PrePay 3 Months - Then Monthly After That (How?)

[dalmuti]

I am setting up maintenance services that require a 3-month commitment and will be prepaid for the first 3 months and after that as a recurring monthly charge.

 

Is that possible.....if so, please explain how to set it up.

 

Thanks,

 

Louise

[Matt]

You would either need to set it up as a quarterly product and have them pay once every 3 months or set it up as monthly and charge a setup fee initially to take the extra 2 months charges.

 

Matt

[brianoz]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the problem with the setup/monthly approach that you'd need to go in manually and update the next due date to be 3 months away?

 

Quarterly wouldn't work as he wants to bill monthly after the first three months.

 

Reason I'm piping up in here, is I have a similar need - want to supply a product free for the first 6 months (as a free eval when I train groups) and then bill $20 for the remaining 6 months and then bill annually as per normal.

 

Just an idea that might work here: What could do this is a "next product" facility. How this would work is, when they sign up for a product they are billed for that product, and that product then specifies that on payment they are to be switched to a new product, with the next due date moved as appropriate. That new product could then have completely different billing rules. Don't know if you like this but I think it could provide some pretty spunky flexibility with billing rules etc.

 

As an example in my case where I want:

• first six months free
  
• next 6 months $20
  
• from then on, normal annual charge, say $80

This could look like:

• Product: intro_hosting_offer $0, 6 months till next due - next product intro_first_charge
  
• Product: intro_first_charge $30, 6 months till next due - next product normal_basic_hosting
  
• Product: normal_basic_hosting $80, 12 months till next due, product stays the same

I don't know whether this qualifies as an ugly hack or not, feel free to apply the boot to my bum if it does!! Personally I think this provides unprecedented flexibility and is quite elegant. The hosting package could even change with each new product stage with this scheme!

 

Cheers, Brian

[dalmuti]

I am new to WHMCS but I think that sounds like an interesting idea, automating the process and eliminating hassle of alot of manual manipulation.

 

Thanks,

 

Louise

[brianoz]

By the way, for what it's worth, I think an appropriate name for this feature would be "product chaining"...