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Thread: billing dates
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05-30-2003, 01:41 PM #1Junior Guru Wannabe
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billing dates
If someone signs up for hosting on the 31st of a given month, you can't simply specify that the customer should be billed on the 31st of the following month because the 31st may not exist if the next month ends on the 30th or the 28th.
The simple solution would be to set recurring billing to start on the 1st of the month if the signup date was on the 28th or greater. Or one could add the logic in the code to know what date to specify depending on the current month.
Currently, when someone signs up for hosting I initially perform a one-time transaction and then set up recurring billing to start the following month. This is an automated process through my merchant account.
How are resellers handling the billing aspect of running a hosting business?
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05-30-2003, 02:05 PM #2Junior Guru Wannabe
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Re: Signups on the 31st
Does that mean the merchant account system will only bill them during months that are 31 days long?
Will it not attempt to bill the customer for months that are shorter than 31 days simply because the date (31st) doesn't come up to trigger the credit card charge?
I'll have to contact my merchant account provider about this.
Anyone else had to deal with these issues?
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05-30-2003, 02:10 PM #3Web Hosting Evangelist
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I haven't seen a recurring billing solution that allows for you to set it up on any date past the 28th. I have not looked at many though.
I know with some systems you can just choose to set it for the last day in a month and the logic will handle it. I say just push it forward to the 1st to make it easy on you.
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05-30-2003, 02:45 PM #4Junior Guru Wannabe
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We just bill people on the day it would've been had there been enough days in the month.
So for example if you sign up on the 31st and there is no 31st that month you will be billed on the 1st of the next month. If you sign up on the 29th and there's only 28 days you will be billed on the 1st of the next month.
It doesn't seem to cause any problems and the customers don't really seem to think twice about it.
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05-30-2003, 07:32 PM #5Junior Guru Wannabe
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I've decided to set the recurring billing date to the 28th if the current date is greater than (>) 28. Setting it to 1 complicates things, because you also have to increment the month and possibly the year in that case. It complicates things because I already have a check that handles how the recurring billing is set when the current month is less than 12... and when it isn't less than 12 (December). I wouldn't want to further complicate the month/year setting.
Your ideas and suggestions have helped me figure this out. Thanks
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05-31-2003, 06:46 PM #6WHT Addict
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?
What's the difficulty? CC processors like 2checkout and Paysystems just do monthly stuff every 30 days...365/12=30.417. They also do yearly stuff at 360 days.
Seems like a simple and effective enough system to me. Maybe I misunderstood your question though
B
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05-31-2003, 07:03 PM #7Junior Guru
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I recommend you just bill every 30 days. It's much easier to count.. and most likely your bank and utilities operate on a similar schedule.
Customers will notice their billing date slip a bit.. you are offset 5 days each year.. but it shouldn't be a big deal.Hugh Buchanan
harveyopolis corporation
userfriendly.com / killersecurity.com
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05-31-2003, 07:07 PM #8Web Hosting Master
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You can always prorate the first month of service to the first of next month and then start the regular recurring amounts from there. This option works pretty good if you have customers with several accounts as all their accounts will be on one invoice.
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05-31-2003, 10:37 PM #9Web Hosting Master
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Just bill every 30 days.. problem solved.
• Have • you • Floble'd • today? •
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06-01-2003, 01:05 PM #10Junior Guru Wannabe
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Unfortunately, it's not quite so simple. You see, I have my own merchant account with which to accept credit card payments in my business name.
I use the API (programming codes) provided by my merchant account provider to automatically charge a credit card upon signup for hosting.
As a "one-time transaction" type is easier to get approved by a credit card issuing bank compared to a "recurring transaction" type, the first transaction that is performed on signup, is of "one-time" type. Further down in the same programming script, I then setup recurring billing to start the following month. I have to pass the recurring billing start date through the API to the merchant account system. Once set with billing frequency at "monthly", the merchant account system will automatically charge the customer credit card on the start date specified, and then on the same day the following month, etc.
Because the merchant account system automatically charges the credit card monthly without any interaction by me, the only thing I have to make sure I set correctly is the start date for recurring billing.
The concept of charging a customer every 30 days is fine, if the billing system is not automated and you are handling the billing yourself somehow.
Also, using 2checkout.com or paysystems.com means you don't have to worry about these things because you are using a third-party merchant account, not your own.
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06-02-2003, 01:00 PM #11Web Hosting Master
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What is your web hosting site called whtaddict?
Can you give us the URL??