The Management of Subscriptions and Payments A comprehensive analysis of five Options 5 Alternatives

The majority of subscription and billing management tools allow:

• Create a variety of subscription and trial options (e.g. Free or paid trials, usage-based as well as fixed-priced subscriptions).
• Manage active subscriptions (e.g. upgrade or downgrades, as well in removing or moving objects).
• Send invoice or payment notifications.
• Provide your customers with access to a portal for account management so that they are able to manage their account.
• Reports on the major metrics that affect revenues.

However, most businesses find that they need to use an additional program to manage different aspects of their process For instance:

• Payment processing
• The collection of VAT and sales tax
• Find the appropriate English translations
• Conversion of currency
• Chargebacks
• Plus...

If you need any of these features it is important to make certain that the features you require are included in the software that you select for billing (or easily incorporate with other solutions).

In this tutorial, we compare five options through a look at the subscription and billing features that they offer and the other features they offer beginning with an in-depth look into our service that is geared towards SaaS companies, .

Table of Contents

1.       Chargebee
2.       Recurly
3.       Chargify
4.       Zoho Subscriptions

1. It is the Subscription Management Process, Processing Payments and More for SaaS Companies

There are a variety of options available for subscription management (which we'll discuss later), however, it's more than just a software platform for subscription management - we're an Merchant of Record (MoR) for software firms.

As MoR take on the responsibility of transactions on behalf of you meaning we:

• Take care to collect and pay the appropriate amount of VAT, sales tax and GST.
• Make sure that the procedures and documentation have been put in place to remain within the law of transaction in every location that you propose to sell.
• We are the first to lead audits.

Plus has a complete solution covering the entire process to make a transaction. It covers:

• Checkout with localization (i.e. Exchange of currencies as well as translations for languages, customization, and other features)
• International processing of payments (for many payment choices)
• Fraud detection
• Chargebacks
• Analytics and reports
• And there's something else...

In the sections that follow in the sections to follow, we will look at some of these services and features further in detail.

Recurring and Customized Subscription Models for B2B, B2C or B2C

makes it easy to create nearly every subscription in only a few clicks. You can set up most subscriptions without having to write code however, you can develop more complicated subscription logic with our API and webhooks library.

Here's an overview of the options available to you:

Trials

Certain subscription management applications require payment information as potential clients register for trials, including free trials. This can cause potential customers to become cold and not finish the registration process. It is your choice whether or not to collect your payment details at the end of every trial.

It is also possible to:

• Create trials of any length.
• Make free, paid or trial-based usage-based versions.
• You can choose to bill users after their trial has ended or allow them to make a payment by hand.
• Allow subscribers to reactivate old trial accounts.
• Select the time when you will send reminders about the trial's end (e.g. three days before trial is over).
• Automatically detect when a single person attempts to sign up for several trials, and permit one trial account be used.

Subscriptions Subscriptions

Every business and product of a specific business can benefit from different subscription options. In the case of lower-end products, products may perform better if they are sold on a monthly basis, while top-quality products might be better off if they are sold in the form of an annual contract.

Also, what was successful at a particular point could not be an effective solution in the near future.

This is why we allow our customers to:

• Choose the duration of subscription and billing date (or allow your clients to choose).
• Set up auto-renewing subscriptions, that require an manual renewal (i.e. clients must enter their payment information every time they get billed) Or, have your staff begin the process of charging using API API (this is an ideal choice for billing in accordance with usage).
• Coupons and discounts are available.
• Let prorated billing be used if a customer wants to increase, decrease, or even pause the service halfway through the billing cycle.
• Include one-time purchases on the original invoice, but do not include regular billings.
• Manage upsell and cross-sell products when you check out.
• Customers can choose the storage of payment information (or let them decide on behalf of the entire customer).
• Automatically renew specific subscriptions to different subscriptions (e.g. after the end of one item or service).

