Migrate without payment first

Migrating subscription contracts into Subi from another platform now works even when the customer does not yet have a payment method on file.

Previously, the CSV migration import required a valid payment_method_id for every contract. Merchants migrating from platforms where payment details are not directly portable — or where customers need to re-enter their card into Shopify's vault first — had to delay the import until every customer's payment method was available.

How it works now. Leave the payment_method_id column empty (or null) for any contract where the customer has not yet vaulted a card. Subi creates the contract in an active state with no payment method attached. When the customer adds their first payment method to Shopify, Subi automatically attaches it to the contract and billing proceeds from the next billing date.

This covers the common migration scenario where contracts are imported in bulk first, and customers are invited to add their payment details separately over the following days — the contract exists and the subscription relationship is established, and billing starts as soon as the card is available.

No change is needed in the CSV format itself. The payment_method_id column continues to work exactly as before when a value is supplied; leaving it blank is now a valid choice rather than an error.

To use this, prepare your migration CSV as usual and leave the payment_method_id column empty for any row where the customer has not yet added a payment method to Shopify.