Automations: sold-out pause, vacation skip and order tags

Automations handle three jobs you'd otherwise do by hand. Subscriptions pause when a product runs out, deliveries are skipped while a customer is away, and subscription orders get tagged for your packing team. Open Settings > Automations to turn them on. Every pause, resume and skip they make shows on the subscription's timeline with its reason, so your support team can see why it happened.

Plans

Automations are included on the Max plan and above (Max, Max 5x, Max 20x and Ultra). On a lower plan the page shows each setting locked, with an Upgrade plan link. If you move to a lower plan, your settings are kept but stop running. They start again when you upgrade.

One thing keeps working after a downgrade. Subscriptions the sold-out automation already paused still resume on restock, so nobody is left paused for good.

Pause subscriptions when a product sells out

Turn on When a subscribed variant sells out, pause its subscriptions. When a variant's inventory reaches zero, every active subscription whose next order contains it is paused, so no one is charged for something you can't ship.

• Reason shown everywhere - The subscription page says, for example, "Paused because a product sold out: Lavender soap sold out on November 10, 2026". The timeline reads "Paused: Lavender soap sold out on Nov 10", and your customer sees the same reason in their account.
• Resume on restock - Also turn on and resume them when it's back in stock. Only subscriptions this automation paused are resumed. Subscriptions that you or the customer paused are never touched.
• The next order after a restock - A resumed subscription bills on its next regular date after the restock. Dates that passed while it was paused aren't charged.
• Subscriptions with several products - The whole subscription is paused, and the note says how many other items are also held. Removing just the sold-out item would change the price, a box's minimum items or a commitment, so the subscription waits until everything can ship.
• Two items sold out - The subscription resumes only once every item that paused it is back in stock.
• Stock blips are ignored - Sell-outs and restocks are acted on after 15 minutes. Stock that drops to zero and comes back within that time changes nothing.
• Never mid-charge - A subscription whose renewal is being charged at that moment isn't paused. It's checked again a few minutes later. A subscription in failed-payment recovery is left to the recovery.
• Continue selling when out of stock - A variant you sell at zero inventory isn't treated as sold out.
• Your own edits win - If a customer has changed their next order so it no longer includes the sold-out item, that subscription keeps going.

Skip deliveries for customers on vacation

Turn on Skip the next delivery for customers tagged and set the tag (default vacation). Then add the tag to a customer in Shopify admin > Customers, or have a Shopify Flow workflow add it. Their active subscriptions skip their next order, and the timeline reads "Skipped: customer tagged vacation".

• Skip only the next delivery - One order is skipped each time the tag is added.
• Skip every delivery while the tag is on - Every scheduled order is skipped, and no order is charged until the tag is removed.
• Removing the tag - Skipping stops. Orders the automation skipped that haven't happened yet are restored, logged as "Unskipped: vacation tag removed". Skips the customer or your staff made are left as they are.
• Tags are not case-sensitive - Vacation and vacation both count.

Tag subscription orders

• Tag a subscription's first order (default tag first-subscription-order) - Added to the checkout order that started the subscription, so your packing team can add a welcome insert.
• Tag every renewal order (default tag subscription-renewal) - Added to each order a subscription renews.

Both tags can be changed. Filter Orders in your Shopify admin by tag to find them. The order's other tags are kept.