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Micro Billing

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Tim

18 Feb, 2010 06:58 AM

Quick question reguarding micro billing...

Say I set a tracked item for a monthly plan at 0 for the included and overage as 1.00 and then I don't select the monthly option.

If someone selects this feature in my app and I upgrade their amount used to 1, will that 1 stay there after the month and will they keep being billed monthly 1.00 for the overage or will I have to update their amount to 1 every month?

Thanks,
Tim

1. Support Staff 1 Posted by Marc Guyer on 18 Feb, 2010 04:02 PM

   

   If someone selects this feature in my app and I upgrade their amount used to 1, will that 1 stay there after the month and will they keep being billed monthly 1.00 for the overage?

   That's exactly correct. The "periodic" ("monthly" in the case of a monthly plan) checkbox means just that. Selecting this checkbox means that CG will reset customers' quantity for that item back to zero at the beginning of each billing period (month). Leaving the checkbox unchecked means that the customers' quantity for the item will remain whatever you set it to.

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2. 2 Posted by Tim Collins on 18 Feb, 2010 05:47 PM

   

   Is there any proration done on this? Like if someone is in the middle
   of the cycle and I add the 1 woud they only be billed 50 cents or
   would the charge actually occur at the start of the next cycle if I'm
   pre billing?

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3. Support Staff 3 Posted by Marc Guyer on 18 Feb, 2010 11:39 PM

   

   Nothing like that happens right now. Currently, the answer to your second question:

   ... would the charge actually occur at the start of the next cycle if I'm pre billing?

   is yes. We are considering some proration handling for tracked items but it hasn't been discussed beyond the "something needs to happen there" stage.

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4. 4 Posted by Tim Collins on 19 Feb, 2010 12:29 AM

   

   Thanks Marc for all of the replies ...

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5. 5 Posted by Tim Collins on 19 Feb, 2010 08:06 PM

   

   Marc,

   My biggest issue with the way the tracked items work is this:

   If I have someone on an annual package and I want to microbill for a la carte features, I run into an issue where they might add the feature month 1 but not be charged for it until their next cycle a year later. Odviously that doesnt work. Also, I can't make the add ons monthly if their package is annual. Unless I'm missing something these seem like big issues.

   We are currently using chargify to do our billing but would love to switch over to you guys. You seem to be doing a better job with the overall billing options. Do you have any timeline on ways to make the above issues work out correctly?

   Thanks,
   Tim

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6. Support Staff 6 Posted by Marc Guyer on 19 Feb, 2010 11:00 PM

   

   Also, I can't make the add ons monthly if their package is annual.

   That is the case. A few workaround suggestions... You could, as I'm sure you've already guessed, make it a monthly package. Option two, give the customer two subscriptions. One for the annual fee and one for the microbilling. To do this, the customer would need two unique customer records in CG (each with a different customer code). Option three (not yet available) periodically generate an arbitrary one-time invoice based on the current usage. Option four, use a monthly plan with an annually-sized monthly rate. Then issue an arbitrary credit for an amount equal to 11 months worth of the annually-sized monthly rate.
   

   Options 2-4 are obviously hacks. I'd suggest keeping it simple. Are you hoping to provide the annual plan as a mainstream option?
   

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7. 7 Posted by Tim Collins on 19 Feb, 2010 11:05 PM

   

   We are actually offering the annual plan as a test at a conference
   next week... If it goes well we might go from a service level month to
   an a la carte annual and monthly...

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8. Marc Guyer closed this discussion on 18 May, 2010 01:44 PM.