Members' dues: setting up, pausing and credit

Set up a member's recurring payments from their record, pause or resume collection, change their payment method and add account credit.

A member's dues are collected by a payment schedule built from their membership plan. You manage it from the Payments card in the details column of the member's record. The schedule itself also shows in Payments, on the Schedules tab (see Payment schedules and retries).

Your business's Payments account needs to be set up first. See Setting up payments - card and bank debit. To set up or change a member's dues, you need a role that can manage members' billing. Without it, a card with no billing yet reads Adding billing needs the billing permission., and some roles see Billing details are restricted for your role. instead of the amounts.

Add a membership plan

The member needs a membership plan on their record first. Then:

1. Open the member and find the Payments card. It reads No membership plan billing yet.
2. Select Add membership plan.
3. The member's plan shows at the top. If the plan has more than one billing option, choose one under Billing.
4. Set the First billing date. It defaults to today and can't be earlier.
5. If the member belongs to an organisation, choose under Bill to whether to bill the person or the organisation.
6. Under How they pay, choose:
   • Send invoices to pay - each cycle issues an invoice for them to pay.
   • Charge a saved method automatically - each cycle charges a payment method on file. Pick it under Payment method, or choose Attach one later.
   • Paid outside Prevarro - the member holds the plan but pays you another way, so Prevarro doesn't invoice or charge them.
7. Select Start billing. If the first billing date is later than today, the button reads Schedule billing.

A plan that starts later shows Billing starts with its first billing date under the card's buttons until its first cycle's invoice is raised.

No payment link is sent from here. If you chose Attach one later, the card shows No payment method on file yet until one is added. To ask the member for one, select Change, then Send update link.

If the plan needs a payment method before its free trial starts, setup here needs a method on file. To send the member a card link instead, start them from Payments → Schedules with Start from a membership plan.

What the card shows

Once dues are set up, the Payments card shows the payment method, the Amount, the date they're Paid through and the Next charge. It also shows their Last payment, and their Account credit if they have any. Select the Invoices button to see the invoices billed to them.

The card also tells you when something needs attention:

• Overdue - in dunning - a payment failed and is being retried, with which retry it's on and when the next one is. Select Send update link to ask the member for a new payment method.
• A card that's about to expire shows when it expires. Select Send link to ask for a new one before it fails.
• Membership open - no active billing - the schedule was cancelled in Payments, but the membership is still open. Select Add membership plan to start billing again.

For why a payment failed, see Why did a payment fail?.

Pause and resume

1. Select Pause.
2. Read what will happen, then select Pause membership.

If the member is paid up, their paid period runs out first: collection pauses on the next billing date, and the card shows Collection pauses on with that date. Until then, Withdraw pause keeps collection going. If a payment is failing, collection stops straight away and the retries are held until you resume. Either way, the dialog notes that the member's access continues.

While paused, the card shows Collection paused. To restart:

1. Select Resume.
2. Leave Resume from on today and select Resume membership, or pick a later date and select Set resume date.

The dialog says when collection restarts. A held payment is retried, and otherwise billing restarts at the next billing date. A resume date you've set shows on the card, and you can remove it with Withdraw resume date.

Change the payment method

Select Change beside the payment method. In Change payment method, pick another method the member has on file and select Save, or select Send update link to send them a secure link to add a new one. The link goes by email and text, to whichever of those their record has.

Add account credit

1. Select Add credit.
2. Enter the amount. The label says whether it's tax included or before tax, following how your business enters prices.
3. Pick a Reason: Goodwill, Quality issue, Wrong amount, Scope change, Duplicate charge or Other.
4. Add a note if you like. It's kept on the member's activity.
5. Select Add credit.

As the dialog says, the credit comes off the member's next invoices until it's used up. It never expires and isn't paid out as cash. If you charged a member twice or too much, they may be entitled to their money back, so offer a refund if they ask. The card's header shows the credit left.

To void credit, open Payments → Customers and open the customer. Under Account credit, select the void button beside the credit, give a reason under Why it is voided and select Void credit. The unused credit stops coming off invoices, and credit already used stays on its invoices. You need a role that can manage payment schedules.

Extend a trial

If the member is on a trial, or their trial has ended, and nothing has been charged yet, select Extend trial. Pick the New trial end and select Extend trial to with the date. If the trial has already ended, the new end must be after today, and they're back on trial until then.