# What's the actual subscriber-loss risk migrating from a legacy subscription platform onto Skio mid-replatform?

Reviewed by Martin Dejnicki, Director of SEO & AI Search · facts verified October 9, 2026 · canonical: https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/skio-migration-subscriber-loss-risk-mid-replatform

## Short answer

Subscriber loss moving onto Skio mid-replatform runs 2 to 5% in community-reported migrations ([Deploi Build vs. Buy](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/subscription-platform-migration), July 2026 research), mostly because payment methods cannot follow the subscriber. Skio counts the unmovable part of your own base before cutover: its migration preview lists every subscription it cannot migrate, and why ([Skio Help Center](https://help.skio.com/docs/data-migration-an-overview), October 2026).

- **Community-reported loss:** 2 to 5% of subscribers. Merchants' own accounts of subscription platform migrations, gathered in July 2026 research for Deploi's migration record; not a measured average ([Deploi Build vs. Buy, Recharge Alternatives: Build or Buy the Subscription Migration?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/subscription-platform-migration))
- **Skio migration request:** 1 to 3 weeks, cannot be expedited. Skio's processing time for a move from another Shopify store or from outside Shopify; one round only, and no Prepaid gift subscriptions (October 2026) ([Skio Help Center, Moving subscriptions from store A on platform X to store B on platform Y: Important Considerations](https://help.skio.com/docs/-migrations-migration-moving-subscriptions-from-store-a-on-platform-x-to-store-b-on-platform-y-important-considerations); [Skio Help Center, Migrating subscriptions from outside of Shopify (Woocommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, Custom solutions)](https://help.skio.com/docs/migrations-migrating-subscriptions-from-outside-of-shopify-woocommerce-bigcommerce-magento-custom-solutions))
- **Card number migration:** Shopify Plus or Enterprise only. Shopify moves cards between stores only through its Professional Services migration on those plans; below Plus, cards in Shopify's own vault have no route (October 2026) ([Shopify Help Center, Migrating payment methods to your Shopify account](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/migrating-payment-methods))
- **Shop Pay payment methods:** Skio cannot move them between stores. Skio adds that it is not currently clear whether the Shopify Payments team can move them either (October 2026) ([Skio Help Center, Moving subscriptions from store A on platform X to store B on platform Y: Important Considerations](https://help.skio.com/docs/-migrations-migration-moving-subscriptions-from-store-a-on-platform-x-to-store-b-on-platform-y-important-considerations))

## Deploi's call

The actual subscriber-loss risk sits in two places: payment methods that cannot follow the subscriber to the new store, and any gap in the product-page purchase option. We scored subscription platform migration CUSTOMIZE because the destination is a commodity and the migration work around it is not.

**CUSTOMIZE: Move onto Skio as a second project when**

- The new storefront is live and stable, so a billing fault cannot hide inside a theme fault.
- You know where every card is vaulted: Shopify Payments, Shop Pay, or a Stripe, Braintree or Authorize.net account the new store can connect ([Skio Help Center](https://help.skio.com/docs/-migrations-migration-moving-subscriptions-from-store-a-on-platform-x-to-store-b-on-platform-y-important-considerations), October 2026).
- Skio's pre-migration test shows what share of subscriptions cannot move, and the business case survives that number ([Skio Help Center](https://help.skio.com/docs/migrations-migrating-subscriptions-from-outside-of-shopify-woocommerce-bigcommerce-magento-custom-solutions), October 2026).
- Any cards in Shopify's vault sit on a Plus or Enterprise store, the plans Shopify's card-number migration requires ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/migrating-payment-methods), October 2026).

**WAIT: Hold the subscription move while**

- Shop Pay carries a large share of subscribers, because Skio cannot move those payment methods between stores ([Skio Help Center](https://help.skio.com/docs/-migrations-migration-moving-subscriptions-from-store-a-on-platform-x-to-store-b-on-platform-y-important-considerations), October 2026).
- Your legacy platform is Recharge: our migration record treats any move between Recharge and Skio as a same-vendor question until the combined roadmap is in writing ([Deploi Build vs. Buy](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/subscription-platform-migration), October 2026).
- Peak season falls inside Skio's processing window of 1 to 3 weeks, which cannot be expedited ([Skio Help Center](https://help.skio.com/docs/-migrations-migration-moving-subscriptions-from-store-a-on-platform-x-to-store-b-on-platform-y-important-considerations), October 2026).

