Skip to navigation

First Order Place Date control for Shopify Merchants

Use line item properties to control when the first recurring subscription order is placed
View as Markdown

Shopify merchants can control the date that the first order of a subscription will be sent — specifically, the first order following the customer’s initial checkout.

To accomplish this, set a specific custom attribute (also called a line item property) for each cart line item you want to control. There are two optional attributes you can set to pass this preference to Ordergroove at the time of subscription creation:

  • og_first_order_place_date — the customer will be able to see this property in the line item information displayed during checkout:

    Browser DevTools on a Shopify product form, with the hidden input named properties[og_first_order_place_date], value 2023-08-20, selected among the form's other hidden inputs such as id and selling_plan.

    An example from the cart:

    Shopify storefront cart page where the line item details, outlined in orange, show the property og_first_order_place_date: 2023-08-20, marked by a yellow arrow, below Color: Black and above the prepaid plan note.
  • __og_first_order_place_date — produces the same result, but the property will be hidden from the customer during checkout:

    Browser DevTools on a Shopify product form, with the hidden input named properties[__og_first_order_place_date], value 2023-08-20, selected among the form's other hidden inputs such as id and selling_plan.

    Example from the same cart with the property hidden:

    Shopify storefront cart page with the property hidden: the Monitor Cat line item details show only $48.00, Color: Black and Delivered every 4 weeks, prepaid for 6 shipments, with no first order date line.

Although the custom attribute is explicitly set only for the second line item in the examples below, both line items will have the exact same behavior when it comes to setting the first order place date — assuming the first line item was properly configured.

Shopify checkout order summary listing two Monitor Cat line items at $48.00 each, both Black with Delivered every 4 weeks, prepaid for 6 shipments. Only the second shows the property og_first_order_place_date: 2023-08-20. Shopify admin order page, Unfulfilled (2) section, listing two Monitor Cat line items, each Black at $48.00 times 1 with Delivered every 4 weeks, prepaid for 6 shipments. The first shows the hidden, double-underscore version of the first order place date property and the second shows og_first_order_place_date, both set to 2023-08-20.

For both options, provide the date you want the first subscription order to be placed. The value must be a string in YYYY-MM-DD format representing a date in the future.