Renewals

How a service renews

Each service has a next due date and a billing cycle. A renewal moves the due date on by one cycle.

A service renews in one of three ways.

1. The automation creates the invoice

Turn on Create Renewal Invoices Automatically in Settings > Automation Settings > Invoicing & Reminders and set Generate Invoices This Many Days Ahead. Every day the automation looks at your active services. When a service's billing period starts within that many days, it creates the renewal invoice and emails it to the client (with the PDF attached when PDF invoices are on). When the invoice is paid, the next due date moves on by one billing cycle and a service that was suspended for non-payment is switched back on.

• A service gets one invoice per billing period. If you cancel that invoice, it is not created again for the same period.
• Services that are suspended, being cancelled, one-time, or free are skipped.
• A renewal invoice that already exists (for example from Renew now) counts, so the client is not invoiced twice.
• With Continuous Invoice Generation on (General Settings > Invoices), the invoice for the next period is also created while the previous one is still unpaid. With it off, nothing new is created until the current invoice is paid or cancelled and the due date moves.
• The switch is off until you turn it on, and an update never turns it on by itself.

The reminders before the due date, the overdue notices, late fees, suspension and termination then work on these invoices like on any other.

2. The client renews (On-Demand Renewals)

Turn on On-Demand Renewals in General Settings > Ordering and set, for each billing cycle, how many days before the due date the client may renew. When the service is inside that window, the client sees a Renew now button on the service page.

Pressing it creates an unpaid renewal invoice with one renewal line. If an unpaid renewal invoice already exists, the client is sent to it instead of getting a second one. When the invoice is paid, the next due date moves on by one billing cycle. A service with a cancellation request or a zero amount cannot be renewed this way.

3. You create the invoice

From a client's page, or Billings > Invoices > Create Invoice, create the renewal invoice yourself. Then adjust the service's next due date when you record the payment.

Overdue services

Whatever the way you invoice, the automation acts on the due date: reminders, overdue notices, late fees, suspension after the grace period and termination after the overdue limit. See Automation Settings.

On a service page you can exempt one service from automatic suspension until a date.

Domains

A domain renews for one year at a time, at the renewal price from your Domain pricing. Grace and redemption fees are added when a lapsed domain is renewed, and a renewal that carries those fees renews the domain once. Auto Renew on Payment and Default Auto Renewal are in General Settings > Domains.

The automation creates the invoice

The same switch as for services, Create Renewal Invoices Automatically, also covers domains. Generate Invoices This Many Days Ahead counts back from the domain's expiry date. The daily automation creates the renewal invoice and emails it to the client when a domain:

• is active and has Auto Renew on (the client can turn it off on the domain page),
• is one you sell (a domain the client only keeps with you as "I already own this domain" is skipped),
• has an expiry date and a renewal price for its extension in Domain pricing, and
• has not lapsed beyond the grace and redemption periods.

When the invoice is paid, the registrar is asked to renew the domain for one year and the expiry date moves on. If the renewal with the registrar fails, it appears under Pending Module Actions. A domain is invoiced once for each expiry date, even if you cancel its invoice, and a renewal invoice that already exists (for example from the client's Renew button) counts.

The client renews it

A client can also renew a domain from its page in the client area. Reminders before a domain expires are sent by the daily automation.

One invoice per month

By default every service and every domain gets its own renewal invoice, so a client with several services can receive several invoices a month. Turn on One Invoice Per Month in Settings > General Settings > Invoices (under Renewal Invoices; it works while Create Renewal Invoices Automatically is on in Automation Settings) to send one invoice instead.

• All of a client's renewals that fall due in the same calendar month, services and domains together, go on one invoice, one line each.
• The invoice is created when the first of them is due to be invoiced (Generate Invoices This Many Days Ahead before it). The client's other renewals of that month are added to it, even if they are due a few weeks later.
• A renewal of the month that turns up later (for example a new service) is added to the invoice while it is unpaid. Once the invoice is paid, a later renewal starts a new one.
• The invoice's due date is the earliest due date among its lines. The client gets one email and one PDF.
• Items in different currencies stay on separate invoices.
• Paying the invoice renews every line: each service moves on by its own billing cycle and each domain is renewed for one year.
• A client with Separate Invoices switched on (their page > Settings) keeps one invoice for each item.
• Invoices from the Renew now button, order invoices and invoices you create by hand are not affected.
• Continuous Invoice Generation does not apply to clients on monthly invoices: only the next period of each service is invoiced.

Changing the price of a renewing service

A service keeps the recurring amount it was sold at. Change it on the service page, or use the Bulk Price Update plugin to change many at once. A renewal invoice that was already made keeps its old price until you update it: see Invoices (Reprice Unpaid Invoices).

Cancelling

A client can request cancellation from the service page (immediately or at the end of the billing period, depending on your Cancellation Request Handling setting). The automation terminates the service when the time comes.