The summary tab is the default landing page when clicking on a subscription. Here you can see a brief history of the subscription detailing total payments, current balance, subscription date, and the next period. The summary also outlines many pieces of important subscription information. Below are detailed explanations of each field and how they apply to the subscription in the order they appear.
Please note some of these may not be accessible due to your current plan and settings.
Please be aware that this article is related to Advanced Billing's Subscription Summary function. The subscription summary is the place to perform all tasks necessary to manage customers’ purchases through Advanced Billing. You can learn more about the Subscription Summary by checking out this help article: Subscription Summary Introduction.
Total Payments
The total payments made to the subscription since the time of signup, including from paid invoices, paid statements, taxes, one-time charges, and component costs.
Subscriber Since
The date of creation of the subscription. In the event that you have created a subscription that begins billing in the future, this date will reflect the date that the subscription was created.
Status
This is the current state of the subscription. A subscription can have many states but can only take on one at a time. Here is a brief overview of each of the subscription states
- Active - A normal, active subscription.
- Canceled - An end of a lifecycle state, indicates manual or automatic cancelation.
- Expired - An end of a lifecycle state, indicates produce cycle completion.
- On Hold - Billing has been temporarily stopped for this subscription.
- Past Due - The most recent payment has failed, and payment is past due for this subscription.
- Trialing - The subscription is active and has a valid trial period.
- Trial Ended - Subscription that completed a no-obligation trial and did not have a card on file at the expiration of the trial period.
- Unpaid - If the retry period expires and the Dunning settings have a Final Action of “mark the subscription unpaid”.
- Suspended - Indicates a prepaid subscription has used up all their prepayment balance.
- Awaiting Signup - Indicates that the future billing date has not been reached.
- Paused - Indicates that the account is in arrears.
- Pending - An internal state that indicates a subscription is in the creation process
For more statuses or a more in-depth look at each state and cycle, please visit our subscription states documentation.
Reference Field
The default way to identify a unique subscription is by the Advanced Billing-generated subscription ID.
However, a string value to the “reference field” may also be provided to identify each subscription using a value of choosing. An idea might be to choose to match this value to an account or user ID in another existing app.
The reference value may be added or edited within the admin UI (see below) or in the API (both create and update). In the API, subscriptions may also be located via reference using lookup.
Referral Code
Once referrals have been enabled, a unique referral code will be created for every subscription. You can obtain the referral code by visiting the subscription summary page for the subscription, or by fetching the subscription from the API.
For more information on referrals, please see our documentation here.
Product and Price Point
The current product and price point show what the subscriber has purchased. This section of the summary gives the merchant the ability to view the product and price point as well as the option to change the product or price point. To do this the "Change Product" button must be selected
On the "Change Product" page, a list of products and their summaries will be displayed.
Selecting the "Change Price Point" will set the desired price point for that product, allowing the subscription to change across products and price points.
If none of the price points match the new pricing needed, selecting the custom pricing option will allow for a new pricing model to apply under that product only available to this subscription. The price, billing interval, trail details, setup fee, and expiration/lifetime can all be set within this screen.
After the price point or custom pricing has been set for the desired product, using the action button will reveal two options.
Change Product
Selecting this option will immediately change the current subscriber to a new product and/or product price point/custom pricing. No proration is done. For more information on product changes, please see our documentation on Product Changes and Migrations.
Alternatively, if proration is needed, then performing an Upgrade or Downgrade will be optimal. Please review our documentation on Actions.
Schedule Change for next renewal
Advanced Billing also gives the option of configuring a subscription to change to a product at the end of the current billing cycle. This as a delayed product change.
When the next billing time arrives, the subscriber will be charged for the cost of the product that they are set to change to as a result of the delayed product change.
Example:
- Suzie is on the basic product @ $10/month
- Another product exists: the plus product is $20/month
- Her current renewal date is the 31st of the month
- She has a pending delayed product change to the plus product at the end of her billing period
- On the 31st, her current product will change to the plus product
- She will be charged $20
- Up until the time of the product change, her current product will reflect the basic product
Change Product - Cancelation
If a subscriber has a delayed product change, canceling this can be in the subscription view. Select Cancel next to the name and date of the scheduled product change.
Current Balance
The current balance is the outstanding current amount due on the account. It can be viewed in either the top summary or under the Product and Price Point.
Retry/Reactivate
If the balance is manually reset through Actions –> Adjust balance, use this method to make a past due or unpaid subscription active as long as it’s not on the remittance payment collection method. Alternatively, if the subscription still has a balance, this method will attempt to automatically collect the amount due.
