Recurring billing looks simple until a customer upgrades mid-month, a card expires or a payment fails on renewal day.
This section explains the moving parts of subscription billing — billing periods, recurring invoices and charges, what happens when a payment fails — and walks through setting up recurring payments on the platforms small businesses use most.
12 articles
A QuickBooks recurring invoice is built from a saved template on a schedule. Here are the template types, the settings that matter and a filled-in example.
10 min read
Stripe usage-based billing turns meter events into an invoice at the end of each period. Here is how meters, usage prices, credits and late events work, with a worked bill.
10 min read
Stripe recurring payments are built from a product, a price, a customer and a subscription that issues an invoice each period. Here is how setup, renewals and fees work.
10 min read
A recurring credit card payment is a scheduled charge to a card the customer agreed to keep on file. Here is how the first payment, later charges, tokens and disputes work.
10 min read
A monthly recurring charge (MRC) is the fixed amount billed each month under a service contract. See how it differs from NRC and usage, with a worked first invoice.
10 min read
Recurring charges are amounts a business collects on a schedule under one standing agreement. Here is how to authorize, describe and label them so customers recognize them.
10 min read
A recurring ACH payment is an automatic, repeating debit from a US bank account. Here is how it is authorized, how it moves, how long it takes and how it can come back.
11 min read
Setting up recurring payments means getting permission once and collecting on a schedule. Here are the six decisions a business has to make, in order.
10 min read
A failed payment is a charge the customer's bank declined or sent back. Here is why it happens, when a retry is allowed, and what to do in order.
10 min read
A billing period is the stretch of time one bill covers. See how it differs from the billing cycle, billing date and due date, with worked proration.
9 min read
A recurring invoice is one template that produces a new numbered bill on a schedule. Here is what to set, a filled-in example and the mistakes to avoid.
9 min read
Subscription billing is a repeating cycle of charge, collect and renew. Here is each stage in order, with a proration example and what regulators expect.
10 min read
