Over the past 3 years, Shopify has been gradually developing APIs so that app developers and platforms like Firmhouse have better ways to build subscription and custom checkout experiences for merchants.

In the past, if you're using Firmhouse with Shopify, the only way to offer subscriptions was to do so with what is commonly referred to as "Checkout hijack or workaround". This is because Shopify Subscriptions on Shopify Checkout only works with limited payment methods and does not support most local payment methods that are commonly used across Europe (like iDeal/SEPA, Bancontact, Klarna, etc.).

Beginning September 2024, at Firmhouse we're gradually rolling out support for native Shopify Checkout, including local payment method support. You can read more in our updated article here: Firmhouse with native Shopify Checkout and Subscriptions

We have a lot of merchants on Firmhouse that are also on Shopify. There are currently a few flavors on how merchants combine working with Firmhouse and Shopify.

Shopify has communicated that they are going to force merchants and app developers to use the native Shopify Checkout for all orders. In the future, using a separate Checkout from a 3rd party app will not be allowed.

Publishing an app to the Shopify App store that circumvents Shopify Checkout is already not allowed. And apps that make misuse of this are pulled from their app store.

Merchants that are currently using subscription apps on Shopify have already been notified that their Checkout workaround feature will be disabled in October.

Their most recent public communication is on the Shopify Subscriptions API migration page:

We've always operated with our merchants directly to set up API integrations in their store to make their specific business model work. As such, we followed a more custom approach and we have not had any troubles with Shopify. Our collaboration with merchants and with the Shopify team has always happened in good faith.

However, with our new native Shopify Checkout integration we're happy to support Cards, PayPal, and certain local payment methods, now natively within the Shopify ecosystem.

We are rolling out our first version of Firmhouse with Shopify Checkout starting September 2024. Including support for some local payment methods on Mollie and Adyen on top of Shopify Payments.

Currently the out-of-the-box Subscriptions experience on Shopify is more limited than the flexible subscription features that Firmhouse offers. So in the development of our native Shopify integration we're taking great care that we can keep supporting all the business models and flexibility of Firmhouse that it offers today.

We will build on top of the Shopify Subscriptions and Checkout APIs. Making sure we're fully compatible with how Shopify wants us to integrate things. You will keep access to Firmhouse Portal to manage customer's subscriptions and everything around your business model. Either via a standalone login or by being embedded in your Shopify store's admin dashboard.

If you are using the checkout workaround, we will enable you to sync your existing subscription configurations from Firmhouse to the new environment in Shopify. Our goal is to make it a seamless upgrade path for you to the new subscription model on Shopify.

We will keep providing an additional layer of subscription logic, even if Shopify may not support these features natively. Such as:

At the time of writing, Shopify supports a limited set of payment methods which are primarily tied to credit cards. For the most recent list you can review Shopify's own Subscription documentation page.

Yes! Firmhouse on Shopify Checkout supports iDeal and Bancontact. When a customer checks out a subscription product via iDeal or Bancontact, the initial payment is converted into a SEPA mandate.

In the current Shopify Subscriptions, a 3rd party platform (like Firmhouse) remains responsible for triggering the billing cycle and charge attempt on the appropriate day that a charge and order needs to be generated according to the customer's schedule.

When a charge attempt is triggered by the 3rd party app, Shopify takes care that the payment method on file is charged and that an order is generated in your store on successful payment. The 3rd party app is then responsible for updating or modifying any future subscription orders or schedule.

If the charge attempt triggered by Shopify fails, an order can’t be generated. It is up to the merchant or the subscription app to provide a solution, or potentially trigger another retry attempt. This will become a problem for delayed local payment methods such as SEPA, where a successful payment may only come in days after the charge attempt. This can result in a delay of shipment and an unhappy customer.

We hope Shopify will improve this functionality, or give the 3rd party subscription apps the capabilities to customize this behavior. Until that point, we'll try and figure out how we can add our own platform layer on top of Shopify, to still offer a best-in-class customer experience.