What are recurring subscription payments?
A subscription is a recurring payment in which the same customer pays a fixed amount, at regular intervals, for an ongoing product or service.
The customer authorises once and the system charges automatically in each cycle, without anyone on your team having to step in.
When do subscriptions make sense?
Subscriptions make sense when the customer pays the same amount, at the same frequency, for an ongoing service. For example:
- Monthly fees for software (SaaS), streaming and membership communities;
- Annual renewals of access or service;
- Instalment plans, with a fixed number of payments;
- Recurring donations;
- Plans and monthly fees that a marketplace or platform charges its sellers.
Subscriptions or frequent payments: which should you choose?
Both are recurring payments: the same customer pays several times. The difference comes down to a simple question: is the amount to be charged always the same, or does it vary from payment to payment?
- Subscriptions: the amount and frequency are fixed and the charge is automatic in each cycle.
- Frequent payments: the amount and frequency vary; the customer authorises once and the merchant charges different amounts whenever needed, for example for usage-based services or top-ups.
| Frequent payments | Subscriptions | |
|---|---|---|
| Amount | Varies with each charge | Fixed in each cycle |
| Who initiates the charge | The merchant | The system, automatically |
| Schedule | Whenever the merchant decides | Regular cycles, from daily to every 3 years |
| Payment methods | Card, MB WAY, direct debit, Multibanco and virtual IBAN | Card and direct debit |
| Ideal for | Usage-based or top-up services | Monthly fees, for example for software or streaming |
Find out more about frequent payments.
How to set up subscriptions in your business in 6 steps
1. Set the amount and frequency of the cycle
Choose the fixed amount for each cycle and the frequency of the charge. Options range from daily charges to every three years, including weekly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and annual. What matters is aligning the frequency with the pace at which the customer uses the service.
State the frequency clearly on the sign-up page.
2. Choose the payment method
The payment methods for subscriptions are credit or debit card and SEPA Direct Debit.
- Card: the quickest to activate.
- Direct debit: linked to the bank account.
If possible, offer both options to your customers. And if your customers prefer to pay with MB WAY, consider frequent payments: the customer authorises once and your business initiates each charge when needed.
3. Set the start date, the first charge and the end date
Decide when the subscription starts and when it ends:
- Subscription with an end date: ends on a set date or after a fixed number of charges. Ideal for instalment plans, for example 12 monthly instalments.
- Open-ended subscription: continues until the customer cancels it. Ideal for monthly fees and membership communities.
Also choose whether the first charge takes place at sign-up or only on the start date, for example after a trial period.
4. Obtain authorisation and communicate the terms
The customer must authorise the recurring charge, either by entering their card details or by signing the direct debit mandate.
At that point, avoid the most common checkout mistakes and clearly communicate:
- The amount to be paid;
- The payment frequency;
- The date of the first charge;
- How to cancel.
The clearer the payment page, the fewer complaints and surprise cancellations you will have.
5. Set up retries and an alternative payment method
One way to reduce subscription failures is to set how many times the system retries a failed charge and at what interval, for example three attempts.
Also enable an alternative payment method. If all attempts fail, send a payment link to a checkout with the other payment methods active on your account, for example MB WAY or Multibanco, so that the customer can complete the payment another way and the subscription continues.
6. Connect notifications and invoicing to your system
Connect the subscription to the rest of your business through notifications (webhooks). You receive one alert when the subscription is created and another with the result of each charge, successful or failed, once the retries have been exhausted.
Use these alerts to activate or suspend access, send confirmation to the customer and issue the invoice. For invoicing, choose a payment solution that integrates with your invoicing software, so you do not have to issue each invoice manually.
How to manage subscriptions after launch
A good subscription solution such as easypay’s lets you, at any time:
- Update the amount or frequency, for example when the customer changes plan;
- Pause the subscription, cancelling pending cycles until reactivation;
- Reactivate the subscription, resuming the billing cycles;
- Cancel the subscription, when the customer requests it.
- Charge one-off amounts, such as setup fees, additional services, upgrades or others, using the payment method already associated with the customer, without affecting the regular subscription.
- Change the amount of a cycle before it is processed if you need to apply a discount, make an adjustment or charge a different amount in a given cycle
When the customer changes plan mid-cycle, decide how to handle the difference, for example by charging only the amount proportional to the remaining days.
Also allow the customer to update their payment details without having to cancel and subscribe again.
Cancellation and renewals: European regulation is paying attention
According to the European Parliament, the 2024 evaluation of EU consumer protection rules identified difficulties in cancelling and renewing digital subscriptions as one of the problems consumers face online.
In addition, the European Commission included in its 2026 work programme a legislative proposal on unfair online practices, the Digital Fairness Act, expected in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The final content is not yet known, but the signal is clear: anyone selling by subscription must be transparent. Get ahead of it:
- Make cancelling as simple as signing up;
- Notify the customer before each renewal, especially annual ones;
- Show, from the outset, how much the customer pays and how often.
Common mistakes when setting up subscriptions
- Using a subscription for amounts that change: in these cases, use frequent payments.
- Not setting up retries or an alternative method: every failure becomes an involuntary cancellation.
- Hiding the amount, the frequency or how to cancel: this leads to complaints, chargebacks and cancellations.
- Leaving invoicing until the end of the month: link invoice issuing to the charge from the start.
- Going live without testing: test in a sandbox environment, including failure scenarios.
Set up your subscriptions with easypay
With easypay’s subscription solution, you set up subscriptions through the checkout or the API, and charges then happen automatically in each cycle.
Set the amount, the frequency, the start and end dates, the number of retries and the alternative payment method. Read the subscriptions documentation and test your integration in the sandbox environment.
Request a commercial proposal from easypay and start receiving recurring payments automatically.
Frequently asked questions
Which payment methods accept subscriptions?
Credit or debit card and SEPA Direct Debit.
What happens if a charge fails?
The system tries again, according to the configured retries. If all of them fail and the alternative method is active, the customer can receive a payment link to a checkout to pay another way, for example MB WAY or Multibanco.
Can I change the amount of an active subscription?
Yes. You can update the amount or frequency, for example when the customer changes plan.
What is the difference between subscriptions and frequent payments?
With subscriptions, the amount is fixed and the charge is automatic in each cycle. With frequent payments, the amount varies and it is the merchant who initiates each charge.
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