 Recurring Billing and Invoicing

are able to handle B2B orders as well as B2C purchases with Digital Invoicing.

Digital Invoicing could help:

• Design and manage customized quotes that are updated in real time (including custom tags coupons, discounts and much more).
• Set expiration dates for quotes.
• Send notes to your client or prospective customer.

Fully Branded Self-Service Features to Your Clients

provides a self-serve portal where customers are able to:

• Subscription renewals
• Control the billing time
• Modify payment details
• View payment history
• and there's and many more ...

We manage all maintenance of the backend for this site to make sure that the team doesn't have to.

In your role as your MoR, we will handle your customers' queries regarding their billing, which include questions about refunds, billing concerns and questions regarding the subscription they have etc. Our platform includes a customer portal which allows customers to control their subscriptions.

The image below shows the fundamental design of the self-service portal, however, to provide a seamless user experience, the whole site is customizable in line with your brand.

Also, you can allow customer-generated quotations. The feature lets customers make a quote using what is in the cart without needing to call the sales department. It can be very useful to secure potential buyers that require their approval prior to decide to purchase.

Local Transactions and Indirect Tax Compliance made Simple

Two areas of compliance when dealing with transactions of a recurring nature:

1. Conformity to transactions (i.e. the method you choose to use for collecting payments).
2. Sales tax, VAT and GST conformity (i.e. the way you collect and remit taxes that are indirect).

In order to avoid penalties and fines you need to be aware of both taxes and transaction laws applicable to each location you work in. These sections can assist you in understanding: examine:

• Some examples of laws governing transactions that apply to subscription-based businesses.
• Whether or not software companies must be able to collect VAT, sales tax or GST.
• What are the solutions to all this .

Transaction Compliance

Each state, nation, and provinces have different legislation and rules on the ways companies collect payment and store customer information. A lot of companies are aware of data privacy rules like GDPR, however there are rules for transactions that are not as widely understood.

For example, in some countries, such as Canada and Korea consumers are entitled under the law to receive the prorated amount of their refunds in the event that they cancel their subscription before the end of the time for the payment. The above is only a small example for just one part of the subscription period. Laws and regulations change constantly.

For the majority of subscription management software, you'll be required to study transaction laws and regulations and then implement the appropriate steps. Furthermore, certain subscription platforms won't offer the necessary solutions to fulfill the requirements of laws and rules (e.g. Certain services don't allow discounts that are prorated).

However, our team manages all this all of this on your behalf. Our legal expert team keeps up to date with current legislation and rules and regulations. We help you develop appropriate procedures to ensure compliance. Also, we support all the necessary subscription models for conformity.

Sales Tax, VAT and GST Compliance

Software companies were not obliged to pay taxes on sales, VAT, as well as GST. In several jurisdictions, that's in effect. But, tax laws for digital goods and services change rapidly in many sectors.

Many countries are now requiring software firms to pay some kind of indirect tax. A few countries have now required firms that make use of digital technologies to submit tax forms regardless of whether they are eligible for tax exemption.

In the end, paying sales tax can be more complicated than the process of filling out tax forms and then wire the money. As the amount of countries are increasing, they're imposing additional requirements to stay compliant.

Examples:

• Certain countries such as Colombia, Japan, Mexico, Serbia, and others are controlled with local representation, meaning you have hire someone with physically present in that country in order to pay your tax liability. This can be anywhere from $5k to $15k annually.
• Countries such as Serbia, United Kingdom, Taiwan and many others must use electronic invoicing for any business which sells products in their countries. The EU is rolling out across the world electronic invoices by 2028.
• Countries like Taiwan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Vietnam, and others are requiring you to to declare tax on your income as well as to indirect taxes.

handles the whole process of collecting and processing taxes on sales, VAT, along together with GST for you. .

We'll make sure that the right amount (and the right form) in indirect taxes is taken at checkout (including tax-free transactions in the US as well as 0% reverse charge for transactions permitted worldwide).

