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Customers may subscribe to one or more products/services that you offer and a separate invoice for each subscription renewal is generated, by default. When multiple subscriptions renew on the same day, the customer could receive too many invoices on a single day from you.
Consolidated invoicing in Chargebee helps combine all charges raised on any given day into a single invoice.
There are some limitations while using the consolidated invoicing feature in Chargebee. These limitations are:
is Not
and Does not Include
related to the following subscription fields will not be present.
The subscription renewals and unbilled charges for a customer can be consolidated into single invoice only when they meet ALL of the following conditions:
Consolidated Invoicing is disabled in Chargebee by default. To enable consolidated invoicing in your Chargebee site, follow these steps:
Note:
Here's a sample of an invoice that consolidates charges for a customer:
To disable the feature in your Chargebee site, follow this step:
This disables invoice consolidation for your site completely. On re-enabling the feature, the Customer-level settings are restored.
Let's look at examples of how the invoices of multiple subscriptions for a customer get consolidated.
Example 1
Subscription A | Subscription B | Subscription C | |
---|---|---|---|
Renewal Date | Today | Today | Today |
Renewal Charges | USD 30 | USD 45 | USD 240 |
Auto-collection status | On | On | On |
Payment Method | VISA card ending 1118 | VISA card ending 9998 | VISA card ending 1118 |
Based on the prerequisites mentioned before, the charges for subscriptions A and C with the same payment method are consolidated. A separate invoice is raised for subscription B.
Example 2
Subscription A | Subscription B | Subscription C | Subscription D | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Renewal Date | Today | Today | Today | Today |
Renewal Charges | AUD 100 | AUD 170 | USD 230 | USD 120 |
Auto-collection status | Off | Off | Off | Off |
Here we can observe that subscriptions A and B are billed in AUD while C and D are billed in USD. This results in two invoices, one for each pair of subscriptions.
You can enable or disable consolidated invoicing for specific customers using both the user interface and the API.
Using Chargebee's User Interface
To customize the consolidated invoicing settings for specific customers, follow these steps:
On selecting any of the last two options, the details page for the customer shows the current setting.
Using API
You can also enable or disable consolidated invoicing for a customer using the API:
When you invoice unbilled charges for a customer on demand, subject to the consolidation rules, the charges across different subscriptions are consolidated into one or more invoices.
If you add an unbilled charge to a subscription, Chargebee automatically invoices it separately from the next renewal of another subscription if that renewal occurs before the parent subscription's renewal.
For example:
When Subscription B renews on January 1, Chargebee generates two invoices: one for the unbilled charge for Subscription A and another for the renewal of Subscription B.
When multiple subscriptions renew on the same day but at different times, Chargebee consolidates the invoice at the time of the last renewal for that day. Until then, the other renewals for the day are added to unbilled charges.
Note:
If Chargebee is running on day-based billing mode then all renewals would be scheduled for the beginning of the renewal date.
If your dunning settings are configured to cancel subscriptions on dunning failure, all subscriptions on a consolidated invoice are canceled if dunning fails.
In a consolidated invoice, Chargebee displays the most immediate next billing date from all recurring charges as the invoice's next billing date.
If a coupon applies to all charges on the invoice, Chargebee adds it at the bottom of the invoice. If the coupon only applies to some charges, it appears at the line-item level.
If you enable metered billing in your Chargebee site, you can consolidate invoices for subscriptions with both metered and non-metered components, as long as they meet all prerequisites for consolidation. Charges for multiple subscriptions are combined into a single invoice with pending status. You can add usage to the associated subscriptions before closing the invoice.
For multiple subscriptions with metered and non-metered components, Chargebee generates a consolidated pending invoice based on the subscription that renews last in chronological order.
Let's consider the following three subscriptions with metered and non-metered components renewing on the same day for consolidated invoicing:
Subscriptions with automatic closure of invoices: If invoices for all these subscriptions are set to close automatically with a wait period of two hours, Chargebee generates a consolidated pending invoice at 3:00 PM (when the last subscription renews). You can add usage to the pending invoice for all subscriptions until the last automatic closure time, which is 3:00 PM + 2 hours = 5:00 PM.
