Managing Your Subscription and Billing
Your subscription status for the Carta della Cultura app is managed directly through your Shopify admin. The app uses Shopify’s billing system to handle your plan, trial period, and payments.
Viewing Your Current Plan and Status
Your current subscription status is displayed on the main dashboard of the Carta della Cultura app.
- Open the Carta della Cultura app from your Shopify admin.
- On the main page, look for the status indicators. The app will show one of the following billing statuses:
- trial: You are within the free trial period.
- active: You have an active, paid subscription.
- expired: Your trial or subscription has ended.
- cancelled: Your subscription has been cancelled.
- The dashboard also shows the number of days remaining in your trial or current billing period.
Note: The app performs a critical expiration date check on every voucher validation. If your license has expired, the widget will stop working for your customers immediately, even if the billing status hasn’t been updated yet.
Activating a Paid Subscription
To subscribe to a paid plan after your trial, you must complete the process through the Shopify billing interface.
- Navigate to the Subscribe page within the Carta della Cultura app.
- Choose your preferred billing cycle: monthly ($19.99) or annual ($199).
- Click the button to create the subscription. This action generates a confirmation URL and redirects you to the official Shopify billing page.
- On the Shopify billing page, review the subscription details and confirm the purchase.
- After confirmation, Shopify will redirect you back to the Carta della Cultura app dashboard. A success banner will appear confirming the activation.
Note: If an error occurs during activation, a red error banner will appear on the dashboard with details. You can use the provided button to retry the subscription process.
Understanding Trial Periods
The app provides a free trial period to allow you to set up and test the service.
- The trial start date is recorded when you first access the app settings.
- The trial status (billingStatus: ‘trial’) and the calculated days remaining are shown on your dashboard.
- During the trial, all app features are available. However, the service will be automatically blocked if the trial expires, based on the recorded expiration date.
Changing Your Plan (Upgrade/Downgrade)
You can change your subscription plan (e.g., from monthly to annual) at any time.
- Go to the Subscribe page in the app.
- Select the new plan you wish to switch to.
- Initiate the plan change. This will generate a new confirmation URL and redirect you to Shopify to approve the change to your subscription terms.
Billing Status and Service Availability
Your billing status directly controls whether the Carta della Cultura checkout widget is active for your store.
- Status Check: The public endpoint that the checkout extension queries will only return enabled: true if your billing status is active or trial.
- Expiration Enforcement: Before validating any voucher, the app checks if the current date is past your expirationDate. If it is, validation fails immediately and your billing status may be updated to expired.
- Automatic Updates: Subscription status updates (activations, cancellations, expirations) are also handled via Shopify webhooks to keep your app status synchronized.
Note: If your subscription is cancelled or expires, your customers will see an error message in the checkout stating the Carta della Cultura service is not currently available.