When the Subscription Payment Fails
A declined card on the morning a subscription renews is the most ordinary billing event there is, and the moment most people find out what their software actually does about it. Here is exactly what AWRA does in the days after a renewal fails, and exactly what a move to a smaller plan takes away, shown before you confirm it.
The short version
A failed renewal does not lock anyone out. Your workspace keeps full access through a grace period, seven days by default, while AWRA retries the saved card on days 1, 3 and 5 and never charges the same period twice. Only if nothing is paid by the end of grace does access narrow to the billing pages. A downgrade shows every module it locks or turns read-only before you confirm, and deletes nothing.
The card was fine. It had simply reached its monthly limit two days before the renewal date, because the same card paid for fuel, airtime and a supplier deposit that week. Nobody in the finance office knew the renewal had failed until someone asked why the subscription screen had turned amber.
That is how most failed subscription payments happen. Not a dispute, not a decision to leave: a limit, an expired card, a bank that flagged an unfamiliar merchant. The software you run your stock, sales and payroll on should treat it as the routine event it is, which means three things. It should not stop your team working while the payment is sorted out. It should try again by itself on a sensible schedule. And it should never take the money twice.
The first seven days
When a renewal is declined, the Plan & Subscription Overview moves from Active to Grace period, and a grace window opens. During that window nothing changes for your team. Sales, receipts, approvals and the mobile app all work as before.
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Day 0: the renewal is declined
The workspace enters its grace period with full access. Paystack on its own would not try the card again until the next billing date, so AWRA takes over the retrying.
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Day 1: the first automatic retry
Early in the morning the saved card is charged once for the period that failed. If it goes through, you get the usual receipt and the workspace is back to Active.
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Day 3: the second retry
Only if day 1 was declined. Each declined retry puts a notice in your Admins’ bell saying when the card will be tried again and when the grace period ends.
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Day 5: the last retry
If this one is declined too, the AWRA support team is alerted, once, so somebody can contact you while there is still time.
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End of grace: billing pages only
If the period is still unpaid, the workspace is past due and only the billing pages open until a payment lands. Paying restores it at once.
You do not have to wait for the retries
Replace the card with Update Payment Method and press Retry Payment on the overview whenever you like. The automatic retries check for a payment before every charge, so a period you paid by hand is never collected a second time.
Support is also alerted earlier in two cases: when there is no saved card to retry at all, and when two days or fewer of grace remain and the period is still unpaid. In both, a person is more useful than a fourth automatic attempt.
Why it is so careful about charging twice
A retry engine that double-charges is worse than none, because it turns a routine decline into a refund request and a loss of trust. So every retry checks four things first. That the workspace is still in a failed-payment spell at all. That Paystack has not already collected the period on its own. That nobody has paid since the failure, by hand or through an upgrade. And that this exact retry has not been attempted before, by reserving it with a fixed reference before the card is touched. If a morning run is missed, the next one charges once for the latest retry due rather than catching up on the missed ones back to back.
A failed card is a routine event. The software should treat it as one: keep the doors open, try again quietly, and never take the money twice.
Eight states, one word on the screen
The overview names your subscription in one of eight states, and it is the same word the AWRA team sees when you call, so the conversation starts from the same place.
| State | What it means | What your team can use |
|---|---|---|
| Trial | On the Free plan inside the trial window | Everything on the plan |
| Active | Paid and renewing | Everything on the plan |
| Grace period | A renewal failed and the grace window is open | Everything on the plan |
| Past due | Grace ended without a payment | The billing pages only |
| Cancelled | Renewal switched off | Everything, to the end of the paid period |
| Recovery | The trial or a paid period ran out without renewing | The billing pages only |
| Suspended | A hold placed by AWRA | Nothing until it is lifted |
| Enterprise contract | Billed by invoice under a negotiated agreement | Everything on the plan |
What a smaller plan takes away
Some failed payments end in a decision rather than a new card: the budget is tighter this year, so the organization moves to a smaller plan. The risk there is not the price. It is finding out on Monday that the module the stores team uses every day is no longer on the plan you confirmed on Friday. Before choosing, check whether the smaller plan plus an add-on for the one limit you need covers it; every limit is on the pricing page, so the comparison takes minutes.
So the downgrade and confirm screens now work out, for your own workspace, what the smaller plan takes away before you confirm it. They list modules locked, which the smaller plan does not include at all; modules read-only, where people can still view records but not create or change them; modules that keep working with named permissions gone; and every daily, monthly, per-file or history limit that tightens, with the figure now and after. A locked feature is refused on the web, through the API and in the mobile app alike, so the preview is the whole story rather than the web half of it.
What a downgrade changes
- Modules the smaller plan does not include are locked.
- Some modules become read-only.
- Daily, monthly and per-file limits can tighten.