Subscriptions with manual closure of invoices: If invoices for all these subscriptions are set for manual closure, Chargebee generates a consolidated pending invoice at 3:00 PM. You can add usage to the pending invoice for all subscriptions until you manually close the invoice.
You can manually close the pending invoice at any time, with or without adding usage. Once closed, Chargebee sends the consolidated invoice to the customer.
Subscriptions with automatic and manual closure of invoices: Consider the following three subscriptions with metered and non-metered components renewing on the same day for consolidated invoicing:
Chargebee generates a consolidated pending invoice at 8:00 PM. You can add usage to the pending invoice for all subscriptions until you manually close the invoice.
You can manually review and close the pending invoice at any time, with or without adding usage. Once closed, Chargebee sends the consolidated invoice to the customer.
Note:
To manually review the consolidated pending invoice before closing it, make sure you set manual closure of invoices for at least one subscription.
Taxes for all charges on the invoice are calculated based on the invoice date, regardless of when the charge was created. For example, if you create a one-time charge in the middle of the term and add it to unbilled items, Chargebee calculates the tax for the one-time charge as it applies on the invoice creation date.
Any custom fields that apply to a particular subscription appear at the line-item level in a consolidated invoice (containing multiple subscriptions/charges). However, the PO number and custom fields from the subscription are filled in only during invoice creation.
1. How does consolidated invoicing affect my new sales report?
The new sales report shows the total value of new recurring invoices generated for a particular period. For any given period, this report displays the total value of all first recurring invoices generated during that period.
When invoices are consolidated, only the line items of the consolidated invoice that are recurring first for a subscription are included in the New Sales report.
2. How does the change in time zone affect consolidated invoicing?
Consolidated invoicing includes multiple line items renewing at different times throughout the day. If you change the time zone, these line items should still renew on the same day, regardless of the time zone change. Chargebee automatically manages this adjustment.
For example, a customer receives a consolidated invoice for three subscriptions that renew at three different times of the day.
Line Item # | Subscription Name | Renewal Date | Renewal Time |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Subscription #1 | 1 Jan 2017 | 10.00 AM |
2. | Subscription #2 | 1 Jan 2017 | 3.00 PM |
3. | Subscription #3 | 1 Jan 2017 | 9.30 PM |
If you change the time zone from UTC to IST, the renewal time shifts, so the renewal date will change for some line items in the invoice.
Line Item # | Subscription Name | Renewal Date | Renewal Time |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Subscription #1 | 1 Jan 2017 | 3.30 PM |
2. | Subscription #2 | 1 Jan 2017 | 8.30 PM |
3. | Subscription #3 | 2 Jan 2017 | 3.00 AM |
This shift appears in the current month's invoice, but the invoice amount remains the same. For all future renewals, the renewal day and time reset to the original schedule.
Line Item # | Subscription Name | Renewal Date | Renewal Time |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Subscription #1 | 1 Feb 2017 | 10.00 AM |
2. | Subscription #2 | 1 Feb 2017 | 3.00 PM |
3. | Subscription #3 | 1 Feb 2017 | 9.30 PM |
3. Why do Charges Get Invoiced with a Different Subscription in Consolidated Invoicing?
In consolidated invoicing, charges from different subscriptions are grouped together on a single invoice. However, when you add an unbilled charge to a subscription, it may be invoiced separately, especially if the charge is added before or after another subscription's renewal.
Why This Happens
Each subscription has its own renewal cycle, and charges (including unbilled ones) are invoiced based on the renewal date of the subscription they belong to. If you add an unbilled charge to one subscription, but that subscription's renewal is after another subscription's renewal, Chargebee treats the unbilled charge as a separate item and generates it separately.
Example
Here's an example to illustrate this:
Here's how the invoicing works:
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