[WooCommerce] Updating Products in Scheduled Orders

Table of Contents

• How do I replace a product on existing Scheduled Orders?
• How can I update product prices for existing Scheduled Orders?
• Can I update a Simple Product to a Variable Product in Scheduled Orders? 

How do I replace a product on existing Scheduled Orders?

There may be a case where you need to replace a product that is already included on Scheduled Orders for your customer(s).  

These types of cases may include:

• a product being discontinued
• a product becoming invalid
• a simple product converted to a variation

Merchants can edit and make changes to a Scheduled Order at any time!  In the steps below, we will learn how to search for Scheduled Orders that contain a specific product, and how to replace a product by editing a Scheduled Order.

Step 1: Find Scheduled Orders that contain a specific product

Within your WordPress Admin, visit WP-Admin > Autoship Cloud > Reports and locate the Scheduled Orders by Product report.

Within the report, search for the name of the product by selecting the "Search" button 🔍 and selecting (or typing to search and then selecting) the product.

This search will return all Scheduled Orders that contain the product along with the following columns:

• Id: the Scheduled Order ID (searchable within the Scheduled Orders report)
• First Name: Customer First Name
• Last Name: Customer Last Name
• Email: Customer Email
• Quantity: the quantity of the product within the Scheduled Order
• Next Occurrence: the date that the Scheduled Order will be processed (if Active status) or the date that the Scheduled Order would have processed (if not Active status)
• Status: the status of the Scheduled Order (Active, Paused, Failed, Deleted)

Step 2: Edit the Scheduled Order to replace the product

Using the Scheduled Order ID or the customer email from the "Scheduled Orders by Product Report", you can search for the Scheduled Order within the Scheduled Orders view (  WP-Admin > Autoship Cloud > Scheduled Orders ).

Then, remove the Autoship Product from the Scheduled Order and add the new Autoship Product. Select "Update" to save the product changes. 

To learn more about making changes to Scheduled Orders, please see Editing Scheduled Orders.

Example:

 if you wish to change the price for a product on a Scheduled Order for a limited time (in this example: the next 3 cycles), you can edit the Sale Price and the Min/Max cycle settings as demonstrated in the screen capture below:

This example demonstrates offering a different sale price for the same product one time only when their first Scheduled Order processes.  The first time the Scheduled Order processes, the Scheduled Order will have 1 Cycle. This product will be sold at $20 and then removed from the Scheduled Order after 3 cycles because it will have achieved the Maximum Cycle of 10.  The same product will be added at the normal Sale Price of $36 moving forward because it will have achieved its Minimum Cycle of 10.

How can I update product prices for existing Scheduled Orders?

By default, product prices are not updated for existing Scheduled Orders.  This includes the  Price (the regular price for the product in WooCommerce) and Sale Price (the optional Autoship Recurring Price for the product in WooCommerce).  

This is so that you can continue offering the same price to customers when they first added the product to their Scheduled Order.  To learn more about setting prices for Autoship Products, please see How Autoship Prices Work.

In the case that you do need to update the prices for products within existing Schedule Orders, it is possible to update the Price or the Sale Price on existing Scheduled Orders for one or multiple products in your connected QPilot Site (viewable within WP-Admin > Autoship Cloud > Products).

To do this, visit the  Autoship Cloud > Products report in your WordPress Admin and select one of the following options from the menu (as pictured below):

• Sync prices for (all) items: selecting this option will update the Price on all Scheduled Orders to the current Price for all products
• Sync sale prices for (all items): selecting this option will update the Sale Price on all Scheduled Orders to the current Sale Price for all products

You can also select 1 or more products to only update the Price or Sale Price for specific products within existing Scheduled Orders by using the select boxes (left column) to choose which products should be synchronized.

Adjust the sale (recurring) price on a specific Scheduled Order

Easy! You can do this by editing the Scheduled Order and changing the sale price of each product individually. See our doc Editing Scheduled Orders for more details.

Can I update a Simple Product to a Variable Product in Scheduled Orders? 

Updating a simple product to a variable product (or the other way around) will result in product Ids changing in your WooCommerce database.

If you are planning this type of update, we strongly recommend the following precautions before making any changes:

• Create a backup of your site  - just in case you need to revert your site back quickly!
• Export the existing Scheduled Orders that contain the product(s) you plan to make changes to.  
  • Exporting Scheduled Orders can be done from within your WordPress Admin by visiting the Scheduled Orders by Product Report (WP-Admin > Autoship Cloud > Reports >> Scheduled Orders by Product).   
  • Search for the product by title and export the results. 

After backing up your site and exporting the Scheduled Orders for the product(s) that you plan to make changes to, you can update the product type in WooCommerce as outlined below: 

If switching from simple to variable products:

1. Create the new variable products (do not delete any products yet). 
2. Make sure to enable the new products for Autoship sync. 
   1. See guided steps for: Enabling Products for Autoship
3. Then replace the product in your site's existing Scheduled Orders that contain the old simple product. 
   1. This process is outlined in How do I replace a product on exsting Scheduled Orders?

If switching from a variable to a simple product:

1. Create the new simple product(s) in WooCommerce (do not delete any products yet). 
2. Make sure to enable the new products for Autoship sync.
   1. See guided steps for: Enabling Products for Autoship
3. Then replace the product in your site's existing Scheduled Orders that contain the old variable product.
   1. This process is outlined in How do I replace a product on exsting Scheduled Orders?

After Replacing the Product:

1. Now that you have updated your site's existing Scheduled Orders that contained the old product to now contain the correct product, you can delete the old product.
2. First, delete the old product in Autoship Cloud > Products (using the trash button). 
   

   

3. Then delete or deactivate the old product for Autoship Cloud in WP-Admin > Products. 
   

   

4. Pro tip! It is best that you double-check for product sync errors on the new product after deleting the old product.    
   1. This can easily be done in Autoship Cloud > Products, then search for the new product and ensure it's not invalid (by filtering results by "Invalid"). 
   2. Then check the sync column in WP-Admin > Products and look for any red or yellow clouds. 
      
5. If there are any sync issues (or invalid products), see this doc for the best next steps: Invalid Products and Sync Issues
6. If there are no sync issues, you are good to go!

You may also reach out to our support team for further guidance or with a request to replace products in Scheduled Orders in bulk. We typically process these requests within 1-2 business days and will follow up to confirm.