How to manually renew your plan or subscription?

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This article explains how to manually renew your Themeisle subscription. It covers two scenarios: renewing by preference (if you disabled auto-renewal) and reactivating a subscription after a failed automatic payment.

In this article

• Renewal steps
• If automatic renewal failed
• SEPA Direct Debit payments may not activate immediately
  • If your subscription still shows inactive after payment
• If you were charged twice

Renewal steps

1. Log in to your Themeisle account.

If you have any expired subscriptions, they will be highlighted, and a Renew Subscription button will appear next to each one.

Click Renew Subscription.

2. The Stripe checkout page will open, showing the renewal amount for your subscription.

3. Add your preferred payment method and click Pay and Subscribe.

   Once the payment is successfully processed, your license key will be renewed immediately.

If automatic renewal failed

If your subscription lapsed because automatic payment failed — for example, because your saved card had expired or was declined — follow these steps to reactivate it.

A declined payment does not cancel your subscription. The renewal invoice stays open on the original subscription, and the payment can be attempted again automatically — for example, after you update your card or after your bank approves an international transaction. A renewal that failed today may still complete on its own a few days later.

1. Update your payment details first. Before renewing, update your expired or invalid card in the Stripe or FastSpring portal. See How to update or remove payment details for instructions.

2. Find the renewal invoice. When an automatic payment fails, Stripe or FastSpring sends a failed-payment email with a payment link to your account email address. If you do not see this email, check your spam or junk folder and search for messages from ThemeIsle, VertigoStudio, or Stripe.

3. Check the subscription status before you pay. Log in to your ThemeIsle account and check whether the subscription is already active again and whether a recent payment is recorded. If the original renewal has already been retried successfully, you do not need to pay again.

4. Renew through your account or the original invoice. If the subscription is still expired, click Renew Subscription next to the product. Alternatively, use the payment link in the original renewal invoice email. Use only these two options — they renew your existing subscription instead of creating a second one.

5. Confirm the renewal amount before paying. When the Stripe checkout opens, verify the amount matches your expected renewal price before completing the payment. If the amount is higher than expected, do not pay yet — see Understanding Renewal Pricing or contact support to review the price first.

⚠️ Warning: Do not purchase a new subscription from the pricing page to restore an expired one. This creates a separate subscription at the current standard price, so a legacy or loyalty renewal rate may not carry over — and because the original renewal can still be retried successfully, you may be charged for both. Always use the Renew Subscription button in your account or the payment link from the original renewal invoice.

📝 Note: A successful card payment reactivates your license immediately. If you paid by SEPA Direct Debit, see SEPA Direct Debit payments may not activate immediately below.

SEPA Direct Debit payments may not activate immediately

SEPA Direct Debit is a bank-based payment method used by many customers in Europe. Unlike card payments, SEPA debits are not confirmed instantly — the bank processing can take up to 5 business days.

During this processing window:

• Your subscription or license may still appear inactive in your Themeisle account.
• The message "License access suspended. Renew to restore functionality." may appear even after a successful renewal.
• An invoice or receipt may not be generated yet.
• Your license key may not function until the payment is confirmed.

This is expected behavior and does not mean the payment failed. Your subscription status, license access, and invoice will update automatically once the payment processor confirms the debit.

If your subscription still shows inactive after payment

Follow these steps before renewing again:

1. Check your payment method. If you paid by SEPA Direct Debit or another bank-based method, the payment may still be processing.
2. Wait for processing. SEPA payments typically take up to 5 business days to clear. Your subscription will activate automatically once the payment is confirmed.
3. Check your email. You may receive a payment confirmation or invoice by email once processing is complete.
4. Contact support if access is urgent or you are unsure. Reach out via Pre-Sales and include your account email and the product name so the team can check the payment status.

📝 Note: Do not submit a new renewal while waiting for a pending payment to clear. Doing so may result in a duplicate charge. See If you were charged twice below.

If you were charged twice

You can end up with two charges for the same product in a few ways:

• The original renewal was retried successfully after you had already renewed manually or purchased a new subscription.
• You submitted a second renewal while an earlier payment, such as a SEPA Direct Debit, was still processing.
• A separate subscription was created from the pricing page while the original subscription still existed.

⚠️ Important: Do not make another payment, and do not cancel a subscription on your own. Which subscription should stay active depends on your account — sometimes the original renewal is the one to keep, and sometimes it is the newer purchase. Cancelling the wrong one can leave you without a valid license.

Contact support as soon as possible. To help the team investigate, provide:

• Your account email address
• The product name (for example, Hestia Pro)
• The invoice or transaction numbers for both payments
• The transaction dates and amounts for both payments
• The payment methods used for each transaction (for example, card, SEPA, or PayPal)

The billing team will review both payments, confirm which subscription should remain active, and process a refund for the duplicate charge where applicable. See How to request a refund for refund timing, or Unrecognized or Unexpected Charges if you are not sure whether a charge belongs to a Themeisle subscription.

If you encounter any other issues during renewal, feel free to contact us via Pre-Sales.