More information on what is a billing period can be found here: Billing Period.
Changes to these settings do not retroactively affect existing subscriptions. It will only affect new subscriptions created after the settings have been changed.
To edit/view the default billing period preferences, log in to your account and navigate to Settings >Financial >Default Billing Periods Preferences.
Your screen will look like the screenshot below. Mark the appropriate fields and click save. More information about the fields can be found below.
The columns are divided into 3:
1. Frequency: This is the base frequency for which the elements on the same row will define the defaults. For example, a plan that has a 3-month billing period still falls under monthly frequency settings for defining the billing period.
2. Billing Day: Defines what the default billing period's day will be on a customer. The options are:
- Customer activation: Subscriptions will bill, by default, on cycles based on the day the customer is activated (e.g. if a customer is activated on January 2, the billing day will be on the second day of the month). If a subscription is later activated, it will still follow the same day the customer was activated.
- Subscription activation: Subscriptions will bill, by default, on cycles based on the day a subscription is activated (if a customer is activated on January 2, but their first subscription is activated on January 5, then the day of the billing period will be the 5th day of the month). For a yearly frequency, the subscription billing date will be the month and day of the first activation (e.g. January 5). This will be heavily affected by the "How to Invoice" option in the next column.
- Specify a date: For monthly frequencies, you can specify a billing day (use this setting to have all customers' billing date set to the first day of the month) For annual frequencies, you can specify a specific day of the year (have all customers bill on November 1 or have customers set to be distributed on a specific day for the current month they are created in (i.e. all customers created in June would have a billing day of June 1 and all customers created in July would have a billing day of July 1. All new subscriptions will follow these rules unless otherwise specified.
3. How to Invoice: choose when and how you want the customers to be invoiced. The options are:-
- On one invoice: All subscriptions with the same frequency will be grouped into a single billing period and a single invoice to the customer. Note that with this setting, any new subscriptions activated mid-way through the billing period will use the pre-existing billing period on the customer. Subscriptions will be pro-rated according to any rules set for pro-ration on the Plan in the catalog and/or overridden at the customer level. This does not mean that mid-period charges or purchases will sit on the same invoice.
- One invoice per subscription: Each activated subscription will go onto its billing period and generate a separate invoice. For example, a subscription activated on January 2 will generate a single invoice for a full month's (or year's) service till February 2 (or January 2 of the following year). A new subscription on the same customer purchased on January 15 will be billed a full month from Jan 15 to Feb 15 (or Jan 15 to Jan 15 for an annual).
- One invoice per day: If a customer signs up for multiple subscriptions of the same frequency on the same day, they will all be grouped on a single invoice; if the customer comes back later and buys one or more new subscriptions, they will, in turn, have their invoice for a full period.
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Ask me each time: When processing invoices through the Stax Bill Admin UI, you will always be prompted to decide whether to put a new subscription on an existing billing period/invoice (pro-rating as required) or to create a new billing period/invoice. The API will also prevent the creation of a new subscription if it is not informed which option to use.