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Planning a Shopify subscription migration: a merchant checklist

Moving subscription records is only part of a safe transition. Use this checklist to establish what can move, what needs customer action and how your team will confirm the outcome.

First published October 16, 2026. Last reviewed October 16, 2026. Editorial responsibility: Arc.

Arc is being built and is in early access. These are planning guides, not a claim that Arc supports every workflow, source app or payment provider. Explore the reviewed capability pages, then request access to discuss your store.

Establish the migration boundary

Start by writing down your source app, destination app, Shopify store and payment providers. Name the person who can approve the transition and the people responsible for source exports, customer communication and billing checks. Keep the source service available until you have an agreed plan and a recoverable record of its settings.

Do not assume that an import button transfers every part of your business. Subscription contracts, customer records, payment methods, historical orders and app-specific settings may follow different paths. Ask both vendors which responsibilities they cover and which remain with your team.

  • Identify every system involved and who controls access to it.
  • Ask the destination to confirm your source and provider combination before scheduling a move.
  • Record what transfers, what is excluded and what needs manual work.
  • Agree who can pause the process when a check fails.

Arc's migration page explains its reviewed scope. Arc is in early access and is being built; neither this guide nor a signup establishes that your migration is supported.

Inventory the source records

Make a protected export using the source vendor's documented method. Preserve the original file separately from any working copy. Record when it was created and which store it came from. Follow your own access and retention rules because the export may contain personal information.

Group the records by status and identify the cases that need attention before transfer. A paused contract, a failed renewal and a cancelled contract do not necessarily require the same destination behavior. Decide whether inactive history belongs in the import, a separate archive or neither.

  • List the source status values and the destination state intended for each.
  • Check customer, product and variant references against the destination store.
  • Identify missing or inconsistent delivery dates, addresses and selling arrangements.
  • Record discounts, prepaid arrangements and other cases that require explicit support confirmation.

Review the field mapping

Compare the source export with the destination's documented input requirements. Keep a mapping that names the source field, its intended destination and the handling rule for missing or unexpected values. Review dates and time zones carefully: a readable date can still be interpreted differently by another system.

Shopify's CSV documentation is useful background for the fields used by Shopify's own subscription app. It is not a universal interchange standard and does not prove that a third-party destination accepts the same file. Obtain the destination's actual specification before editing a working copy.

  • Review required fields, identifiers, currency and scheduling information.
  • Ask how the destination treats a source status it does not recognize.
  • Confirm how transformed fields can be traced back to their originals.
  • Agree which incomplete rows are rejected, held for review or excluded.

Treat payment methods as a separate decision

Contract data and payment method transfer are different questions. An export containing a customer reference does not establish permission or technical ability to charge that customer in the destination. Review Shopify's payment method migration guidance, then obtain confirmation for the specific source, destination and provider combination.

Ask whether any customer reauthorization is required, how it is requested and how the team will identify customers who have not completed it. Do not promise uninterrupted billing or that customers will never need to act before those conditions are verified.

  • Obtain a written description of payment method eligibility and transfer responsibility.
  • Identify cases that need a customer to update or reauthorize a payment method.
  • Agree how those cases are held and communicated without creating unintended charges.

Protect delivery and billing continuity

Choose the transition timing around your actual billing and fulfillment schedule. Establish which system is responsible for each renewal during the handover, including renewals already queued and orders already created. Record how changes made after the export will be captured or reconciled.

Duplicate prevention requires an operational plan as well as importer behavior. Ask how repeated files and interrupted jobs are recognized. Before confirming a transfer, know which source processes must stop, when they stop and who verifies that they stopped. Do not disable the source based solely on an uploaded-file message.

  • Review upcoming charges, pending orders and fulfillment work around the transition.
  • Assign responsibility for stopping old schedules and enabling destination schedules.
  • Identify how repeated imports, retries and later source changes are handled.
  • Prepare customer communication for any verified change in access or required action.

Review a sample before confirmation

Ask the destination for a clear preview or review step using representative records. Include ordinary renewals and the exception cases found in your inventory. The merchant-facing result should explain what can move, what will be held and what needs correction. Your team should not need to understand the importer's internal terminology to approve a change.

  • Compare sample customer, product, status and next-delivery details with the source.
  • Check the destination's findings before confirming the transfer.
  • Resolve blocking issues or explicitly exclude affected records.
  • Record the approver and the exact reviewed input used for the confirmation.

Reconcile the outcome and keep a rollback plan

A completed job message is the beginning of reconciliation. Compare the result with the expected source population and inspect the exception list. Verify the resulting schedule and payment readiness using the destination's documented process. Keep an accountable owner for each unresolved case rather than treating it as finished.

Agree the rollback decision before cutover: the conditions that require stopping, who decides, how records are recovered and how overlapping billing is prevented. Restoring a file alone may not undo orders, customer messages or payment actions that have already occurred. Ask which actions are reversible and how irreversible outcomes are handled.

  • Reconcile accepted, rejected, excluded and unresolved records against the reviewed source.
  • Confirm which system owns each upcoming renewal and investigate duplicates.
  • Preserve source exports, mappings and outcome evidence under your retention rules.
  • Verify the recovery procedure before removing access to the source service.

For more context, read Arc's recovery page and customer portal page. Explore Arc plans to see how Arc is organized. To discuss your source and requirements while Arc is in early access, request early access. If you are still choosing software, use the subscription app decision checklist.

Sources

These documents provide general Shopify context. They do not establish universal third-party compatibility, a successful Arc migration or payment method transfer eligibility for your store.

Talk to the team building Arc.

Arc is in early access. Tell us about your store and the workflows you need, and we will be in touch about access.

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