Remittance subscriptions are incompatible with the concept of automated retries since Advanced Billing does not automatically collect any payments from a remittance subscriber. The retry button will consequently be hidden. These subscriptions will instead become active automatically once all their open invoices are paid off, provided they have not been canceled.
When trying to attempt to retry a past due or unpaid subscription, the following will occur:
- This subscription will be immediately retried
- The customer will be charged their current balance
- If payment is successful, the subscription will be activated
- If the subscription is currently in Dunning, the attempt count will increment
- There is no “undo” at this time, so please be sure before you press the “Retry Subscription” button
Service Credit Balance
The service credit balance is the amount of credit the subscription has in Service Credits. Adding or deducting service credits can be done in the Subscription Actions menu.
For more information on service credits, review our Service Credits Documentation.
Coupons
Since coupon application is a broad topic, we’ve created an entire section dedicated to applying coupons to a subscription. Please see our coupons documentation for more information.
Activated At
Activated At displays the date the subscription was first charged and is active in Advanced Billing.
In the event that a subscription is created that bills in the future (had not been billed yet), this date will remain blank until its signup date. It will then reflect the day the subscription entry was created in Advanced Billing.
Next Billing
Next Billing indicates the day/time that the subscription will be charged for the next assessment period. This amount will include the following:
- Product cost
- Component cost
- Taxes cost
Next billing amount
Coupons
If there is a coupon applied, the discount will be calculated and factored into this cost. Discounts will be applied and shown correctly.
Taxes
If taxes need to be applied to a subscription’s cost, the indicator of (plus taxes) will be noted in the next billing amount if you are using the Avalara Managed Tax service.
If custom taxes are bing used, supplied by Maxio, the next billable amount will be displayed in the billing amount. (Plus Taxes will not be shown if using custom taxes)
Components
Metered, on/off, and quantity-based components will be factored into the next billing amount. Please pay special attention to metered components, which are charged at the end of the billing period.
Next Billing Date
The timestamp indicates when the capture of payment will be tried or retried. If the subscription is past due, it will be replaced with the next retry date. By contrast, the “Period Ends” date indicates when their current billing period will end.
Note that if net terms are applicable to an open renewal invoice, and that invoice is due before the next renewal, then the next billing date will reflect the due date of that invoice.
Editing Next Billing Date
The next billing date of a subscription can be changed by selecting “Change Billing Date” from their summary. From here, any or all of the date attributes can be changed. After saving, the new date will be applied to the subscription.
Calendar Billing
If a subscription has a snap day for calendar billing, the day that the subscription will snap to can be edited. Select “Adjust Subscription Calendar Billing Date to Reflect Change in Next Billing Date” and the subscription will snap to the date set after the next scheduled renewal date.
If the box is deselected, the billing date will be changed for one recurring period to the new date. After this date arrives, the subscription will snap back to the original calendar billing date.
Editing the snap date and billing date
- Edit the snap date by selecting “Adjust subscription calendar billing date”
- Choose the new snap date of the month
- Save
- Re-edit the next billing date to the desired next billing date by deselecting the “adjust subscription calendar billing date checkbox”
- Selecting the next billing date
- From here, the next snap date and the next billing date will reflect a new schedule.
Term
If Term Subscriptions are enabled for your site, the Subscription Summary will display a Term section. All subscriptions are either Term (which have an expiration date) or Evergreen (which do not have an expiration date and can be canceled at any time).
By clicking Change, you can:
- Change a Term date to a different date
- Change a Term date to Evergreen
- Change an Evergreen subscription to a Term subscription
If the Term date you select occurs in the middle of what would be a Product or Component billing period, the charge(s) will be prorated for the last billing period.
Expires At
If your subscriber has purchased a product that expires, either an Expires At date or a Term date will appear as part of the subscription data. The expires at date indicates the day that the subscription will transition to expired, which is a dead state.
You have the option of altering the expires at date if needed. Select Change next to the expires date to select the new date of expiration.
For more information on subscription states, please see our documentation here.
Net Terms
Net Terms gives the ability to set a number of days after a subscription renews before that subscription’s automatic payment will collect. This gives the subscriber time to review their Invoices prior to the payment being collected. This can be set as part of the subscription creation process OR can be updated on new and existing subscriptions via the Subscription Summary pane.
Note if a hierarchy exists, the parent subscription Net Terms can only be set and all child subscriptions will adhere to the parent’s Net Terms. Un-grouping a child subscription will result in it re-setting to the Site Default.