## Where does subscriber loss come from when you move onto Skio mid-replatform?

Subscriber loss on a move onto Skio mid-replatform comes from six places, and only Shop Pay and Shopify-vaulted cards below Plus sit outside your control. Mid-replatform, every subscriber has to reach the new store still billable, so the deciding question is where each card lives.

**Shop Pay, and Shopify-vaulted cards below Plus, sit outside the merchant's control on a move onto Skio**

| Where the loss comes from | Why it happens | What you control |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Cards in Shopify's vault | Shopify sends a store-to-store move to its Professional Services migration, on Plus or Enterprise | Plus or Enterprise: the lead time. Below Plus: plan a re-authorization ask |
| Shop Pay payment methods | Skio cannot move them between stores | Little: plan a re-authorization ask |
| Cards on a gateway Shopify's subscriptions do not support | Skio says it may not work with Shopify's Subscriptions API (application programming interface) | Move the cards to Stripe or Authorize.net first |
| A gap in the product-page purchase option | New sign-ups stall while the selector is rebuilt | Everything: this is theme work |
| Contract state the import skips | Imports skip dunning state, portal settings and churn-save rules | Scope it as agency time |
| Billing dates set wrong on import | A double charge or a skipped cycle reads as a cancellation | Everything: dry-run a sample |

Sources: [Skio Help Center, Moving subscriptions from store A on platform X to store B on platform Y: Important Considerations](https://help.skio.com/docs/-migrations-migration-moving-subscriptions-from-store-a-on-platform-x-to-store-b-on-platform-y-important-considerations); [Skio Help Center, Migrating subscriptions from outside of Shopify (Woocommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, Custom solutions)](https://help.skio.com/docs/migrations-migrating-subscriptions-from-outside-of-shopify-woocommerce-bigcommerce-magento-custom-solutions); [Shopify Help Center, Migrating payment methods to your Shopify account](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/migrating-payment-methods); [Deploi Build vs. Buy, Recharge Alternatives: Build or Buy the Subscription Migration?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/subscription-platform-migration). Verified October 9, 2026.

Size those two cohorts first, because neither has a documented route. [Where each saved payment method sits in a store-to-store move](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/store-consolidation-subscription-migration) has its own answer.

## How do you get your own loss number before cutover?

Your own loss number comes from Skio before cutover, not from an industry range. For a move from outside Shopify, Skio runs a required test before front-end integration starts. The test shows what percentage of subscriptions can migrate and what percentage cannot, for missing payment method data ([Skio Help Center](https://help.skio.com/docs/migrations-migrating-subscriptions-from-outside-of-shopify-woocommerce-bigcommerce-magento-custom-solutions), October 2026). For every migration, Skio's data preview gives the total to be migrated and lists each subscription it cannot migrate, and why ([Skio Help Center](https://help.skio.com/docs/data-migration-an-overview), October 2026).

Read those counts against the right baseline. Recharge counts every product as its own subscription, while one Skio subscription can hold several products, so the two totals differ by design ([Skio Help Center](https://help.skio.com/docs/data-migration-an-overview), October 2026). The community-reported 2 to 5% loss is merchants' own accounts of past migrations, not a forecast for your base ([Deploi Build vs. Buy](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/subscription-platform-migration), July 2026 research). So the term to write into the agency's scope is [a card-retention rate you can hold it to](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/subscription-migration-churn-risk-benchmark), measured against Skio's preview.

## What has to be settled before the migration date?

Four things have to be settled before Skio sets a migration date, and the card vault comes first because every later step depends on it.

