# Subsrciptions for Items with Item Variations not being set up **URL:** \ **Category:** Questions\ **Tags:** checkout-api\ **Created:** [November 2, 2025, 2:00pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subsrciptions-for-items-with-item-variations-not-being-set-up/24375 "2025-11-02T14:00:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![paulcooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecae2f/32.png) [@paulcooper](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/paulcooper)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2025, 2:00pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subsrciptions-for-items-with-item-variations-not-being-set-up/24375/1 "2025-11-02T14:00:26Z")
Our client has Items with multiple Item variations set up as Subscriptions. When these Items Variations are paid for on the hosted payment page the subscription is not being created. Do we need to do something else to create the subscription, or is it possible the Items are not set up correctly? ---
**Author:** ![Square-Dev-AI](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/square/forums/user_avatar/developer.squareup.com/square-dev-ai/32/2513_2.png) [@Square-Dev-AI](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/Square-Dev-AI)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2025, 2:00pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subsrciptions-for-items-with-item-variations-not-being-set-up/24375/2 "2025-11-02T14:00:51Z")
👋 I’m Square Dev AI, here to help answer your question! Based on the information you’ve provided, the following documentation will help answer your question: > **[App Subscriptions Billing](https://developer.squareup.com/docs/app-marketplace/app-subscriptions/billing)** > > Learn how App Subscriptions are billed to sellers and developers. > **[Subscription Plan Checkout](https://developer.squareup.com/docs/checkout-api/subscription-plan-checkout)** > > Learn how to create a quick pay checkout for a subscription plan. > **Additional Documentation** > > [https://developer.squareup.com/docs/app-marketplace/app-subscriptions](https://developer.squareup.com/docs/app-marketplace/app-subscriptions) > [Pricing](https://developer.squareup.com/docs/app-marketplace/listing-best-practices/pricing) > [Define Item Variations Using Options](https://developer.squareup.com/docs/catalog-api/item-options) If this documentation helped you find a solution, please check the box indicating that this reply solves the problem. Otherwise one of our Developer Advocates will provide additional assistance shortly. ---
**Author:** ![paulcooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecae2f/32.png) [@paulcooper](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/paulcooper)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2025, 2:05pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subsrciptions-for-items-with-item-variations-not-being-set-up/24375/3 "2025-11-02T14:05:17Z")
To clarify. When running GET/v2/catalog/list for SUBSCRITION\_PLANS, these items are not listed. I assume because they are Item Variations rather than Subscription Plan variations ---
**Author:** ![Bryan-Square](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/square/forums/user_avatar/developer.squareup.com/bryan-square/32/38_2.png) [@Bryan-Square](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/Bryan-Square)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2025, 3:45pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subsrciptions-for-items-with-item-variations-not-being-set-up/24375/4 "2025-11-03T15:45:18Z")
Right, that’s expected. The items will be associated to the subscription itself that’s returned by the Subscriptions API. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![paulcooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecae2f/32.png) [@paulcooper](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/paulcooper)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2025, 4:04pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subsrciptions-for-items-with-item-variations-not-being-set-up/24375/5 "2025-11-03T16:04:22Z")
Is there a way to get the Subscription for these items to be set up when using the hosted payment page? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan-Square](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/square/forums/user_avatar/developer.squareup.com/bryan-square/32/38_2.png) [@Bryan-Square](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/Bryan-Square)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2025, 4:08pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subsrciptions-for-items-with-item-variations-not-being-set-up/24375/6 "2025-11-03T16:08:03Z")
The `plan_variation_id` will be in the `CreatPaymentLink` request. Is that what your referring too? Otherwise the subscription itself isn’t create till the customer pays for it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![paulcooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecae2f/32.png) [@paulcooper](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/paulcooper)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2025, 4:23pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subsrciptions-for-items-with-item-variations-not-being-set-up/24375/7 "2025-11-03T16:23:59Z")
The issue is that there is not a `plan_variation_id` for these item variations. When running GET/v2/catalog/list for SUBSCRITION\_PLANS, these items are not listed. and when I list the catalog items there is a subscription\_plan\_ids, but this is the same for every item variation and throws an error if I use this. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan-Square](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/square/forums/user_avatar/developer.squareup.com/bryan-square/32/38_2.png) [@Bryan-Square](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/Bryan-Square)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2025, 4:45pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subsrciptions-for-items-with-item-variations-not-being-set-up/24375/8 "2025-11-03T16:45:37Z")
What’s the API call that your using to make the subscription? What’s the request body your passing in? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![paulcooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecae2f/32.png) [@paulcooper](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/paulcooper)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2025, 5:11pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subsrciptions-for-items-with-item-variations-not-being-set-up/24375/9 "2025-11-03T17:11:05Z")
We can’t make the Subscription Plan Checkout call as there is not a plan\_variation\_id for these items. And if we use the Square Order Checkout passing in these Item Variations the sale completes but a Subscription is not set up for future payments. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan-Square](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/square/forums/user_avatar/developer.squareup.com/bryan-square/32/38_2.png) [@Bryan-Square](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/Bryan-Square)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2025, 6:48pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subsrciptions-for-items-with-item-variations-not-being-set-up/24375/10 "2025-11-03T18:48:36Z")
