What Recurring Billing Is And What Benefits Can I Get
Recurring billing is a reliable service/tool used by many payment gateways to enhance collection of vendors as well as facilitate hassle-free payment of clients. This type of service is recommended for charges that come on a regular basis and interval such as membership and subscription fees.
Definition
A recurring billing is an added feature used by payment gateways that allows automatic billing on the account of the customer according to preferred schedule. This is a special service created for the convenience of the customers.
How does it work
A customer profile that contains client’s name, billing statement, chargeable amount, payment schedule, frequency of charging, and duration of payment is created. Once you are enrolled in this service, whichever you prefer, your monthly dues will be automatically charged to your credit card or the amount can be deducted from your debit card.
When is it applicable
This service is ideal for transactions that require regular charging such as those availed on an installment basis, gym membership fees, cable subscription dues, and the likes. This gives the customers the capacity to control his finances according to availability of funds.
How to get this service
Since not all service providers offer this kind of feature, you need to inquire from them prior to applying. However, if this is integrated in their service, simply fill-up the online application form with necessary information. Using your merchant account username and password, application is just within reached. Clients are notified through email every after transaction made.
How much is the charge
Aside from the basic service charge, an extra recurring billing cost is added on top of the regular fees, which may vary from one service provider to another. The charges include set-up fees and monthly fee apart from previously mentioned fees.
Advantages
This feature benefits both the clients and the merchants in the following manner:
Clients
With the emergence of this feature, it has given its clients convenience in managing their bills. There is no need to manually allocate funds, which means less hassle on your part. You may choose from their bi-weekly, monthly, or quarterly billing, which is a flexible method of collecting. There will be lesser cost as compared to manual billing due to the absence of per-transaction fees.
Clients will also receive regular updates such as card expiry, failure of transaction, and funds transfer. Most of all, client’s funds are secured because there is no need to store sensitive information. With so much benefit, this will increase possibility of referral because of customer’s satisfaction. The good thing about this product is that some of the providers offer a trial period to give clients enough time to decide whether to continue or not with the service.
Merchants
Cash flow is regularly monitored through email notifications. You can keep track of your business dealings because updates and timely reports about cancellation, consummated sales, and more are included. Full control of the finances is another advantage of this service because you can already anticipate when funds are available.
This will give you flexibility when it comes to managing your recurring billing feature.