1. **Find where every card is vaulted.** Skio says Shopify requires primary processors to vault cards in the Shopify Payments vault. The one exception is legacy Recharge, whose cards may sit in Stripe, Braintree or Authorize.net. They can move if the new store connects the same account as a secondary gateway ([Skio Help Center](https://help.skio.com/docs/-migrations-migration-moving-subscriptions-from-store-a-on-platform-x-to-store-b-on-platform-y-important-considerations), October 2026).
1. **Ask Shopify for the payment method migration early.** Shopify's migration service moves card numbers only for stores on Plus or Enterprise ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/migrating-payment-methods), October 2026). On other plans, an old Stripe, Braintree, PayPal Express or Authorize.net gateway stays connected until the last card moves. Shopify says that slow drip "can take months or even years" ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/migrating-payment-methods), October 2026). Cards already in Shopify's own vault have no such fallback.
1. **Fill in Skio's variant-mapping file yourself, and check it twice.** Skio treats that file, and any data preview you approve, as your verification, and says errors in either "may cause discrepancies" ([Skio Help Center](https://help.skio.com/docs/-migrations-migration-moving-subscriptions-from-store-a-on-platform-x-to-store-b-on-platform-y-important-considerations), October 2026). Freeze the catalog while you map.
1. **Put the product-page purchase option live first.** Skio migrates no existing subscriber until the store is live and selling Skio subscriptions: at least 24 to 36 hours by its migrations guide ([Skio Help Center](https://help.skio.com/docs/skio-migrations-guide)), about 24 by its overview ([Skio Help Center](https://help.skio.com/docs/data-migration-an-overview), October 2026).

## What has to happen on and after migration day?

Migration day moves the billing, so four things have to happen on that day and in the first cycle after it.

1. **Stop the old platform's billing on migration day, in writing.** Skio tells merchants to cancel or disable billing in the former platform that day. Skio holds billing for migrated subscriptions until it is sure the old platform has stopped charging ([Skio Help Center](https://help.skio.com/docs/data-migration-an-overview), October 2026).
1. **Watch the subscriptions that arrived without a card.** Skio routes a migrated subscription with no valid payment method into its Payment Recovery at the next billing attempt ([Skio Help Center](https://help.skio.com/docs/data-migration-an-overview), October 2026). So the first cycle can look like a failed-payment spike.
1. **Time the subscriber emails to each first charge date,** not to go-live, with [the four-message migration sequence](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/subscription-migration-messaging-active-subscribers).
1. **Check billing dates, prices and cycle counts on a sample before the first charges run.** A double charge or a skipped cycle reads as a cancellation to the subscriber, which is why the sample comes before the full run.

## What does Recharge's ownership of Skio add to the risk?

Recharge's ownership adds an open roadmap question to any move onto Skio. Recharge announced in April 2026 that "Skio is joining the Recharge team", and the post's AI summary says Recharge "has acquired Skio" ([Recharge](https://getrecharge.com/blog/recharge-welcomes-skio-to-build-the-future-of-subscription-commerce/), October 2026). The post also says "nothing is changing today" for merchants on either platform, and that details of the combined roadmap are "coming in the months ahead". Skio's App Store listing now reads "Skio, a Recharge Company" ([Skio on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/skio), October 2026), and neither page gives a closing date. Our Skio record treats choosing Skio as choosing Recharge's roadmap ([Deploi Build vs. Buy](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/skio-vs-native-subscriptions), October 2026), so [test Skio's exports before you need an exit](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/skio-bulk-export-subscriber-consent-data). How the move fits a quarter is in [the week-by-week calendar for a $10 million to $30 million brand](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/skio-implementation-timeline-10m-30m-gmv).

## When should the subscription move wait until after the replatform?

The subscription move should wait whenever the replatform itself is the risky part. One cutover with two failure modes leaves one weekend to tell a theme fault from a billing fault, so the safer plan is two cutovers.

> **When not to move subscriptions mid-replatform**
> - **When the storefront and the billing would cut over together.** Launch the storefront first, keep the legacy platform billing on its own rails for a cycle, and move subscriptions as a second project. [Keeping the two on separate timelines](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/native-subscriptions-or-keep-recharge-skio) has its own answer.
> - **When the legacy platform is Recharge.** Our migration record treats any move between Recharge and Skio as a same-vendor question, so get the combined roadmap in writing first ([Deploi Build vs. Buy](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/subscription-platform-migration), October 2026).
> - **When Shop Pay, or Shopify's vault below Plus, holds a large share of the cards.** Neither has a documented route to the new store ([Skio Help Center](https://help.skio.com/docs/-migrations-migration-moving-subscriptions-from-store-a-on-platform-x-to-store-b-on-platform-y-important-considerations), [Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/migrating-payment-methods), October 2026), so price that loss in before you set a date.
> - **When peak season falls inside Skio's processing queue.** A queue that cannot be expedited should not end in your biggest week ([Skio Help Center](https://help.skio.com/docs/-migrations-migration-moving-subscriptions-from-store-a-on-platform-x-to-store-b-on-platform-y-important-considerations), October 2026).

