Anchor day billing
Anchor day billing allows you to charge all subscribers on a specific day, whether it’s a particular day of the week, month, or even a fixed date every year, regardless of when the subscription started.
This is especially useful if you want to fulfill below use cases.
Bill all customers on the 1st of each month for digital subscriptions.
Meal box services that need to lock orders by every Monday to manage inventory and prep time.
Fitness memberships or coaching programs where billing always happens on the 1st and 15th.
Businesses that want predictable cash flow and easier operations by syncing billing and delivery cycles.
For example, if your anchor day is the 15th of the month, a customer who subscribes on June 5 will be charged next on June 15, and then every 15th moving forward.
Enabling the anchor day billing option
Understanding terminologies
Anchor day billing example
Related articles
Need help?
Follow these steps to complete the process.
Navigate to Loop > Acquire > Selling plan > Open the desired selling plan.
Note: You can enable anchor day billing in both new and existing selling plans.
Click on the view details link under the opened Selling plan > Set order schedule section.
Enable the option Do you charge on specific day of the week/month?, select the desired anchor day and click on save.
We have three different settings related to anchor day billing, and we’ll go through each one individually for better understanding.
This defines the day or date on which the billing will happen. It is not supported for daily deliveries.
Weekly deliveries
For this type, you can set a specific day (e.g., Monday, Tuesday).
Monthly deliveries
For this type, you can set the day (1st, 2nd, 3rd...31st) of each month.
Yearly deliveries
For this type, you can set the date (1st, 2nd,...) of the month (Jan, Feb,...).
This setting determines when the order will be eligible for fulfillment after the customer places it.
On checkout: This setting enables immediate fulfillment. As soon as the order is placed, it becomes eligible for fulfillment. Subsequent orders will then follow the anchor day schedule defined in the system.
On anchor: This is for scheduled fulfillment. So, if the order is placed on any day, it will be open for fulfillment on the nearest anchor day set in the system. For example, if the customer places an order on Monday and the anchor day is Wednesday, the order will be open for fulfillment on Wednesday.
It skips the first order placement if it falls too close to the anchor day. This is defined by a set number of days and helps avoid charging the customer multiple times within a short period. The cut-off is measured from the anchor day/date. So, if a customer places an order within this cut-off window, and
If the first delivery is on checkout, then it will schedule the delivery to the nearest anchor day.
If the first delivery is on anchor, then it will jump the nearest anchor day and schedule the delivery to the next anchor day.
We’ll understand how enabling anchor day billing affects the processing of the first order and how subsequent recurring orders are scheduled based on the configured settings.
Suppose you have configured a selling plan with the following settings.
Delivery frequency: Weekly
Anchor day: Monday
Cut off window: Trying different values
Order is placed on Shopify on Friday, 6th June.
Order is placed on Shopify on Friday, 6th June.
Here are some related articles that may offer additional insight and context.
Learn about selling plans
No worries — we're here for you!
If you have any questions or need assistance, feel free to email us at support@loopwork.co or chat with us using the support beacon at the bottom right of your screen.
Regards,
Loop Subscriptions Team 🙂
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This is especially useful if you want to fulfill below use cases.
Bill all customers on the 1st of each month for digital subscriptions.
Meal box services that need to lock orders by every Monday to manage inventory and prep time.
Fitness memberships or coaching programs where billing always happens on the 1st and 15th.
Businesses that want predictable cash flow and easier operations by syncing billing and delivery cycles.
For example, if your anchor day is the 15th of the month, a customer who subscribes on June 5 will be charged next on June 15, and then every 15th moving forward.
In this article
Enabling the anchor day billing option
Understanding terminologies
Anchor day billing example
Related articles
Need help?
Enabling the anchor day billing option
Follow these steps to complete the process.
Navigate to Loop > Acquire > Selling plan > Open the desired selling plan.
Note: You can enable anchor day billing in both new and existing selling plans.
Click on the view details link under the opened Selling plan > Set order schedule section.
Enable the option Do you charge on specific day of the week/month?, select the desired anchor day and click on save.
Understanding terminologies
We have three different settings related to anchor day billing, and we’ll go through each one individually for better understanding.
Anchor Day
This defines the day or date on which the billing will happen. It is not supported for daily deliveries.
Weekly deliveries
For this type, you can set a specific day (e.g., Monday, Tuesday).
Monthly deliveries
For this type, you can set the day (1st, 2nd, 3rd...31st) of each month.
Yearly deliveries
For this type, you can set the date (1st, 2nd,...) of the month (Jan, Feb,...).
First order placement
This setting determines when the order will be eligible for fulfillment after the customer places it.
On checkout: This setting enables immediate fulfillment. As soon as the order is placed, it becomes eligible for fulfillment. Subsequent orders will then follow the anchor day schedule defined in the system.
On anchor: This is for scheduled fulfillment. So, if the order is placed on any day, it will be open for fulfillment on the nearest anchor day set in the system. For example, if the customer places an order on Monday and the anchor day is Wednesday, the order will be open for fulfillment on Wednesday.
Cut off window in day(s)
It skips the first order placement if it falls too close to the anchor day. This is defined by a set number of days and helps avoid charging the customer multiple times within a short period. The cut-off is measured from the anchor day/date. So, if a customer places an order within this cut-off window, and
If the first delivery is on checkout, then it will schedule the delivery to the nearest anchor day.
If the first delivery is on anchor, then it will jump the nearest anchor day and schedule the delivery to the next anchor day.
Anchor day billing example
We’ll understand how enabling anchor day billing affects the processing of the first order and how subsequent recurring orders are scheduled based on the configured settings.
Suppose you have configured a selling plan with the following settings.
Delivery frequency: Weekly
Anchor day: Monday
Cut off window: Trying different values
Case 1: First order placement "on checkout"
Order is placed on Shopify on Friday, 6th June.
| Cut-off Days | Latest anchor day | Latest anchor day lying between or equal to cut off? | First order placement (eligible for fulfillment) | Recurring order (second order) | Explanation for recurring order |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1, 2, 3 | June 9 (Mon) | Yes (within cut off window) | June 6 | June 9 (Mon) | 3 days or less → latest anchor is valid (Recurring order will be scheduled on latest anchor). |
| 4, 5 | June 9 (Mon) | No (outside cut off window ) | June 6 | June 16 (Mon) | Cut off exceeded → latest anchor not valid (Recurring order will be scheduled for 16th June as latest anchor June 9 is just 3 days away and minimum buffer time is 4 days). |
Case 2: First order placement "on anchor"
Order is placed on Shopify on Friday, 6th June.
| Cut-off Days | Latest anchor day | Latest anchor day lying between or equal to cut off? | First order placement (eligible for fulfillment) | Recurring order (second order) | Explanation for first order |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1, 2, 3 | June 9 (Mon) | Yes (within cut off window) | June 9 | June 16 (Mon) | 3 days or less → latest anchor is valid (First order will be scheduled on latest anchor). |
| 4, 5 | June 9 (Mon) | No (outside cut off window ) | June 16 | June 23 (Mon) | Cut off exceeded → latest anchor not valid (First order will be scheduled for 16th June as latest anchor June 9 is just 3 days away and minimum buffer time is 4 days). |
Related articles
Here are some related articles that may offer additional insight and context.
Learn about selling plans
Need help?
No worries — we're here for you!
If you have any questions or need assistance, feel free to email us at support@loopwork.co or chat with us using the support beacon at the bottom right of your screen.
Regards,
Loop Subscriptions Team 🙂
Return to top
Updated on: 06/06/2025
Thank you!