Setting Up Plans

• Permission needed: Payment Plan permission
• Where to find it: In the Manage section.

The seller can set the following items for a Payment plan: 

Details

• Name: For keeping track of this Plan. Not customer facing.
• Start Date: The first date on which a customer may enroll in this Plan
• End Date: The last date on which a customer may enroll. Automated Payments can and typically do occur after this date.

Assignments

• Choose event and price levels: Select the events and individual price levels that will be available under this payment plan.

Set Payment Schedule

• Enter the payment dates associated with this payment plan.
• See below for more details.

Customer Facing Text

• Description for Customer: A description of the Plan that a customer will see during checkout, explaining what it will mean to choose this Plan instead of no Plan at all (or a different Plan).
• Detailed Terms: A recap of the description of the Plan, included on the final page of checkout after the customer has paid, and in the receipt email.

Usages 

You can view how many took advantage of the payment plan under Usage. 

 A new box will open containing the detailed information. 

Setting Up Dates 

Payment Plans revolve around Payment Dates. These are the days on which customers will be billed for some portion of what they owe. On each Date (and at the time of purchase), the customer pays their remaining balance divided by the number of dates that are still to come plus one.  

For instance, a customer places a $30 order on June 10th for a Plan that has payment dates on July 1st and August 1st. They pay $10 up front, $10 automatically on July 1st, and the final $10 automatically on August 1st. Refunds are counted towards the amount paid, so a seller can use refunds to lower the total owed for the order. If that customer instead placed their order on July 10th, they would pay $15 upfront and $15 on August 1st.

Note several things about the above formula:

• The final automatic payment will always be for whatever is still owed
• Altering the number of future payments will alter what customers are charged when a payment occurs

To maintain integrity, past dates cannot be altered or deleted. Changing, adding, or deleting future dates once a Plan has been launched should be carefully considered.

Assignments 

Payment Plans can be assigned to any price levels and bundles that a seller has. When a customer is checking out, they will have the option to choose any Plans, which are assigned to items in their cart. (Note: You cannot assign a payment plan to a price level that has a coupon assigned to it as this will not work.) 

Invoices 

After the initial payment, the system will store reference information to make subsequent charges. If an automatic payment fails to process, the customer will be sent an email with a link to a page where they can enter their billing information anew and make up for the failed payment. Their reference information will be updated. Even if they don't visit the page, automatic payments will continue to occur. These will "stack." Per the calculation listed above, any invoiced amounts are counted as "paid so far." So if a customer was supposed to have four automated payments of $10 each, but the first two fail, the customer will now have a single invoice for $20. If the third payment also fails, it will become a single invoice for $30. As long as a single invoice is stacking, the link will remain the same.

Customer Notes

• A customer could be charged the very next day (or hour) after placing an order if that is when the next Date occurs.
• When the final payment is complete, the user will receive their tickets. Until that time, the user can login and update order information (email, address, etc.) in the members area.

When updating the name on order in the member area, a name change fee will never be charged until all payments have been received. Any name change fee is ignored while the payment plan is still in effect.