Replica of the customer’s case on this test store (SureCart 4.8.0, Test Processor): a 4-payment plan, $25 every month. Payment 1 was paid by card, payment 2 failed, and the plan was canceled. The customer then paid installment 2 by bank transfer, outside SureCart.
The admin links below need the demo wp-admin login.
The rule behind it
SureCart lowers the “Payments: N Remaining” count only when an installment payment is recorded in SureCart. A bank transfer made outside SureCart is not counted, so the canceled plan still shows 3 Remaining. Restoring it (admin Restore Now, or the customer’s Resubscribe) charges one installment immediately and keeps collecting until the count reaches 0. Marking the failed installment’s order as paid first fixes the count.
Try it yourself (Case D is ready)
Case D is in exactly the customer’s state: plan Canceled, payment 1 paid, payment 2 order TEST-0168 “Payment Failed”, 3 Remaining, and a working card already on the subscription.
- Open subscription D. Note: Canceled, Payments “3 Remaining”.
- In Billing Periods, click the “…” on the row with status Payment Failed and choose View Order (or open order TEST-0168 directly).
- On the order, click the “…” menu at the top right, choose Mark As Paid and confirm. No card is charged.
- Back on the subscription: still Canceled, but Payments now shows 2 Remaining.
- Click Actions and choose Restore Now, then Restore. One $25 payment is charged (installment 3 of 4), the status becomes Active and Payments shows 1 Remaining. The next and last payment is one month later.
What was tested
| Case | Steps | Result |
|---|---|---|
| A | Mark order 2/4 as paid, then Restore Now | Count went 3, 2, 1, 0. Exactly 4 payments: TEST-0154 card, TEST-0157 marked paid (no card charge), TEST-0161 card at restore, TEST-0164 card. Plan Completed by itself. |
| B | Resubscribe without marking 2/4 as paid | Charged $25 at once and still showed 2 Remaining. Ended with 4 card payments (TEST-0155, 0160, 0165, 0169) on top of the outside bank transfer, so 5 payments for a 4-payment plan. The old failed order TEST-0158 was not retried. |
| C | Resubscribe first, mark 2/4 as paid afterwards | Marking the old order TEST-0159 as paid still dropped the count from 2 to 1. Exactly 4 payments, plan Completed. |
| E | Mark 2/4 as paid, then Restore At (scheduled date) | Stayed Canceled until the chosen time, then restored by itself, charged installment 3 (TEST-0172) and showed 1 Remaining. |
| F | Restore Now with no working card | Restore was refused with an error (“Processor is not active on this account”, the message SureCart shows when no usable card is on file). The plan stayed Canceled with 3 Remaining and no new order was created. With a real declined card the error text is the decline message. |
Short answers
- Restore a canceled installment plan: yes, Subscription page, Actions, Restore Now (charges now) or Restore At (charges on the chosen date).
- Skip the failed installment: there is no skip button, but Mark As Paid on its order counts it as paid without charging.
- Customer clicks Resubscribe: same as Restore Now. It charges one installment immediately and does not retry the old failed order. Without the Mark As Paid step it keeps billing until 3 more payments are collected.
- Clean order of steps: working card on the subscription, Mark As Paid on order 2/4, then restore.
