Payments · Skincare4 min readUpdated October 26, 2026

How to Sell Skincare Products on Subscription

What processors accept for skincare subscriptions, the Visa, Mastercard and ROSCA billing rules step by step, brand intervals, and checkout wording.

Nick Bonnassies, CMO at Tagada · checked against 12 sources

Article summary

TL;DR

Processors accept skincare refills on subscription when the terms are clear and disputes stay low. Show the price, interval and how to cancel before the card field, get express consent, confirm by email, notify before charges, remind at least 7 days before any trial ends, and let customers cancel online. "Risk-free" cream trials that roll into auto-ship are the model processors and the FTC remember.

Visa's MCC 5968 for subscription merchants names "cosmetics".
ROSCA requires terms before billing details, express consent and "simple mechanisms" to stop charges.
Visa: trial terms shown separately, a reminder at least 7 days before a trial ends, online cancellation.
Mastercard: confirmation with cancellation instructions, and a notice before billing on cycles of 6 months or less.
Beauty brands publish intervals from 30 days to 6 months; Charlotte Tilbury emails 7 days before payment.

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On this page

This guide is part of our hub on skincare payment processing. The billing tool: subscription billing for skincare brands.

What processors accept

Visa's MCC 5968 for subscription merchants names "cosmetics"3.

Offer	How processors see it	Why
Refill subscription at full checkout, clear terms	Usually fine	Customer chose and saw the terms
Routine bundle every 2 or 3 months	Usually fine	Fewer charges
Discounted first box, then full price, clearly shown	Acceptable with clear terms	Visible before payment
"Risk-free" trial of a cream into auto-ship	High risk; often refused	Stripe prohibits unclear trials7; AuraVie charged "up to $97.88 per month"8
VIP club charged monthly	Reviewed closely	Membership and negative option rules

Refill subscription, clear terms at checkoutUsually fine: the customer chose and saw the terms.Keep price, interval and cancellation next to the pay button.
Discounted first box, then full priceAcceptable when both prices show before payment.Show today's price and the renewal price side by side.
"Risk-free" cream trial into auto-shipHigh risk, often refused; Stripe prohibits unclear trials.Replace it with a paid first order or a clearly priced trial.

The billing rules, step by step

Moment	What you must do	Source
Checkout	Price, interval, trial length, how to cancel, before billing details	ROSCA4, Visa1
Consent	Express, with trial terms separate	ROSCA4, Visa1
Right after sign-up	Confirmation with terms and cancellation	Mastercard2
Before a trial ends	Reminder at least 7 days before	Visa1
Before each charge	Notice for cycles of 6 months or less	Mastercard2
Yearly	Annual reminder for California customers	California5
Any time	Online cancellation	Visa1, Mastercard2, California5

Fig. 1A subscriber's path, and the rule at each step

CheckoutPrice, interval, how to cancel, before billing details
ConfirmationTerms and cancellation by email
Trial reminderAt least 7 days before it ends
Before each chargeNotice on cycles of 6 months or less
Cancel onlineAny time

Most refill disputes start where one of these steps is missing.

ROSCA, 15 U.S.C. 8403; Visa Core Rules, April 18, 2026; Mastercard subscription FAQs, 2022.

Tagada follows Visa and Mastercard rules and the laws that apply to payments.

Watch out

The FTC's click-to-cancel rule was vacated on July 8, 2025, with no new rule since6. ROSCA4 and California5 still apply.

Mastercard's details

Fig. 2Mastercard's subscription rules, point by point

Notice before billing
3 to 7 days before, on cycles of 6 months or less2.
Receipt for every charge
Required only for merchants under its chargeback monitoring.
Reminder after a trial
Only for trials longer than 7 days.
Effective
September 2022.

Mastercard, subscription and negative option billing FAQs, 2022.

Intervals beauty brands publish

Brand	Intervals	Other terms
Charlotte Tilbury	Every 3, 4 or 6 months	Email 7 days before payment; 15% off9
Inn Beauty Project	Every 30, 45 or 60 days	10
Westman Atelier	Every 1, 2 or 3 months	11

Let customers choose and change the interval: a refill that piles up becomes a dispute.

Renewals that fail

Visa: up to 15 reattempts in 30 days; never retry category 1 codes; fees on excess attempts12.
Recovery: failed payment recovery for skincare brands.

Checkout wording

Example

"Vitamin C serum, every 2 months for $54 (15% off). Next charge March 3. We'll email you 7 days before each charge. Change or cancel anytime online."

Next to the pay button, not only in the terms.
The same text in the confirmation email, with the cancellation link.

Trials: trial offers for skincare brands.

How Tagada helps

Skincare refills, from checkout terms to renewals

Subscriptions with trials, billing cycles, retries and automatic recovery
Routing across Stripe, Adyen and TagadaPay, cascade on decline, for renewals
One-page checkout with Apple Pay and Google Pay
TagadaPay underwrites each file, with enhanced review on regulated verticals

Plans are on the pricing page.

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Skincare refills, from checkout terms to renewals

Updated on October 26, 2026

Nick Bonnassies

CMO at Tagada

CMO at Tagada. Before Tagada, Nick built direct-to-consumer brands that generated over $115M in sales, raised over $25M in crowdfunding and sold two of them. He also works as a fractional CMO on marketing operations and AI systems.

Frequently asked questions

Can I sell skincare on subscription with Stripe?

Yes, with clear terms. Stripe prohibits negative option marketing and trials "with unclear or hidden pricing", not subscriptions as such. Show the price, interval and cancellation before payment.

What do Visa and Mastercard require for beauty subscriptions?

Visa: trial terms shown separately, a reminder at least 7 days before a trial ends, online cancellation. Mastercard: a confirmation with cancellation instructions and a notice 3 to 7 days before billing on cycles of 6 months or less.

What interval should a skincare subscription use?

Match the product's use. Brands publish 30 to 60 days (Inn Beauty Project), 1 to 3 months (Westman Atelier) and 3 to 6 months (Charlotte Tilbury). Let customers change it.

Are skincare free trials allowed?

Legally, with clear terms and consent. Processors are wary: Stripe prohibits unclear trials, and the FTC's AuraVie case involved "risk-free" skincare trials. See trial offers for skincare brands.

Sources

Checked October 26, 2026

TagadaPay

Skincare refills that renew without disputes

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