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Explanation

Destination Restrictions and Auto-Order Rebills

Overview​

Item-level destination restrictions in UltraCart control which countries or regions a customer can ship a given item to during checkout. A common point of confusion is that these restrictions apply only at the moment of initial checkout — they do not retroactively affect existing auto-order (subscription) records that were created before the restriction was put in place.

This document explains the distinction between new checkout validation and auto-order rebill processing, and describes how to manage international subscriptions that were established before a restriction was added.

How Destination Restrictions Work​

Destination restrictions are configured per item and evaluated when a customer submits a new order through the checkout flow. If a customer's shipping address falls outside the configured valid destinations, UltraCart blocks the order from completing.

Restrictions can be set to:

  • Allow only specific countries (e.g., "Valid Only for USA")

  • Block specific countries

  • Restrict to specific shipping zones or regions

Once a restriction is in place, any new checkout attempt for that item from an ineligible destination will be rejected.

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Important: Destination restrictions are enforced at checkout only. They are not re-evaluated when an existing auto-order rebills.

Auto-Order Rebill Behavior​

When a customer places a subscription order, UltraCart creates an auto-order record tied to that original transaction. On each scheduled rebill date, UltraCart processes the rebill by executing against the stored auto-order record — it does not route through the checkout flow.

Because the rebill bypasses the checkout flow, item-level destination restrictions are not re-evaluated during rebill processing. As a result:

  • A subscription established by an international customer before a destination restriction was added will continue to rebill on schedule.

  • The restriction correctly blocks new international checkouts for the item going forward.

  • Both behaviors are working as designed.

This means a merchant can add a "Valid Only for USA" restriction to a subscription item and see it working correctly for new orders, while simultaneously receiving rebills from international customers who subscribed before the restriction was applied.

Common Issues​

Rebill orders arriving from restricted countries after restriction is applied​

Symptoms: Orders are arriving from countries that the merchant has blocked via destination restriction. The checkout restriction appears to be configured correctly and is working for genuinely new orders.

Root Cause: The orders are auto-order rebills of subscriptions established before the destination restriction was added, not new checkouts. The rebill process operates against the stored auto-order record and does not re-run checkout validation.

Diagnosis: In the UltraCart backend, look up each flagged order and check whether it shows a "Rebill of Order ID" reference. If it does, it is a rebill, not a new checkout. The original order ID will predate the restriction.

Solution: The restriction is functioning correctly. To prevent future rebills from these customers, cancel the underlying auto-order records. See Managing Existing International Subscriptions below.

New restriction not stopping any international orders​

Symptoms: International orders for a restricted item continue to arrive, including orders with no prior subscription history.

Root Cause: The restriction may be configured incorrectly, applied to the wrong item, or not yet saved. This is a separate issue from rebill passthrough.

Diagnosis: Navigate to the item in the UltraCart item catalog and confirm the destination restriction is present and saved. Place a test checkout from an international address to verify enforcement.

Solution: Verify item-level restriction configuration. If the restriction is saved but not enforcing on new checkouts, contact UltraCart support with the item ID, restriction configuration details, and an example order ID of a new (non-rebill) international order.

Managing Existing International Subscriptions​

To stop future rebills from international customers whose subscriptions predate a destination restriction:

  1. Navigate to Orders > Auto Orders in the UltraCart backend.

  2. Search by the customer's email address or by the original order ID listed in the rebill order.

  3. Open the auto-order record.

  4. Cancel the auto-order to prevent future rebills.

Canceling the auto-order does not affect any orders already processed. It only stops future scheduled rebills.

If there are a large number of affected subscriptions, it may be more efficient to export the auto-order list filtered by country and cancel in bulk. Contact UltraCart support for guidance on bulk auto-order management.

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Note: Canceling an auto-order is permanent. If the customer contacts you and wishes to resume their subscription, they will need to place a new order — which will be subject to the current destination restrictions.

Note: Canceling an auto-order is permanent. If the customer contacts you and wishes to resume their subscription, they will need to place a new order — which will be subject to the current destination restrictions.

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