How do I configure recurring subscription billing?

Subscriptions feature for BitPay Merchants to offer recurring billing agreements established with specific customers.

To set up a recurring subscription invoice payment, you create a bill with a designated schedule. BitPay then automatically emails this bill to the customer based on the selected frequency. The merchant dashboard offers the following billing schedules:

• Once (non-recurring)
• Weekly
• Monthly
• Yearly

Note: For custom scheduling, the BitPay API must be used.

​A bill allows the purchaser to select a link to generate a BitPay invoice for payment. If the initial invoice expires before payment is sent, a new one can be generated from the bill until it is paid or the bill's due date is reached.

For example, when you set up a bill with a weekly schedule, the purchaser will receive an email every seven days. From the email, they can select the Pay Bill Now button. This action displays the bill and provides options to enter buyer information before they select Pay with BitPay to generate the payment invoice.

BitPay offers two ways to create and manage recurring bills:

Using the BitPay Merchant Dashboard

1. Navigate to Payment Tools, then Email Billing
2. Click the New Bill button in the upper right-hand corner
3. Under Bill Info, check the This is a recurring bill box
4. Select the billing frequency from the Resend every drop-down menu
5. Choose a Send On date to initiate the subscription billing
6. To cancel an active subscription, simply view the bill and click the Cancel Bill button

Using the BitPay API

• You can generate recurring bills programmatically through the BitPay API.
• When creating a subscription via the API, the bill will be automatically sent according to a defined time period (e.g., every 30 days).
• The API allows for custom time frames using parameters such as seconds, minutes, hours, day of month, month, and day of week.

For detailed information, please refer to the subscriptions resource in our API documentation.