What it never touches
- Records in a locked module stay where they are and open again if you move back.
- Files are not removed to fit an allowance.
- A longer history setting you already chose is kept.
One thing blocks a downgrade rather than appearing on the list: holding more than the smaller plan allows. If you have more users, warehouses or storage than it includes, the move is refused until the workspace fits, rather than trimmed for you without asking.
Settings › Usage & limits also now counts three things no plan limits: items in your catalogue, assets on the register that are not retired, and phones and tablets signed in to the AWRA app in the last 90 days. Each shows its count and No limit. They are there so you can see how big you have grown. They never refuse anything.
When a card is the wrong way to pay
Some organizations should never be in a card retry at all: a county programme buying against a purchase order, a donor-funded project that pays against an invoice, an institution with a tax exemption certificate. For them AWRA sets up an enterprise contract. While it is in force, the workspace is billed by invoice, is never retried and never locked out for lacking a card renewal. Each invoice carries the purchase order number, and while the exemption is in force it carries the exemption reference with VAT at zero. Where a contract negotiates figures such as users or storage, those replace the plan’s.
A contract does not change the plan. The modules you can use still come from the plan; the contract changes how you are billed and, where agreed, how much you may hold. The Academy course on failed payments, downgrades and enterprise contracts walks through each of these screens, and pricing shows what each plan includes.
What AWRA OpsHub does today
- A grace period with full access, seven days by default, when a renewal is declined.
- Automatic retries of the saved card on days 1, 3 and 5, once each, never charging a period twice.
- A recovered retry restores the workspace like a renewal, with the usual receipt and a notice in the Admins’ bell.
- A bell notice after every declined retry, naming the grace end date, and one alert to AWRA support when the retries run out.
- A downgrade preview of modules locked, modules read-only, lost permissions and tighter limits, worked out for your workspace.
- Usage meters for items, assets and active mobile devices on Usage & limits.
- Enterprise contracts billed by invoice, with the PO number and any tax exemption on each invoice.
More we can add to your workspace
- Retry days you choose, such as the day after your payroll or donor funds land, in place of days 1, 3 and 5.
- A retry on a second saved payment method when the first card is declined.
- The downgrade preview as a signed PDF, for an internal sign-off before the change is confirmed.
Where we point you to a specialist
- We will not charge a period a second time to be sure of collecting it. When a retry and a manual payment could cross, the retry stands down.
Retry days aligned to when your money arrives is the request we hear most from organizations paid on a fixed monthly cycle, and it builds on the retry schedule that already runs.
Billing that follows how your organization pays
The retry engine, the grace window and the downgrade preview are already running. These are the extensions organizations ask for most.
Retries on your own calendar
Retry on the days your funds actually land rather than on a fixed schedule.
A fallback payment method
Try a second saved card when the first is declined, before anyone has to act.
A signed downgrade record
The impact preview as a PDF your finance lead signs before the plan changes.
You describe the requirement; we return a written scope, timeline and cost before you commit.
Talk to us about billingThree questions for your own subscription
Whose card is saved on the subscription, and when does it expire?
What you will probably hear
The founder’s, probably. Nobody is sure of the date.
How to read it
An expired card gives the retries nothing new to try. Replace it before the renewal date, not inside the grace window.
Who sees the bell notice when a retry is declined?
What you will probably hear
Whoever holds the Admin role.
How to read it
If that person is not the one who pays the bill, agree who acts on it, so the grace period is not spent waiting.
Before the last downgrade, who read what it would lock?
What you will probably hear
Nobody. It looked like a price change.
How to read it
Read the preview with the people who use the modules on it. Read-only on Assets is a price change for finance and a stopped job for the stores team.
See what each plan includes
Plans, limits and what is included at each level, so a renewal or a downgrade holds no surprises.
View pricingFrequently asked questions
What happens when my AWRA subscription payment fails?
Your workspace moves to a grace period, seven days by default, with full access. AWRA retries the saved card automatically on days 1, 3 and 5. If a retry goes through, you get the usual receipt and the workspace returns to Active.
Will I be charged twice if I pay by hand during the grace period?
No. Every automatic retry checks for a payment made since the failure, and checks with Paystack, before charging. A period you paid yourself is not collected again.
What happens if every retry fails?
The AWRA support team is alerted so someone can contact you. If the period is still unpaid when the grace period ends, the workspace is past due and only the billing pages work until a payment is made. Paying restores access at once.
Does moving to a smaller plan delete any data?
No. Records in a module the smaller plan does not include stay where they are and open again if you move back. Before you confirm, the downgrade screen lists every module that would be locked or become read-only and every limit that would tighten.
Can we pay by invoice or purchase order instead of a card?
Yes, under an enterprise contract. The workspace is billed by invoice carrying your purchase order number, is not retried on a card, and keeps the modules of its plan.