Have you created the [plan variations](https://developer.squareup.com/docs/subscriptions-api/plans-and-variations#plan-variations) that you want to use with the Catalog API? For example: ```auto { "idempotency_key": "UNIQUE_KEY", "object": { "type": "SUBSCRIPTION_PLAN_VARIATION", "id": "#1", "subscription_plan_variation_data": { "name": "Coffee of the Month Club", "phases": [ { "cadence": "MONTHLY", "ordinal": 0, "periods": 1, "pricing": { "type": "STATIC", "price": { "amount": 1000, "currency": "USD" } } }, { "cadence": "MONTHLY", "ordinal": 1, "pricing": { "type": "RELATIVE", "discount_ids": [ "5PFBH6YH5SB2F63FOIHJ7HWR" ] } } ], "subscription_plan_id": "VVH3YXQSQATSL3XR4LIKD3QM" } } }' ``` 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![paulcooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecae2f/32.png) [@paulcooper](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/paulcooper)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 11:28am UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subsrciptions-for-items-with-item-variations-not-being-set-up/24375/11 "2025-11-04T11:28:16Z")
These subscriptions were set up in the dashboard by the client, but we need to be able to sell them online using the Checkout API. I only have limited access to the dashboard but as far as I can see they were set up as per the Create and Manage an Item Subscription Plan [Manage item subscription plans | Square Support Centre - GB](https://squareup.com/help/gb/en/article/7627-get-started-with-subscriptions-in-dashboard) I can see that a Subscription has been created and and an Item (that has 10 or so options/variations) has been assigned to it. When I run GET/v2/catalog/list for SUBSCRITION\_PLANS this subscription plan is not returned. Is there something else they need to do on the set up? ![Screenshot 2025-11-04 112746](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/square/original/2X/0/0b5ad0a13fe3f346280ff30f4a559fb126446a05.png) ---
**Author:** ![paulcooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecae2f/32.png) [@paulcooper](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/paulcooper)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2025, 9:46am UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subsrciptions-for-items-with-item-variations-not-being-set-up/24375/12 "2025-11-05T09:46:59Z")
![Screenshot 2025-11-05 094325](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/square/original/2X/4/4fa8613404cba8d17df91755e6d88d5274a76852.png) I found this on another thread. Is this still the case that you cannot use the Checkout API for Subscriptions of Catalog Items? ---
**Author:** ![paulcooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecae2f/32.png) [@paulcooper](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/paulcooper)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 10:58am UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subsrciptions-for-items-with-item-variations-not-being-set-up/24375/13 "2025-11-10T10:58:15Z")
Hi Bryan Hope you are doing well Are you able to confirm if the above is still true. Or if not why are we unable to get Variation plan ID for subscriptions that have been set up in the dashboard, in fact the subscriptions do not show at all when running the GET for SUBSCRIPTION\_PLAN. Does our client need to do something else when setting up the subscriptions? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan-Square](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/square/forums/user_avatar/developer.squareup.com/bryan-square/32/38_2.png) [@Bryan-Square](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/Bryan-Square)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 6:28pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subsrciptions-for-items-with-item-variations-not-being-set-up/24375/14 "2025-11-10T18:28:17Z")
What is the `location_id` that your trying to get the subscription from? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![paulcooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecae2f/32.png) [@paulcooper](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/paulcooper)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 8:02am UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subsrciptions-for-items-with-item-variations-not-being-set-up/24375/15 "2025-11-11T08:02:19Z")
Hi Bryan Sorry I am confused, a Location\_id is not required when running the GET. We are running this in the API Explorer use Square\SquareClient; use Square\Environments; use Square\Catalog\Requests\ListCatalogRequest; $client = new SquareClient( token: ‘xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx’, options: [ ‘baseUrl’ =\> Environments::Production-\>value, ], ); $client-\>catalog-\>list( new ListCatalogRequest([ ‘types’ =\> ‘SUBSCRIPTION\_PLAN’, ]), ); But the Subscriptions that we need the variation\_id for are not being returned. We are getting all the Subscriptions that are marked as Legacy in the Dashboard and are able to succesfully use the Checkout API to set up subscriptions for the legacy subscriptions, but need to be able to do this for the newer ones that are associated to catalogue Items. How do we get the subscription\_variation\_id for each of the catalogue Item variations that are associated with the subscription plan? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan-Square](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/square/forums/user_avatar/developer.squareup.com/bryan-square/32/38_2.png) [@Bryan-Square](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/Bryan-Square)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 5:51pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subsrciptions-for-items-with-item-variations-not-being-set-up/24375/16 "2025-11-11T17:51:39Z")
Did you create the variations for the items? Also I need the `location_id` to get to your account so I can further help. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![paulcooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecae2f/32.png) [@paulcooper](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/paulcooper)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 6:30pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subsrciptions-for-items-with-item-variations-not-being-set-up/24375/17 "2025-11-11T18:30:42Z")
Hi Bryan Yes the Item variations were created in the Dashboard. When I do a Get of Catalouge Items I can see them. The location\_id is LAYW1P936RC2M ---
**Author:** ![Bryan-Square](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/square/forums/user_avatar/developer.squareup.com/bryan-square/32/38_2.png) [@Bryan-Square](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/Bryan-Square)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 8:33pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subsrciptions-for-items-with-item-variations-not-being-set-up/24375/18 "2025-11-11T20:33:05Z")
With itemized subscriptions you are going to first create the itemized order with the `catalog_object_ids`. Then you’ll pass that in when creating the subscription. Each item variation in the catalog doesn’t have a unique `subscription_variation_id`. You’ll want to follow the phases and order templates when creating itemized subscriptions. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![paulcooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecae2f/32.png) [@paulcooper](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/paulcooper)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 12:18pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/subsrciptions-for-items-with-item-variations-not-being-set-up/24375/19 "2025-11-12T12:18:58Z")
Ignore me responding, just found my answer 😀