What Happens When a Sparkforge Subscription Payment Fails

A failed subscription charge in Sparkforge does two things in parallel: it generates an invoice the customer can pay, and it queues automatic retries against the saved card.

What happens automatically

1. Invoice generated: An invoice is created and sent to the customer immediately.
2. Payment options: The customer can pay with the existing card or add a new one. A new card becomes the default for future charges.
3. Retry queue: The system retries the charge on the schedule you set.
4. Status update: If retry or invoice payment succeeds, the subscription returns to Active, assuming no other invoices are pending.
5. All retries fail: The subscription stays in unpaid state, or auto-cancels if you have that setting enabled.

Default retry behavior

By default, Sparkforge retries the charge three times, one day apart.

Customize retry settings

Open Payments > Settings > Subscriptions to change:

• Retry count: 1, 2, or 3 attempts.
• Retry interval: 1, 3, 5, or 7 days between attempts.
• Auto-cancel: Mark the subscription as cancelled automatically once all retries fail.

Changes apply to new and existing subscriptions, including those mid-retry.

Useful behaviors to know

• Customers receive notifications about the failed payment and the new invoice.
• Retries and the invoice payment link run in parallel, giving multiple paths to success.
• If the customer pays the invoice before the next retry, the retry queue stops automatically.
• Updating retry settings takes effect immediately across all applicable subscriptions.