Is this a subscription bug?

[williambryan392]

I had a buyer chase me for their 3rd and final subscription order.

This order isn't in my orders queue anywhere.

I'm a bit confused...

Why is the date the 10th September when it's a monthly subscription and should have started on the 28th August?

Even if it is the 10th September why has it not started yet / in the requirements stage?

I feel like I've had some brain fog recently so I'm wondering if I'm missing something obvious?

(I've reached out to support)

 

Edited September 27, 2022 by williambryan392

[vickieito]

I'm glad you reached out to support @williambryan392!

I always have problems with my subscription orders (as a buyer or a seller) because subscriptions aren't as transparent as I'd like. All reminders are also done by email so there are no records in my inbox when I want to reference these orders. Did you get an email reminder on Aug 28th for the last subscription order?

It should look like the image below and have the title "Get Ready For The Next Order":

Quote

If you don't see it, your buyer should have gotten a similar email. Either of you should have started it. Unless neither of you did.

Edited September 27, 2022 by vickieito

[rabiulr]

How about talking to fiverr customer support

[williambryan392]

Thanks @vickieito! Nope, no email reminder received and it still doesn't explain the date discrepancy.

I also find subscription transparency annoying. There's no way to see my ongoing subscriptions unless I make a manual record of that buyer, and click into a past order to then see when the next one is due. I was on holiday a month ago and two just started. I don't mind that they just started, that's the deal with subscriptions, but not easily having the visibility and easily being able to plan ahead is a little frustrating!

[williambryan392]

Just now, rabiulr said:

How about talking to fiverr customer support

Thanks, yes, as per my post I have done that.

[rabiulr]

Just now, williambryan392 said:

Thanks, yes, as per my post I have done that.

Great, best of luck Brother

[vickieito]

5 minutes ago, williambryan392 said:

Thanks @vickieito! Nope, no email reminder received and it still doesn't explain the date discrepancy.

I also find subscription transparency annoying. There's no way to see my ongoing subscriptions unless I make a manual record of that buyer, and click into a past order to then see when the next one is due. I was on holiday a month ago and two just started. I don't mind that they just started, that's the deal with subscriptions, but not easily having the visibility and easily being able to plan ahead is a little frustrating!

I also find your last subscription with the date odd. I've never seen a date "in the past" and "not started." It's usually a future date and "not started."

I also double-checked my subscription orders as a buyer and it looks like this has to be buyer-initiated. So your buyer is the one that has to move it along. The seller can only send additional requirements.

So the buyer has to go back through their emails and then initiate the process. I think they can also go to the previous order page and initiate it that way from the Subscription tab.

[williambryan392]

4 minutes ago, vickieito said:

So the buyer has to go back through their emails and then initiate the process

oh that's interesting (and kinda sucks!). I thought they automatically started / went to the requirements stage on the subscription date.

I'd consider turning this feature off, but I know how Fiverr likes us to use all options!

[vickieito]

Just now, williambryan392 said:

I'd consider turning this feature off, but I know how Fiverr likes us to use all options!

This is the only reason why I have it on. All of my subscription orders as a buyer ended with me canceling the rest and going with straight orders. I didn't mind starting all the orders as a buyer, but not all buyers will do that.

Now that I have a buyer that ordered a subscription order straight through my gig and I'm trying to do everything in my power to make all three subscription orders work. My buyer did start the order on his own, but it was in the "incomplete" stage for a week before he finally submitted the requirements to start the order. Now we'll have to extend and have two subscription orders running at the same time.

[markp]

subscriptions have to be started manually either by you or the customer. with regards to the screenshot above with the date in the past. this is because neither of you have started the order. This goes into dangerous territory because the customer can just turn around say "I don't want this anymore and just cancel it because you haven"t started work on my order"   This means you are going to have a cancellation against you.  What I do is to message the customer on the order page where it says incomplete, tell them what I will be doing with this part of the subscription  (there is a lot more than just this)  and start it myself. 

[williambryan392]

19 minutes ago, markp said:

where it says incomplete

It doesn't say incomplete anywhere and the order isn't visible anywhere (either in active or incomplete), there's no assigned order number either. I have no option to start it anywhere. I've asked the buyer if they can do so, but no reply, same with CS. Let's see!

[markp]

this is a funding issue. If its exactly as you have described it means that Fiverr were unable to take the funds from the funding source on the day they were due (this can be for a number of reasons.. not just no funds present) and because of this the order was not processed. there are sometimes messages stating this on the right hand side of the page under subscription summary stating there are issues with payment. Ive noticed though that sometimes it appears and sometimes it doesnt even if there are funding issues. there are some strange things going on with this as well I dont want to start going into here and confusing things further but this is definitely a funding issue from what you have described.  sometimes the funds arent there.. but sometimes there are other issues.. a few times Ive had to start new subscriptions with customers to work round this.

[melanielm]

How frustrating. All my subscription orders appear on my dashboard as Inactive on the bottom until the buyer decides to fill in the info. Unfortunately, some of them seem to forget or change their mind and I'm left with multiple inactives.

I certainly hope CS figures this out quickly for you.

[williambryan392]

OK so I have some clarity....

The reason it reads 10th September is because the 2nd order was not started until the 10th August, so future monthly orders now start on the 10th.

As for why it hasn't started, CS didn't say explicitly, but they did say 'it is important that the buyer is able to be charged for their subscription order' so I'm thinking they couldn't charge the buyer.

 

[bilalhaider23]

6 hours ago, williambryan392 said:

OK so I have some clarity....

The reason it reads 10th September is because the 2nd order was not started until the 10th August, so future monthly orders now start on the 10th.

As for why it hasn't started, CS didn't say explicitly, but they did say 'it is important that the buyer is able to be charged for their subscription order' so I'm thinking they couldn't charge the buyer.

 

I was having the same issue and I contacted support about this. Their reply is 

 

When it comes to subscription the order gets automatically created on the same date of every month. The buyer is made aware about how the subscriptions work when they purchase and that the orders are automatically created, and I believe that they should also get a heads up before the order is created. 
 
If the buyer has some questions or concerns about their subscription, they can contact us about it. 

 

As the order is not started and requirements are not submitted so it will have any effect on gig and ranking  and order completion rate but number of cancellation count will be increase