the subscription and its cadence intact, whereas pausing suspends the subscription indefinitely or until a chosen date — skip answers "not this month", pause answers "not for a while".

← All subscription commerce terms

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