Some subscriptions offer grace periods to allow uninterrupted service if the subscriber is slow to renew his or her subscription. To add a grace period to the subscription product, enter the number of issues in the Grace Period field that can be sent to the subscriber after the last subscription issue is sent before the subscription is terminated.
- If the subscriber does not renew the subscription order before the last grace period issue is sent, the subscription ends.
- If the subscriber renews the subscription after receiving any of the grace period issues, those issues are deducted from the new subscription order.
- Technically, the grace period issues are not deducted from the number of issues -purchased when the renewal occurs after the first grace period issues are sent. Rather, the number of issues remaining listed on the Subscriptions record becomes a negative number.
- For example, if a customer orders a 12 month subscription with a grace period of 1 and does not renew at the end of the 12 months, the grace period issue is sent. At that point, the number of issues remaining for that customer is listed as -1. When the customer renews for an additional year, there will be 11 remaining issues (12 + (-1)).
A subscriber only receives issues during the Grace Period if you use the Use Volume and Issue Number fulfillment option. The Grace Period feature is not applicable to fulfillments made using the Use Subscription End Dates option.
Therefore, if you specify Grace Period issues for a subscription product, select the Use Volume and Issue Number option when creating Subscription Fulfillments. See Fulfilling a Subscription information on subscription fulfillments.