While Shopify does help make PageFly’s subscription and billing cycle much easier to take in, the case might be different if you were to make changes to your pricing plan. This article will help you calculate the charged amount when you cancel PageFly, or downgrade/upgrade your current plan.
Normal PageFly recurring charges
You pay a monthly subscription to PageFly via Shopify App charges. We do not have any special charging model except the one that’s officially allowed and supported by Shopify.
There are a few things to keep in mind:
- PageFly offers a Free plan, therefore PageFly’s billing cycle starts only when you start using a paid plan, i.e. explicitly approve the charge in the store administration interface.
- PageFly’s billing cycle works independently from Shopify’s billing cycle.
- Shopify’s billing cycle is fixed to 30 days, or 1, 2, or 3 years. But PageFly’s billing cycle is fixed to 30 days.
Read more:
Upgrading / Downgrading the plan
You can upgrade or downgrade your plan anytime you want. PageFly will prompt you to agree to a new recurring app charge. This is because Shopify only allows one recurring app charge to be enabled at a time. The existing recurring app charge will be canceled and replaced by the new charge.
Upgrading the plan
Before we get to calculating, we should specify the following abbreviations to make the article shorter and easier to understand:
A: Amount charged
O: Old monthly charge
N: New monthly charge
D: Day of the month (eg: D = 10 means it is the 10th day of the month)
Let’s take a look at an example case, when:
- You begin with PageFly’s 20-slot plan ($29/month).
- Then you upgrade to the 60-slot plan ($59/month) on Day 10 of PageFly’s billing cycle.
There are 2 sub-cases:
Upgrading before Shopify billing cycle ends
At the end of the first Shopify billing cycle (on day 30), you will be charged an amount calculated by this formula:
A = O + (N – O) * [(30 – D)/30]
In this case, A = $29 + ($59 – $29/month) * (20/30) = $49.
So in the following billing cycle, Shopify will charge the full price of the 60-slot plan, which is $59.
Upgrading after Shopify billing cycle ends
At the end of the first Shopify billing cycle (on day 30), it will charge the price of 20-slot plan $29 because at this moment it doesn’t know that you will upgrade your plan yet.
At the end of the second Shopify billing cycle (on day 60), it will charge an amount calculated by formula:
A = N + (N – O) * [(30 – D)/30]
In this case, A = $59 + ($59 – $29) * (20/30) = $79.
So in the following billing cycle, Shopify will charge the nominal price of the 60-slot plan, which is $59.
Downgrading the plan
Let’s take a look at another example case, when:
- You begin with PageFly’s 60-slot plan ($59/month).
- Then you downgrade to the 20-slot plan ($29/month) on Day 10 of PageFly’s billing cycle.
Again, there are 2 sub-cases:
Downgrading before Shopify billing cycle ends
At the end of the first Shopify billing cycle (on day 30), Shopify will:
- Charge the nominal price of the 60-slot plan, which is $59.
- Give back an amount of application credit calculated by formula:
A = (O – N) * [(30 – D)/30]
In this case, A = ($59 – $29) * (20/30) = $20.
- At the end of the following billing cycles, Shopify will charge the nominal price of the 20-slot plan, which is $29.
Downgrading after Shopify billing cycle ends
- At the end of the first Shopify billing cycle (on day 30), Shopify will:
- Charge the nominal price of the 60-slot plan, which is $59.
- At the end of following billing cycles, Shopify will:
- Charge the nominal price of the 20-slot plan, which is $29.
- Give back an amount of application credit calculated by formula:
A = (O – N) * [(30 – D)/30]
In this case, A = ($59 – $29) * (20/30) = $20.
Downgrading to the Free plan
Shopify doesn’t create a recurring charge for free plans in general.
If you downgrade to PageFly’s Free plan, the current recurring charge will be canceled and Shopify will NOT credit back the prorated fee to you as described in the previous sections.
Uninstalling / Reinstalling PageFly
Uninstalling PageFly
Let’s take a look at an example where you uninstall the app 5 days after an approved charge.
When you uninstall the app, your recurring charge will be canceled and you won’t be charged for following PageFly billing cycles.
But you will still need to pay for the cycle that has started before you uninstall the app. This is regardless of whether you uninstall the app before or after Shopify’s billing cycle ends.
Important!
You still have to pay for the full 30 days even if you uninstall the app before that. This is Shopify’s policy, not PageFly’s. If you think it’s unfair, please contact us. We will ask Shopify to issue a refund for the “unfinished” billing cycle of PageFly.
Reinstalling PageFly
Let’s take a look at another example where you uninstall the app 5 days after an approved charge, then reinstall the app 5 days later.
When you reinstall the app, Shopify will create a new PageFly’s billing cycle.
If you reinstall the app within the same billing cycle, the newly created billing cycle will have the same ending date as the one that has been canceled during app uninstallation.
Pausing / Unpausing your store
Pausing your store
According to Shopify, pausing your store means downgrading to a Dormant plan that has a lower cost of $14 per month, but with disabled checkout. Similar to the downgrading case, you will receive prorated fees via application credit calculated based on the price difference between Shopify’s Basic and Dormant plan.
The PageFly app, as well as its recurring charge, remains active after you pause your store.
Unpausing your store
When you’re ready to start selling your products again, you can unpause your store. Similar to the upgrading case, you will be charged a prorated fee calculated on the price difference between Shopify’s Basic and Dormant plan.
The PageFly app, as well as its recurring charge, remains the same after you unpause your store.
Closing / Reopening your store
Closing your store
After your store is closed, the PageFly app is still installed, but its recurring application charge is canceled. However, you will still have to pay for the cycle that started before you closed the store.
Reopening your store
Reopening before PageFly billing cycle ends
If you reopen your store before your last app billing cycle ends, you can resume using the app for the rest of the cycle.
After that, you will need to re-select a PageFly subscription plan to create a new billing cycle for PageFly.
Reopening after PageFly billing cycle ends
If you reopen the store after your last app billing cycle ends, you will need to re-select a PageFly subscription plan to create a new billing cycle for PageFly.
Freezing / Unfreezing your store
Freezing your store
Your store will be frozen if you refuse to approve charges for Shopify more than 3 times.
After your store is frozen, the PageFly app remains installed on the store, but its recurring application charge will be canceled.
Unfreezing your store
You can unfreeze the store within 30 days after being frozen by paying for a new PageFly billing cycle.
Unfreezing before PageFly’s billing cycle ends
If you unfreeze your store before your last app billing cycle ends, you can resume using the app for the rest of the cycle, but you need to pay for the outstanding fees during your frozen period.
You will also need to select a new PageFly plan and approve charges accordingly.
Unfreezing after PageFly billing cycle ends
- If you unfreeze your store after your last app billing cycle ends, you need to pay for the outstanding fees from your frozen period.
- You also need to select a new PageFly plan and approve charges accordingly.
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