How to enable dunning in subscriptions?

Topics Covered.

What is dunning?

How to configure dunning?

Dunning is a useful feature that enables Chargebee to automatically retry the payment for an invoice in case of a payment failure. When auto collection is ON (either on the customer or Subscription) payment attempts will be made on the payment method on file (card/direct debit). On failure of the initial charge, dunning will kick-in to retry the payment in defined intervals.

For offline dunning (when the auto collection is OFF) only emails will triggered.

To enable dunning, head to Settings > Configure Chargebee > Dunning for online/offline payments. Chargebee offers different dunning configurations based on the customer's payment method.

1. Dunning for Online Payments

• For online payment modes such as card and e-wallet, you can configure the dunning period and the number of payment retries.

• You can then choose the action to be performed on the subscription(cancel, remain active) and invoice(mark not-paid, write off, void) if all the retries fail.

2. Dunning for Offline Payments

• In case of offline payments, since Chargebee doesn't attempt to collect charges, the dunning settings are configured only for the Dunning period and the action to be taken at the end of this period.

3. Dunning for Direct Debit Payments

• For Direct debit payments, a maximum of 2 payment attempts can be made. Further attempts might result in the cancellation of the mandate.

• Hence you can configure only for the Dunning period and the action to be taken at the end of this period.

Apart from retrying the failed payment, you can also notify your customers about retrying the payment attempt.

These emails are designed as reminders for the upcoming payment retries so that your customers are aware of the charge that is taken outside of their billing date.

Email notifications for dunning:

• You can configure email reminders to notify the customers about the payment failure and also provide an option for them to update their payment details.

• Separate email notifications are also available based on the payment method. Head to Settings > Configure Chargebee > Email Notifications > Dunning for Online Payments/Dunning for Offline Payments.

If invoice is still not paid after the dunning period, subscriptions can be set to auto cancel for which the cancel reason will be Not Paid.

Note:

The Dunning period cannot exceed 270days

The last email notification cannot be configured after or on the same day as the last dunning payment attempt.