Understand Dunning Activity for Backdated Subscriptions

Learn how Activity log entries appear when a backdated Subscription attempts its initial payment and enters dunning. These records help you identify failed payments, track which dunning step was reached, and see whether the signup ultimately succeeded or failed. Reviewing this activity makes it easier to troubleshoot payment issues and determine the next action for the Subscription.

Go to Subscriptions, select a Subscription, then select Activity in the sidebar to view its log.

How activity tracking works

When dunning is triggered for a backdated Subscription, the Activity log records messages based on the payment outcome and the current dunning step. Use the recorded activity to determine the next step, such as contacting the Customer, updating payment information, or reviewing your dunning schedule.

X and Y are the current step number and the total number of steps in the Dunning Schedule.

An intermediate step's entry doesn't confirm whether the signup ultimately succeeds or fails. Only the final step's entry, or the separate Successful signup entry, confirms the outcome.

Best practices

Keep these in mind when reviewing Activity log entries for backdated Subscriptions:

• Review activity entries when backdated Subscriptions fail their initial payment so you can respond quickly.
• Use activity log messages together with your dunning schedule to understand where the Subscription is in the collection process.
• Confirm your dunning configuration matches your intended behavior for backdated Subscriptions.
• Use these activity entries to support Customer outreach and internal troubleshooting.

Related information

To understand how the overall dunning process works, see Understanding How Dunning Works.

To learn how backdated Subscriptions are created, see Understand Subscription Backdating.

For the full Activity tab reference, see Reviewing Subscription Activity History.