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Rate Plans Charges are the second half of the core of Rebillia’s subscriptions builder. They are the children of “Rate Plans” and are the content of the offer that customers subscribe to.
Introduction to “Rate Plan Charges”
A “Rate Plan Charge” (in short – “Charge”) is a component inside a customer’s subscription plan and is the part of the subscription that is translated into a line item in the recurring invoice. This is the component that holds the crucial information for the subscription to function, like frequency, price, charging model, product, lifetime etc. There is no limit to the number of charges that can be created within a Rate Plan, and they can be configured to either conditionally affect each other or operate completely individually from the rest of the charges in the same subscription plan.
Bulk Actions for Rate Plan Charges
- Bulk Action – Sync Product Rate Plan Charge data: Rebillia acknowledges the need for flexibility and control over subscription offerings. With this feature, businesses can now apply changes made to a product’s rate plan charges to all existing subscribers in bulk, ensuring consistency and saving time.
- Bulk Action – Link/Unlink external product to/from Rate Plan Charge: Manage your inventory effectively with the ability to link or unlink products to rate plan charges. Even when items are discontinued, this feature ensures that the subscription can continue by allowing the association of different products to the existing charges across all active subscriptions.
Need an example? –
When signing up for a plan with your local provider, you are purchasing the “High Speed Internet & Cable” plan for $79.99/m. Have you ever looked at your monthly statement and saw the breakdown of what your plan includes? – Those are “Rate Plan Charges”:
- $9.99 – Modem/Router Rent.
- $45.50 – High Speed Internet Package.
- $5.00 x 2 – Cable Boxes.
- $14.50 – Standard 100 Channels Package.
Creating a Charge
As charges hold the most important logic for the subscription, creating a charge will include fulfilling four sub-sections, each in charge of a different portion of its configuration:
- Details – In this section you will be tasked with giving the charge a display name (to be used in communication with the subscriber, like invoices, reminders etc), select wether the product is Physical or Digital, apply proper item dimensions (when physical is selected) and set whether this charge is eligible for free shipping or not.
- Price – In this section you will select the charge’s charging model (detailed below), price per unit, tax class as well as configure the pricing and quantity rules when purchased from a linked sale channel.
- Schedule – In this section you will create the schedule this charge should follow. Detailed explanation of all components of this section is available below.
- Rules – Individual charges can have rules applied specifically to them. In this section you will select whether you want to apply any of the rules and configure them appropriately. Detailed explanation of all available rules is available below.
Cancelling an Individual Rate Plan Charge
Company users can allow their customers to cancel individual rate plan charges within their rate plans. To cancel a charge, users can navigate to their subscription plan details and select the charge they wish to cancel. The cancellation will take effect based on the rules configured for end of term cancellation, ensuring a smooth transition and clear communication with the customer.
Charging Models
Charging models dictate the relationship between the price and the quantity of the charge. Rebillia offers multiple different types of charging models, to provide all necessary flexibility for businesses to bill their customers exactly the way they want.
- Flat Rate – This charge model will use the price set in the charge disregarding the quantity applied. For example, providing a customer with “Unlimited Users for a fixed price” against “$x per user”.
- Per Unit – This charge model is the most commonly used model. It will multiply the price set in the charge by the quantity applied on the charge. Using the previous example, this will be the “$x per user”.
- Tiered – This charge model will allow to set a unique “per unit” price point for every unique quantity range. Price tiers will be applied accumulatively and won’t override previous, lower, tiers. For example, “first 10 are $1 each, next 10 are $0.5 each” (This model is not limited to two tiers as the example shows).
- Volume – This charge model will allow to set a unique “per unit” price point for every unique quantity range. Only the highest eligible price point will be used, dictated by the quantity purchased. For example, “pay $1 each when buying up to 10 units, $0.5 each when buying 11 units or more” (This model is not limited to two tiers as the example shows).
Scheduling
To providing businesses with the ability to create any kind of recurring schedule they want, Rebillia offers an easy-to-use, yet powerful, schedule builder:
- Type – Select whether this charge is a “Recurring” charge or a “One Time” charge. While “Recurring” charges offer full customization of the following builder segments, “One Time” charges only allow configuring the “Starting Date” segment.
- Frequency Unit & Length – By selecting one of the available units (Days, Weeks, Months, Years) and pairing it with a numeric free input for length, you will be able to set the recurring frequency of this charge. For example, to create a monthly charge, you will select “Month” as the unit and input “1” as the length.
- Billing Day – This setting allows further configuration of the frequency to create more specific rules for the billing cycle to follow:
- Subscription Start Day – This is the default selection. This selection will have the billing cycle determined by the date the subscription was purchased. In combination with the “Frequency Unit & Length” segment, we can create a “Charge every 2 months, starting the moment the subscription was purchased” billing cycle.
- Specific Day of Week – Can be applied only to charges with “Week” selected as the frequency unit. This selection will allow selecting a specific day of the week this charge’s billing cycle should align to. In combination with the “Frequency Unit & Length” segment, we can create a “Charge every 2 weeks on Monday” billing cycle.
- Specific Date of Month – Can be applied only to charges with “Month” selected as the frequency unit. This selection will allow selecting a specific date in the monthly calendar this charge’s billing cycle should align to. In combination with the “Frequency Unit & Length” segment, we can create a “Charge every month on the 10th” billing cycle.
- Specific Day of Year – Can be applied only to charges with “Year” selected as the frequency unit. This selection will allow selecting a specific date in a year this charge’s billing cycle should align to. In combination with the “Frequency Unit & Length” segment, we can create a “Charge every year on August 1st” billing cycle.
- Starting Date – Select whether the charge should start immediately on purchase (default setting) or schedule a delay by number of Days/Weeks/Months/Years or count of billing cycles the subscription has had processed.
- End Date Condition – Select whether this charge is ongoing forever (until cancelled) or has a predetermined fixed periods until automatically stopped.
- Charge Now – Customers can utilize the “Charge Now” feature to instantly process payments for their subscriptions without waiting for the scheduled billing date, offering immediate access to services or products.
Charge Rules
Charge rules allow the business to add unique modifications to the charge.
- Loyalty Discounts – This rule will allow the business to set a unique discount, by price or percentage, to the price set on the charge that will be applied every X amount of billing cycles, set by the business. For example, “every 4th order is 50% off” or “get a free order once a year”.
- Cut Off – This rule will allow the business to set a cut off time/period to the charge, dictating the charge’s next charge date. This rule only works with charges that have their schedule set by Day or Date and not for any frequency based charges. For example, my magazine subscription is set to be charged on the 10th of every month. If a customer purchases (pays) a new subscription on the 9th – should I bill him again on the 10th (the next day) or not?
- End of Term Cancellation – Normally, a subscription will be cancelled immediately upon cancellation action has been taken. By applying this rule onto a charge, the business can dictate that the subscription will remain active until the next charge date of that specific charge. This rule is perfect for license/timed-membership type subscriptions where a customer prepays for a specific period of time and is able to cancel their subscription, while keeping their access for the entirety of the prepaid period of time.