You may record a payment against any open invoice by using the “Record Payment” button when viewing an invoice in the application.
Add a payment to an invoice using the green "Record Payment" button.
There are four basic ways to pay off an invoice, shown below.
Several types of invoice payments are supported.
- “Use New or Existing Payment Profile” captures payment from a credit card or ACH/bank account. Bank accounts are only an option if your configured gateway allows this and you are set up to take ACH payments.
- “Record External Payment” is for manually entering payments that you received outside of Advanced Billing, such as from a check or other means.
- “Apply Prepayment” applies an existing payment balance that has been recorded on the subscription to the invoice.
- “Apply Service Credit” credits out a specified amount due on the invoice. This option is only available on non-consolidated, non-segment invoices.
The details of payments for a site can be found at Billing > Payments, and you may filter the view to show only payments made during a particular date range.
Listing all payments for a site.
Additionally, each individual subscription provides a payment listing of their own payments.
Listing all payments for a subscription.
This list by default shows the last 120 days of payments for the subscription. The “View all” link at the top of the screen will show a list of all payments for a subscription. This view is similar to the site-wide payments listing and provides the option to filter payments for a subscription by a range of dates.
In each of these lists, clicking the ID of a payment will display additional details for the payment.
Displaying payment details.
The list of all subscription payments as well as the list of site-wide payments can be exported to comma-separated value (CSV) format.
Bulk Payments
You may record an external “bulk” payment (that is, a payment that would cover more than one open invoice) against the subscription itself using the API. Bulk payments may only be made to un-grouped or primary subscriptions. Visit our developer reference at: Create Bulk Payment for full details about API calls and their returns.
For merchants on the Relationship Invoicing, external payments made via the API against the subscription itself will apply towards the oldest open invoice and consume the balance and proceed to the next oldest invoice if there is still money remaining after the previous invoice is paid. Any invoices paid in full via the “bulk” payment will be marked as paid the same as if a payment was applied directly. If the amount of the external payment exceeds the total of all open invoices, a prepayment will be created (see below); if the amount of the external payment is insufficient to pay an invoice in full, the invoice is partially paid and will remain open.
For example, an external payment of $100 is sent to via the API to subscription 1.
1) If Subscription 1 has two $50 open invoices — then both would be paid in full and marked paid.
2) If Subscription 1 has two $75 open invoices - then the first (oldest) invoice would be paid in full and marked paid and the second invoice would have a $25 payment towards the balance and remain open.
3) If Subscription 1 has two $25 open invoices — both would be paid in full and marked paid and a $50 prepayment would be recorded on the subscription.
Prepayments
Every Advanced Billing subscription maintains a “prepayment balance” that stores amounts paid above-and-beyond any invoice due amounts. The prepayment amounts can then be applied to subsequent invoices.
The current prepayment balance can be seen on the invoice listing for an individual subscription, as shown below.
The current prepayment balance is listed in a box above the invoice listing for a single subscription, along with a "View Prepayments" link to jump to the details.
The details of prepayments and their applications can be found by clicking the “View Prepayments” link near the top of the invoice listing, or via the “Prepayments” link in the subscription navigation. Of particular note on the prepayment listing is the “Amount” of each prepayment and the “Remaining” amount which can still be applied to invoices.
The listing of all prepayment details.
By clicking on any row in the prepayment listing, you can see details about that prepayment and all of the invoices to which it was applied. You may click the invoice number (i.e. INV-123) from this screen to jump directly to that invoice.
The details of a single prepayment, including all of the invoices to which it was applied.
Recording Prepayments
Prepayments are recorded in one of two ways:
- Clicking the “Record Prepayment” link in the “Subscription Actions” dropdown. Use this option when there are no open invoices and you want to record a payment (perhaps sent to you via check) that will apply to future invoices.
