> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.roadmap.so/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.roadmap.so/subscriptions/managing-subscriptions/manually-charging-a-subscription-order-now.md). # Manually charging a subscription (Order Now) Charge a subscription on demand from the admin or let the customer trigger it themselves, plus how Order Now interacts with dunning. Order Now charges a subscription contract right now and creates an order for the next-due cycle. It's the fastest way to: * Verify a payment method works after updating it * Recover a customer's subscription after a Failed status * Give an early refill to a customer who's running low Both you and the customer can trigger Order Now from the same dropdown menu — they're equally allowed to do it. #### Where to trigger Order Now **From the admin** 1. Open the contract from Subscriptions → Manage Subscriptions. 2. Click Manage subscription ▾ in the contract header. 3. Choose Order now (the first item in the menu). Roadmap immediately attempts the charge using the contract's current payment method. If it succeeds, an order is created and shipped on the standard schedule for that contract. **From the customer's account page** The customer goes to My Subscriptions, opens Manage Subscription ▾, and chooses Order now. Same charge, same order creation. #### What Order Now does * Bills the customer immediately using the contract's current payment method. * Creates an order in Shopify for the next-due cycle's products and quantities. * Logs the action in the Activity Timeline with the actor (customer or merchant) recorded. * Records loyalty points if the customer is enrolled in a loyalty program. #### What Order Now does not do * It does not initiate dunning if the charge fails. Manual charges are explicitly excluded from the dunning state machine — only automatic cron-driven billing kicks off dunning. A failed Order Now leaves the contract in whatever state it was in. * It does not advance the recurring schedule beyond the cycle it just billed. The next scheduled cycle is still on the calendar at its normal date. * It does not change the contract's status (Active stays Active, Paused stays Paused — though Order Now from a Paused contract isn't typically allowed). #### Order Now during dunning This is the most-asked-about behavior. The rules: **Order Now succeeds during a dunning window** If the contract is currently in dunning on a failed cycle, and Order Now successfully bills a later cycle, the failed cycle is superseded. Roadmap detects that a later cycle has been billed successfully and stops retrying the older one. The contract's Last Payment Status flips back to Successful, the dunning Timeline marks the relevant retry as no-longer-needed, and the contract leaves the Failing filter view. **Order Now fails during a dunning window** Nothing changes. The contract stays where it was, the existing dunning schedule continues uninterrupted, and the failed Order Now is logged in the Activity Timeline as a separate manual-charge attempt — but it doesn't add a new dunning retry. This is intentional: a manual charge that fails because the merchant or customer was poking at things shouldn't double-up the dunning cadence. #### Using Order Now to recover a Failed contract {% stepper %} {% step %} Update the customer's payment method Use the Update payment method modal on the contract page — see Updating a customer's payment method. {% endstep %} {% step %} Run Order Now to verify the new method works If Order Now succeeds, you know the new payment method is valid. The order is created and the customer receives their next delivery. {% endstep %} {% step %} Reactivate the contract If the contract is in Failed status, Manage subscription ▾ → Reactivate to bring it back to Active. The contract resumes its regular schedule from there. {% endstep %} {% endstepper %} If you skip step 2 and reactivate before verifying, the contract will likely fail again on its next dunning attempt and end up back in Failed. #### Customer-driven Order Now Customers can use Order Now for the same reasons you can — to get an early shipment when they've run out faster than expected. There's no charge limit per cycle (a customer can theoretically Order Now multiple times in the same week if they want to), and each charge counts as a normal subscription order for loyalty-points and customer-history purposes. If a customer asks for an early shipment over chat or email, you can either guide them to Order Now themselves or run it from the admin on their behalf. #### What Order Now is not for * Charging an arbitrary amount — Order Now bills the next-due cycle exactly as the contract is configured. To charge a different amount or a different product mix, edit the contract first (see Editing a customer's subscription) and then Order Now. * Skipping a future cycle — that's Skip next delivery, not Order Now. Skip defers the next charge to the cycle after; Order Now adds a charge on top. * Replacing dunning — automatic dunning will still run on its configured schedule even after a successful Order Now on a different cycle. Order Now is a tool for a specific cycle, not a global retry button. #### Activity Timeline entries Every Order Now is recorded in the contract's Activity Timeline with: * The actor (customer email if customer-initiated, merchant email if admin-initiated) * The cycle it billed * Success or failure * The order number created (on success) For details on the Timeline, see The Subscription Activity Timeline. #### Related guides * Updating a customer's payment method * Failed payment retries (dunning) * Pausing, canceling, and reactivating subscriptions * Adjusting an upcoming subscription order * The Subscription Activity Timeline --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. 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