Setting Up Recurring Charges

A guide to creating recurring charges via Stripe

Recurring charges is a flexible billing feature that allows you to charge customers a fixed amount regularly through Stripe. Unlike Payment Plans, recurring charges don't require an end date or a pre-generated invoice. Once activated, they run continuously from the selected start date until they are manually disabled.

Step 1: Add Payment Cards

Before you can set up recurring charges, ensure the following:

• Debit/Credit card payments are activated (head to Billing > Settings > Payment Methods, to check).
• Your Stripe account is connected to Class Manager (not sure how to do this? Click here).

Since recurring charges rely on automatic payments, customers who wish to use this feature must save their payment card information in Class Manager.

How to Request Payment Card Information:

1. Click < to the right of Customers.
2. In the expanded menu click View All.
3. Select the customer (or all customers) who wish to enable recurring charges by ticking the box next to their names.
4. Click on Group Actions, and choose Request Payment Method.

This action sends an automated email prompting customers to add their payment card details via the portal. Once their card details are saved, recurring charges can be activated for them.

Step 2: Configure Recurring Charges

To configure the default recurring charges:

1. Click < to the right of Billing.
2. In the expanded menu click Recurring Charges.
3. Navigate to the Settings tab.

Configuration Options:

• Generate Recurring Charges and Invoices: Automatically generates an invoice for each payment. The invoice will be marked as paid, and the customer's account balance will remain clear unless additional charges are added manually.
• Generate Recurring Charges Only: Creates automatic payments without generating invoices. Payments appear as credits on their customer's account, which can be manually assigned to future invoices. This is ideal for customers who prefer to prepay for future fees, such as term fees, costumes, or exams.

Step 3: Select Customers and Set Up Recurring Charges

Once your configuration is set, follow these steps to create recurring charges for specific customers:

1. Click < to the right of Billing.
2. In the expanded menu click Recurring Charges and click Create button.
3. Select the customers for whom recurring charges need to be enabled and click Create Recurring Charges button.
4. Set the following:
   1. Select the Recurring Charges Creation:
      1. Generate Recurring Charges and Invoices (Generate new invoices for each payment)
      2. Generate Recurring Charges only (Creates automatic payments only. Payments will appear as credits on the customer account)
      3. Generate Recurring Charges and Assign to Pending Invoices (Creates automatic payments and assigns payments to unpaid invoices) 
   2. Start Date: The date of the first payment.
   3. Payment Frequency: Choose between monthly or every 4 weeks.
   4. Fixed amount: The amount to be charged for each payment.
5. Click Create Recurring Charges button to save the settings. You will then be redirected to the Overview page, where you can see the list of customers with active recurring charges.

Managing Recurring Charges

• You can view the details of each customer's recurring charges by clicking on their name in the Overview.
• Editing recurring charges is not possible, but you can cancel them if needed.
• Track the payment history and check the status of each recurring payment in the recurring charges section.

What Happens When a Recurring Charge Fails

If a recurring charge fails, the system will not automatically retry the payment, so a manual retry is required. To manually retry the charge:

1. Click < to the right of Billing.
2. In the expanded menu click Recurring Charges 
3. Find the customer with the failed payment, and on the next page, click the Retry button.

Please note that the status of the payment needs to be 'failed' for the 'retry' button to show. So you may need to change the status first.

Setting up recurring charges simplifies your billing process, ensuring consistent and timely payments without the need for manual invoicing each time. 🌟