- Using “Record Payment” on an invoice to enter a manual payment in excess of the amount due on an invoice. Use this option when there is an open invoice to which you want to apply the payment. Any amount in excess of the amount due will be available to be applied to future or open invoices.
The "Record Prepayment" link, which is used to record a general prepayment to a subscription outside the context of an invoice.
Overpaying an invoice, which will record a prepayment for the excess.
Refunding Prepayments
Prepayments can be refunded by going to the subscription you would like to refund. Then click on the Prepayments tab. Once the prepayment that should be refunded is located click on the 3 dots to the right of the prepayment and select "Refund".
A new screen will pop up allowing the selection of either a Payment Profile to refund or an External Payment. Note, "Refund Payment to Payment Profile" can only be selected if a payment profile existing in Advanced Billing was used to create the prepayment.
After selection, another window will appear. Here you will be able to input the about that should be refunded from the prepayment.
Then select "Apply Refund" to refund the prepayment.
Consuming Prepayments
When Advanced Billing issues invoices with both the automatic and remittance payment collection method, the prepayment balance will be consumed automatically. The prepayment balance will continue to be debited until there is none left.
You may opt to apply any existing prepayment balance to an open invoice by using the “Record Payment” button and choosing the “Apply Prepayment” option. (This option is grayed out unless there is an existing prepayment that can be applied.)
Service Credit
Service credits are a way to reduce the amount that a subscriber owes on an open invoice. They can be created against a subscription and manually applied to invoices. Some actions generate service credits on a subscriber’s account, such as prorated downgrades.
Like prepayments, when a subscriber has a service credit balance, the available balance is automatically applied to an invoice when it is issued. In this context, it functions as a payment. Service credits are applied to invoices as credit notes, and credit notes reduce the invoice due amount, like a payment.
You can view the available service credit balance from the invoice listing for a single subscription. A box above the listing shows the current “Credit Balance” and provides a link to “View Service Credits”. Within the left hand navigation available when viewing a subscription, this same view of the service credit balance is available from the “Service Credits” tab.
The listing of all service credit details
The service credit listing on the subscription also allows you to click a row where service credit has been applied in order to view the related invoice.
There are options to both add a service credit to a subscription, and deduct from the existing service credit balance. They are accessible from the Subscription Actions dropdown > Give/Deduct Service Credit, or from the Service Credits tab on the subscription. Simply select whether you would like to add or remove a credit and enter in an amount; the memo field is optional.
Applying Service Credit
You may opt to manually apply any existing service credit balance to an open remittance invoice by using the “Record Payment” button and choosing the “Apply Service Credit” option. (This option is grayed out unless it can be used.)
At this time, service credits can only be manually applied to invoices that are not consolidated nor a segment of a consolidated invoice.
Credit Notes
Credits are applied as “credit notes” (also sometimes known as “credit memos” or “credit invoices”). A credit note is like a “reverse invoice” - it contains line items representing the amount credited to specific items (products and components) and sometimes must also “return” amounts already discounted or taxes already paid.
A credit note
When credit has been applied to an invoice, the credit note details can be viewed by clicking the “View Credit Note” button in the invoice history.
The applied credit within an invoice history
Prepayments, Service Credits and Subscription Groups
Both prepayments and service credits can automatically apply to an invoice at renewal regardless of payment collection method. That said, they will only apply to the subscription’s segment that the prepayment and service credit was originally applied to and not the whole consolidated invoice.
On top of that, prepayments can only be added on the primary subscription and not other group members since the primary is responsible for when the consolidated invoice is issued.
While prepayments are not an available option for member subscriptions, it is possible to apply a service credit instead of a prepayment to each individual member subscription. This will allow the member subscription’s segment to be automatically paid before the overall consolidated invoice is issued.
With all that said, it is possible to apply a subscription primary’s prepayment and/or service credit to cover the amount due overall on the consolidated invoice, but must be done manually via the “Apply Prepayment” and/or “Apply Service Credit’’ option inside the record payment dropdown.