Our migration verdict is CUSTOMIZE for that reason: the destination is a purchase, the migration work around it is a build, and that work does not have to ship on launch day ([Deploi Build vs. Buy](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/subscription-platform-migration), October 2026).

## Deploi's point of view

**What we've seen.** The number that moves is not the import success rate, it is the acquisition gap. Teams protect the existing subscribers with a comms plan and then run for weeks with a broken or missing purchase option on the product page. The other recurring surprise is dunning: imports carry the contract, not the retry schedule, so week one after cutover looks like a payment-failure spike that is really a configuration gap.

**Where we disagree.** Every vendor sells migration as included and frames it as a data-movement problem. The data moves fine. What does not move is the payment token, the dunning state and the merchandising on the product page, and in our judgment those three are where the community-reported 2 to 5% loss lives. Judge a destination platform on its exit terms and its vault story, not on the smoothness of its import.

**Our judgment on the acquisition gap.** A purchase option that stays missing for a few weeks can cost more new subscribers than the migration loses existing ones, so we put it live before the data moves. That is our judgment, not a measured comparison.

## When this answer changes

- Recharge publishes the combined Recharge and Skio roadmap, or changes how Skio runs migrations.
- Skio changes its 1 to 3 week processing window, its one-round limit or its Prepaid gift exclusion.
- Skio or Shopify documents a way to move Shop Pay payment methods between stores.
- Shopify opens its card-number migration service to plans below Plus or Enterprise.
- Your storefront launch date moves into the same window as the subscription migration.

## Follow-up questions

- [How do I bulk-export Skio subscriber and consent data before switching to a different subscription app?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/skio-bulk-export-subscriber-consent-data)
- [How do we communicate a subscription-platform migration to active subscribers so they don't think their subscription was cancelled or their payment failed?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/subscription-migration-messaging-active-subscribers)
- [What's the real implementation timeline for Skio on a $10M-$30M GMV Shopify Plus brand with an existing subscriber base to migrate?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/skio-implementation-timeline-10m-30m-gmv)

## Sources

1. [Skio Help Center, Moving subscriptions from store A on platform X to store B on platform Y: Important Considerations](https://help.skio.com/docs/-migrations-migration-moving-subscriptions-from-store-a-on-platform-x-to-store-b-on-platform-y-important-considerations), checked October 9, 2026
2. [Skio Help Center, Data Migration: An Overview](https://help.skio.com/docs/data-migration-an-overview), checked October 9, 2026
3. [Skio Help Center, Migrating subscriptions from outside of Shopify (Woocommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, Custom solutions)](https://help.skio.com/docs/migrations-migrating-subscriptions-from-outside-of-shopify-woocommerce-bigcommerce-magento-custom-solutions), checked October 9, 2026
4. [Shopify Help Center, Migrating payment methods to your Shopify account](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/migrating-payment-methods), checked October 9, 2026
5. [Recharge, Recharge welcomes Skio to build the future of subscription commerce](https://getrecharge.com/blog/recharge-welcomes-skio-to-build-the-future-of-subscription-commerce/), checked October 9, 2026
6. [Skio, Skio, a Recharge Company on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/skio), checked October 9, 2026
7. [Skio Help Center, Skio Migrations Guide](https://help.skio.com/docs/skio-migrations-guide), checked October 9, 2026
8. [Deploi Build vs. Buy, Recharge Alternatives: Build or Buy the Subscription Migration?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/subscription-platform-migration), checked October 9, 2026, Deploi research
9. [Deploi Build vs. Buy, Skio vs. Shopify Subscriptions: Is the Free Native App Enough?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/skio-vs-native-subscriptions), checked October 9, 2026, Deploi research