When configuring online forms, if your organization has Automatic Recurring Billing (ARB) set up through your gateway, you can allow the users to opt in (or require opt-in) to ARB for the items they've chosen to purchase through the form. Depending on the rest of the configuration of the form, this will both set up the ARB in your gateway, and also create a corresponding billing record to go with that ARB. Below you'll find the details on how each type of form handles the different ARB options.
Join Form
In the Form Settings for Join forms, you can check "Allow member to subscribe to ARB" to add a checkbox to the end of the form with custom text (as entered here), that when checked will use the Membership Level selected in the form to determine the billing amount, date, and cycle. ARB cannot be used with purchase items on the join form.
- The cycle (Monthly, Annual, etc) is determined by the setting on the Membership Level Billing configuration, as well as the starting month and day. If "Current Month" and/or "Current Day" is chosen, the current date will be used for both month and day, at any point throughout the month.
- The start date for the first automatic charge is determined by the ML Billing anchor month, day, and cycle. The billing is created with that date, and the ARB Subscription is submitted to the gateway with the next recurrence of the charge.
- For example, if the form is submitted on 8/18/2022 and the month/day/cycle in the ML setting is Current, 1st Day, and Monthly, the billing will be created with 8 as the Anchor Month, 1 as the Anchor Day, and 2022 as the Starting Year. The ARB Subscription will be created with a start date of 9/1/2022.
- If Create Invoice and Charge Card on Submission is checked, the card will be charged immediately upon submission (usually for the first month/cycle of membership), and also used to create the ARB. If the ARB fails, but the charge successfully goes through, the form will be successful and the member will be notified that the automatic recurring billing did not go through. If this setting is NOT checked, no actual payment will be collected upon submission, but the member will be active and the ARB will be set to charge on the next upcoming cycle.
- If Require Member to Subscribe to ARB is selected, the opt-in option will be pre-selected and grayed out on the form, and the ARB subscription will be created for all submissions.
Renewal Forms
In the Form Settings for Renewal forms, you can check "Allow member to subscribe to ARB" to add a checkbox to the end of the form with custom text (as entered here), that when checked will use the Membership Level and/or Purchase Items configured in the form to create ARB subscriptions in the gateway.
Membership Levels
- The cycle (Monthly, Annual, etc) is determined by the setting on the Membership Level Billing configuration, as well as the starting month and day. If "Current Month" and/or "Current Day" is chosen, the current date will be used for both month and day, at any point throughout the month. In renewal forms, the billing record will be generated with the NEXT ARB subscription occurrence month, day, and year. Note that the cycle dropdown in the settings above only applies to Purchase Items (below) and the ML Billing cycle setting overrides the Form Setting if different.
- The start date for the first automatic charge is determined by the ML Billing anchor month, day, and cycle. The ARB Subscription is submitted to the gateway with the next recurrence of the charge, and the new billing is created to match that next recurrence.
- For example, if the form is submitted on 8/18/2022 and the month/day/cycle in the ML setting is Current, 1st Day, and Monthly, the billing will be created with 9 as the Anchor Month, 1 as the Anchor Day, and 2022 as the Starting Year. The ARB Subscription will be created with a start date of 9/1/2022. If the cycle is annual, it would be 8/1/2023 (the first occurrence of the automatic charge).
- If Create Invoice and Charge Card on Submission is checked, the card will be charged immediately upon submission (usually for the first month/cycle of membership), and also used to create the ARB. If the ARB fails, but the charge successfully goes through, the form will be successful and the member will be notified that the automatic recurring billing did not go through. If this setting is NOT checked, no actual payment will be collected upon submission, but the member will be renewed and the ARB will be set to charge on the next upcoming cycle.
- If Require Member to Subscribe to ARB is selected, the opt-in option will be pre-selected and grayed out on the form, and the ARB subscription will be created for all submissions.
- IMPORTANT: at this time, members who are already subscribed to an existing ARB cannot use the renewal form to subscribe to a new ARB - the existing ARB cannot be updated to use the new cycle/amount/etc.
Purchase Items
- For any purchase items selected on the form, if the member opts in to ARB, that item will be used to create a new billing record that always uses the current month, day, and year as the start date with the next occurrence set as the Start Date for the subscription. The cycle will be determined by the setting in the Form Settings of the renewal form.
- For example, if the form is submitted on 8/18/2022 and the cycle dropdown in Form Settings is Monthly, the billing will be created with 9 as the Anchor Month, 1 as the Anchor Day, and 2022 as the Starting Year. The ARB Subscription will be created with a start date of 9/1/2022. If the cycle is annual, it would be 8/1/2023 (the first occurrence of the automatic charge).
- Note that you do NOT need to configure each individual Purchase Item to create its own billing record in order to use ARB on the renewal form. As long as ARB is enabled, and the user opts in, any Purchase Items they've chosen on the form will be used to create a billing record that corresponds to the ARB subscription.
General and Donation Forms
In the Form Settings for General and Donation forms, you can check "Allow member to subscribe to ARB" to add a checkbox to the end of the form with custom text (as entered here), that when checked will use the Purchase Items configured in the form to create ARB subscriptions in the gateway. This is a great way to allow users to opt in to recurring donations.
- For any purchase items selected on the form, if the member opts in to ARB, that item will be used to create a new billing record that always uses the current month, day, and year as the start date with the next occurrence set as the Start Date for the subscription. The cycle will be determined by the setting in the Form Settings of the renewal form.
- For example, if the form is submitted on 8/18/2022 and the cycle dropdown in Form Settings is Monthly, the billing will be created with 9 as the Anchor Month, 1 as the Anchor Day, and 2022 as the Starting Year. The ARB Subscription will be created with a start date of 9/1/2022. If the cycle is annual, it would be 8/1/2023 (the first occurrence of the automatic charge).
- Note that you do NOT need to configure each individual Purchase Item to create its own billing record in order to use ARB on the renewal form. As long as ARB is enabled, and the user opts in, any Purchase Items they've chosen on the form will be used to create a billing record that corresponds to the ARB subscription.
- If Create Invoice and Charge Card on Submission is checked, the card will be charged immediately upon submission, and also used to create the ARB. If the ARB fails, but the charge successfully goes through, the form will be successful and the member will be notified that the automatic recurring billing was not set up. If this setting is NOT checked, no actual payment will be collected upon submission, but the form will be submitted and the ARB will be set to charge on the next upcoming cycle.