Component Allocations: Notes and Caveats

Please be aware that this help article is related to Advanced Billing's Component Allocations functionality. In order for Advanced Billing to add charges for a subscriber’s components, you must report to Advanced Billing the component’s status/amount. You can learn more about Component Allocations by checking out this help article: Component Allocations Overview.

Component Allocations for Invoice-Based Subscribers

In the event that you allocate any type of component for a subscriber that is active and on an invoice-based payment method, charges for the components will accrue till the next billing period.

Regarding proration, when you add a component under any proration scheme, charges will accrue until the next billing timestamp.

Component Allocations for Automatic-Based Subscribers without Payment Method

The same rules apply for automatic-based subscribers for component allocations, as mentioned in the above section.

It’s important to note that if you have a subscription that is currently active or past due and without a payment method on file, but is using the automatic payment-based method, you may still add components for this subscriber.

Once again, to ensure the clarity of this workflow, you may allocate any type of component for a subscriber that is on an invoice-based payment method, charges will accrue till the next billing period.

Regarding proration, when you add a component under any proration scheme, charges will accrue until the next billing timestamp.

Failed Component Allocations

In the event that you allocate a component against a subscription and the charge is not successful, please be aware of the following:

Failed Quantity-Based Components

If you selected “Charge immediately.” and one of the upgrade charge options (prorated or full), and the payment fails, you will receive the following warning:

WARNING: The payment for the upgrade charge was declined, but we still changed the component quantity. This subscriber now has an outstanding amount due. We'll attempt to capture this amount at the next normal renewal. Alternatively, you may want to revert the quantity change.

Another way of specifying this is, the charge will be accrued until the next renewal. Additionally, the balance due is increased by the amount of the failed component allocation.

Failed Metered Components

Metered components do not charge the card of file instantly when they are allocated. For clarity, we wanted to cover this use case in order to make the distinction clear.

When you allocate metered-based components against a subscription, they are always scheduled to be billed at the end of the payment period. There are no negative implications of recording usage against a subscription if the card on file is not valid.

Another way of saying this is if the current card on file does not support the charges, it is irrelevant since no attempt at charging the allocated amount is done at the time of recording. What is important to keep in mind, is that when the “next billing” timestamp arrives for the subscription, if the card on file cannot support the charges, the subscription will transition to past due.

Please note the additional attributes:

The current balance is not increased
The component is recorded against the subscription.
The allocation for the metered-quantity appears in the “Activity” tab
The “Next Billing” amount due increases by the cost of the allocated metered-based component

Failed On/Off Components

Since on/off components utilize proration, the scenarios for transaction failures will follow the examples provided in quantity-based component allocations. Please see the section above for examples of what occurs during failed quantity-based component allocations.

Failed Prepaid Allocations

Although prepaid components do not use proration, each allocation is charged for immediately. Consequently, if the payment fails, it will follow the same scenario as on/off and quantity-based components–namely, the allocation will still be saved, and the amount due will be accrued until renewal.

If the Cost Decreases

When you decrease the number of components allocated to a subscription, Advanced Billing gives you the option to choose the following:

Credit the prorated amount of the difference in quantity.
Do Not Credit.

These controls allow you to add a credit, or not, as you decrease the number of components attached to a subscription.

As an example, please match the outlined numbers to the image below for clarity:

On January 1, you have a subscription signup/payment for a $50.00/month product.
Also, on January 1, you allocate 100 $1 quantity-based components for a total of $100
She pays immediately for this component change
If you have elected to Credit the prorated amount of the difference in quantity., the subscriber will receive a transactional-based credit for the unused portion of the remaining billing period.
If you select Do Not Credit. No credit will be generated.