To charge your customer any amount through Advanced Billing, you need to have at least 1 subscription in place for that customer.
One time charges for new subscriber
If you’re interested in charging your customer for just one occurrence, then you can define a product that only lasts 1 day (i.e. it expires after 1 day) and create a subscription that ties your customer to that product.
The subscription expires quickly and then the subscription will transition to the expired status. This method is most applicable if you just want someone to sign up, then pay you a set amount of money, and then the relationship is pretty much over. See how to create a one-time-purchase product.
One time charges for existing subscription
Add charge
If you want to charge a subscriber a random amount from time to time, you can do this by adding a one-time charge. You can add a one-time charge to any active subscription.
Add charge with a zero dollar product
It’s even a good idea to have a product in your catalog that has a recurring billing period of 1 month @ $0.00 a recurring period. You could subscribe your customer to a free product, and just add one-time charges to the subscription when needed.
Record metered usage and charge at the end of the billing period
Metered usage components may also be very useful in this case. Simply record metered usage during the recurring period of an active subscription. At the end of the billing period, Advanced Billing will bill for the recorded component one-time; the metered usage is reset to zero and will not be billed the next recurring period. To read about components, visit our documentation.
Add a charge
To add a one-time charge, navigate to the subscription detail page by clicking on the “start date” or on the “view” link in the subscriptions listing. There, you will see a link to “add charge”. Further options exist for what type of charge you can apply, which we depict below in the examples.
Add a charge to an existing subscription
A charge can be immediate by selecting “Charge now” or the charge can be delayed until the next billing by selecting “Accrue this charge until next normal renewal (date)” as shown below.
Amount
A charge is created by entering an amount (i.e. “10.00”) and a memo (i.e. “Additional charge for extra usage”).
Charge now
The charge will initiate a payment to be collected from the credit card on file for the subscription.
Charge the current payment method on file
Create an invoice
If you have invoicing enabled, this will generate an invoice, but not charge the card on file.
Issue an invoice immediately
Accrue the charge
This will add a charge to the subscription, increase the balance, but not charge the card on file.
Accrue the charge until the next normal renewal
If payment fails
If the one-time payment fails, the following situations can apply:
-
Don’t accrue the charge: The balance due on the subscription will not increase if the one-time charge fails.
-
Accrue the charge: The balance due on the subscription will increase if the one-time charge fails
If the payment is denied, you will receive an immediate banner message stating that the card was declined (or that some other error occurred at the payment gateway).
Accrue the charge until the next normal renewal
Date Range
You can specify a date range to represent a service period for the charge. These dates are optional and do not impact the billing of the charge. If provided, the date range will be used for revenue placement on the Finance Report and Revenue Recognition report.
These dates are optional and represent a service period.
Is this charge taxable?
-
No: Tax will not be applied
-
Yes: Tax will be applied and calculated based on the shipping or billing address based on your tax settings.
Memo
A memo is required when adding a one-time charge. Please be specific and be aware that this memo will be added to the statement and communicated to the subscriber.
Add a memo to a one-time charge
Use Negative Balance
If a negative balance (credit) exists on a subscription, you may use it when you apply a one-time charge. Advanced Billing gives you the option of:
- Charging the card immediately for the full amount of the one-time charge
- Use the existing credit before charging the card on file for the remainder
Note the negative balance on the subscription
Select the option to use the negative balance for the one time charge
Example statement showing the credit, charge and payment
Authorize.Net users notice
If you are connected to the Authorize.Net gateway, any commas (“,”) you include in the memo will be removed before the transaction is submitted.