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Using Formula Pricing to Assign Late Fees

Corey Syrnyk
  • Updated

Formula pricing is a specialized pricing model on subscription products that allows a calculated amount to be charged, used in a specific case for handling late fees.

Stax Bill offers an opening balance late fee, which will determine a late fee based on the customer's balance and an invoice aging late fee, which is based on the age of the balance on the customer's account.mceclip0.png

You can charge late fees using a fixed amount, a percentage amount, or a combination of both based on a minimal value.

Note: For a simple late fee solution, a purchase of a one-time fee can be used to add a late fee manually.

To set a late fee for a specific amount

When an invoice becomes overdue, you can set a fixed amount of late fee to the invoice. To set a fixed late fee for an overdue invoice, complete the following:

  1. In Stax Bill, in the left menu, navigate to Catalog.
  2. On the Catalog page, under the Products section, click Create Product.
  3. On the Create Product page, under Product type, select Recurring.
  4. Provide a name for the product, for example, Late Fee.
  5. Click Save.
  6. On the Catalog page, click Plans.
  7. On the Plans page, select a plan. From the products tab, select the Late Fee product and click Assign Product.
  8. On the Add Plan Product page, in the Pricing section, from the Type dropdown menu, select the Formula.
  9. Below the Formula type, select Opening balance or Invoice aging. Opening balance using the balance to determine if a late fee should be applied and is best suited for 0 net term customers. Invoice aging using a time calculation to determine when to apply a late fee and is best suited with clients who use terms other than net 0.
  10. In the Pricing column, enter 0 for When Invoice Opening Balance or for invoice aging the time before charging, which would be the customers' net terms.  Enter 0 for the Charge %. 
  11. Enter the fixed late fee amount to charge in the With a minimum charge of. In the example, it is set to $5 when an invoice goes unpaid.mceclip0
  12. Click Show Advanced Settings below the pricing section.
  13. Under Quantity Management,
    • Track unique quantities should be set to Off.
    • Quantity should be set to 1.
    • Fixed Quantity should be On to lock the quantity at 1.
  • Under Advanced Display, Generate $0 charges should be Off.mceclip1
  • Click Save.

To set a late fee for a percentage of the overdue amount

A late fee of a percentage of an overdue amount is typical of an interest rate type late fee. A percentage of the outstanding balance is calculated and added to the invoice amount. To set a percentage-based late fee, complete the following:

  1. Continue as described above to step 9.
  2. In the Pricing section, enter a value for When Invoice Opening Balance or the time when to charge for invoice aging. This is when the formula should be applied. Entering 0 means the formula will activate as soon as the balance or invoice age is higher than 0.
  3. For Charge %, enter a percentage to be charged against the outstanding balance if the opening balance or invoice age is higher than what was entered in step 2.
  4. Enter a value for With a minimum charge of if there is a minimum charge to be applied for overdue invoices. This value is applied when the charge % amount is less than the minimum charge, in which case the minimum charge would be applied and not the charge %. mceclip0
  5. Click Show Advanced Settings below the pricing section and configure as listed above.

Special considerations and requirements for Opening Balance type:

  • The late fee product needs to be included with the subscription.
  • It needs to be set to be an end-of-period charge
  • Proration needs to be disabled.
  • Consideration needs to be made of what it means when a customer adds a new subscription or product while their account is still in poor standing with overdue invoices.
  • It applies to the next outgoing recurring charge of the same subscription.
  • if there's an opening balance over a threshold, It does not add charges retroactively, only one fee, end of the period.
  • It does not charge the customer with a separate automated charge mid-period.

*Opening Balance: This is the balance owing (or on deposit) when this invoice was posted. It does NOT include any charges on the current invoice.

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