Net Terms Options
There are 3 options for Net Terms:
- Due Immediately: Subscriptions created with a Net Terms of “Due Immediately”, have 0 Net Terms and are automatically paid when the subscription renews (if on automatic billing) by the primary payment profile.
- Site Default: You can customize a default value for new subscriptions by visiting the Settings page. This default value will be pre-selected when creating new subscriptions and unless over-ridden, the newly created subscriptions will have a due date of that number of days after invoice issue.
- Custom: You can customize the Net Terms on a per subscription basis as part of the creation process. Acceptable values are between 1-180 days from issue.
Payment Method
The Payment Method for a subscriber can be either automatic or invoice billing/remittance.
The payment method associated with a subscriber can be changed by selecting “Payment Method” in the subscriber’s summary.
When electing to change the payment method, there are options given to switch to the available alternate payment methods for the Site. However, if the subscription is prepaid, this button will be hidden as it is not possible to change to automatic or remittance. Similarly, an automatic or remittance subscription cannot convert to prepaid. Prepaid subscriptions are available in our Relationship Invoicing architecture.
Toggle between automatic and invoice payment methods
As a reminder:
-
Automatic billing: the customer is automatically charged when the subscription renews.
-
Invoice/Remittance Billing: the subscriber is not automatically charged when the subscription is renewed. At the time of renewal, an invoice is created and optionally sent to the customer. You may record the payments manually against the invoice when you receive payment from the subscriber.
-
Prepaid Billing: the subscriber prepays a certain amount, and usage they record is drawn against that prepayment balance.
Verified for ACH / eCheck Payments
If the site connected to Authorize.Net or the Advanced Billing Test Gateway, the admin will need to manually approve the Subscriber to submit ACH (eCheck) as a payment option. To do this, select change in the Subscription Summary. It will then redirect to the customer entry, where the ACH payments can be enabled.
For more information on ACH payments, please see our documentation here. Note that some gateways, such as Stripe, don’t use this flag; instead, they make small test deposits into the submitted bank account for the customer to verify.
Send Statement/Invoice Emails
There is a manual option to have customers receive Statement and/or Invoice emails or not.
Send Invoice Emails - Edit
This will edit if the customers are to receive Statement and/or Invoice emails.
Tax-Exempt Customer
A subscription can be manually designated to have a tax exemption from the subscription summary. If a subscriber purchases a product that is taxable, they will not have to pay the tax on the product or components if they are marked tax exempt.
To change a subscriber to tax-exempt, select change next to Tax Exempt Customer. From this new page, select the dropdown under Tax Exempt and change this option to yes.
For more information on tax-exempt subscribers/customers, please see our documentation here.
Billing Portal Section
Billing Portal Access
When viewing a subscription, the current status of their access to the Billing Portal will be displayed.
Disabled
Enable Billing Portal access for a disabled subscriber
Enabled
Options when the Billing Portal is enabled
Billing Portal Management Link
View the customer’s Billing Portal directly, or access the link to send to your customer via email. Viewing the management link is also a very useful way to view how your customers have presented the information in the Billing Portal.
View pop-up of Billing Portal Management link
Pop-up view of Billing Portal Management link
Billing Portal Resend Invitation
If a subscriber is unsure of how to locate the Billing Portal, use this option to resend the invitation to the subscriber.
Billing Portal Revoke Portal Access
On a per-subscription basis, revoke access to the portal may be needed. Select “Revoke Portal Access”. Once you revoke access, Billing Portal Status will display Portal Not Enabled for this subscriber.
Select “Enable Portal Access” to reverse re-enable the portal for your subscriber. Once you select this option, you’ll be presented with the following pop-up:
The choice to simply enable Billing Portal for this customer, or enable Billing Portal and send them an emailed invitation can be made here.
Billing Portal Status
If the Billing Portal is enabled, a subscription will include information regarding:
- Added To Portal: The date that the customer was first given access to the portal.
- Last Invite Sent: The last date on which the customer was invited to the portal.
These two dates can be drastically different in the event that manual invitations are sometimes used. For more information on manual Billing Portal invites, please see our documentation here.
Notes
Notes are strictly optional. We encourage our users to make accurate timely notes on recent activity, phone calls, payment plans, etc. Within the main summary page, the most recent note will be displayed. You can select the notes tab to display all of the notes associated with a Subscription. Important notes can be flagged and marked with an asterisk next to the entry.