# What is a selling plan in Shopify?

> Source: https://zubs.app/glossary/selling-plan
> Title: What Is a Selling Plan in Shopify? — Zubs
> Author: Manuel Gutmann (https://zubs.app/authors/manuel-gutmann)
> Published: 2026-10-02
> Updated: 2026-10-09
> Language: en

## Short answer

A selling plan is Shopify's definition of how a product can be bought other than as a plain one-time purchase, for example "delivered every 4 weeks, 10% off". Each selling plan sets how often the customer is billed, how often they receive a delivery and how the price is calculated. A selling plan group bundles several selling plans for one product or a collection of products.

## What's inside a selling plan?

According to Shopify's developer documentation, a selling plan has four policies:

- **Billing policy:** how often the customer is charged, for example every 4 weeks.
- **Delivery policy:** how often they receive an order, for example every 4 weeks too, or more often on a prepaid plan.
- **Pricing policy:** the discount, fixed or changing after a number of orders.
- **Inventory policy:** when inventory is reserved.

**Example (made up):** a coffee roaster creates a group "Subscribe & Save" with three selling plans: every 2 weeks at 10% off, every 4 weeks at 10% off, and every 4 weeks prepaid for 3 deliveries at 15% off. A customer picks "every 4 weeks" on the product page, and at checkout Shopify creates a subscription contract from that selling plan.

## Why do selling plans matter for subscriptions?

They're what makes a subscription possible in Shopify's checkout: a product or variant without a selling plan has no subscribe option. Selling plans also decide what customers see on the product page and what the subscription contract starts with, so a clear set of them is the foundation of every subscription offer.

## How does Zubs handle selling plans?

In Zubs you create **subscription plans**, and Zubs saves each one in Shopify as a selling plan group, with a selling plan for each delivery interval. Per interval you choose the discount and, if you like, prepaid billing or a billing anchor. What each option does is on the [subscription plans page](https://zubs.app/features/subscription-plans).

## Bottom line

A selling plan is the rulebook for one way of buying a product on repeat: billing, delivery, price. Zubs creates and manages them for you as subscription plans.

## Frequently asked questions

### What's the difference between a selling plan and a selling plan group?

A selling plan is one way to buy on repeat, such as "every 4 weeks, 10% off". A selling plan group bundles several of these options for one product or a collection of products, such as "Subscribe & Save" with a 2-week and a 4-week plan.

### Can a product have several selling plans?

Yes. That's how customers choose between delivery intervals on the product page.

### Does changing a plan's discount affect existing subscribers?

Not in Zubs. A changed discount applies only to subscriptions created afterwards; existing subscriptions keep their original rates.

### How do I create selling plans?

Selling plans are created through Shopify's API, usually by a subscription app. Zubs creates them when you save a subscription plan.

## Related

- [Feature: subscription plans, prepaid, anchors and cutoffs](https://zubs.app/features/subscription-plans)
- [Feature: how selling plans show up in the widget, cart and checkout](https://zubs.app/features/subscription-conversion-offers)
- [Glossary: prepaid subscription](https://zubs.app/glossary/prepaid-subscription)
- [Glossary: billing anchor](https://zubs.app/glossary/billing-anchor)
- [Help center: creating subscription plans](https://help.zubs.app/docs/subscription-management/create-subscription-plan/)
- [Shopify developer docs: selling plans](https://shopify.dev/docs/apps/build/purchase-options/subscriptions/selling-plans)