Our team pays these taxes for you and makes sure that all necessary procedures are in place for complete tax compliance.

In the event that the government of a different country asks you questions regarding tax compliance, our team can help you determine the best way to respond to them, in addition to the traditional format of copy and paste responses.

International Payment Processing to hundreds of payment options

Most payment processors focus their efforts on a specific location, while all payment processors have a limited set of payment options that they are able to accept. As an example, some processors aim at taking care of transactions that are accepted by the U.S. They'll thus only accept payments that are accepted throughout the U.S. (e.g., Mastercard or Apple Pay) and they won't be supporting something like UnionPay since it's often used in China.

Additionally, many payment processors will only process payments within certain currencies and countries. For example, they might support Amazon Pay but will not take payments coming from Turkey.

SaaS companies that want to accept payment from all over the world must be connected to and manage numerous payment processors. This can be quite a daunting job.

With HTML0 , SaaS businesses automatically gain access to a variety of payment processors that are specialized in international payments. Maintains connections with a variety of payment processors, as well as hundreds of card networks which means you don't need to. You just need to switch on our localized payment feature and you can begin accepting international payments immediately.

It also offers an array of choices to ensure that it is feasible to make payments and decrease the rate of churn that is involuntary, such as:

• Local payment gateways: The likelihood of transactions being approved if the gateway that is used to process payments is located in the same area that the buyer (e.g., a transaction originates from Germany is processed by a payment gateway in Germany). Automatically routes payments to the payment gateway with the most favorable approval rates for that region.
• Transferring payments away from the gateway When a transaction fails in the initial attempt, the system automatically retries the payment making use of a different gateway- and without you or any other member of the support team having to get involved. This often solves payment failures because of connection issues or other problems with the system.
• Reminders of payments which can be proactive. If a customer's credit card is scheduled to expire, will inform the customer beforethe expiration date to ensure they are able to change the details for their credit card. Use our pre-built templates for notifications or make the text you wish to mail.
• Multiple follow-up notifications. If a recurring payment is rejected, you may set up multiple payment notification of failure to be sent 2 days 5, 7 14 and 21 days following the first failed attempt. Before sending every reminder, you'll attempt to pay the amount.

Custom-Made Checkouts to Represent your personal image

Many payment services have the checkout feature that gives a variety of possibilities for customizing it, like adding your logo and choosing colors. These customization options aren't always a reflection of your brand's aesthetics and can create a seamless experience for customers. They also enhance your checkout experience to achieve the highest conversion rates.

allows you to customize branding tools, as as CSS overrides so that you can have a variety of choices for customizing your appearance and the experience of your shopping cart.

You'll also have access to Store Builder Library. Store Builder Library -- it's a JavaScript library that lets users customize the customer experience leading to checkout.For example, you can create a cross-sell or upsell funnel. This allows you to improve the customer experience and increase the number of sales.

checkout comes in three versions that offer pop-ups as well as integrated or as a web storefront. The web storefront redirects your customers to a different page that is run by .

If you choose one of these options (including the storefront on the internet) You'll be able to customize your checkout experience using branding tools and CSS-based overrides that match the visual style of your branding.

These are just a few other features that could help you improve your checkout experience

• Localized CheckoutsLet customers choose their preferred language and preferred currency. Or let them pick the correct language and currency based on the country of purchase. It can be used in 19 different languages as well as over 23 currencies.
• Support for developers that is personalized:Our team is ready to help you create the best checkout experience possible for your business. Some businesses offer only personal support for their biggest customers , and they do not offer assistance to small businesses. Our company consider that every business requires the same consideration and attention.

Analytical and Comprehensive Reporting

• Which are the most of my most profitable customers where are my highest paying customers
• Which are the items that earn the most money?
• What discounts generate revenue in comparison to. the revenue draining ones?
• Plus, there are many others...

Reports are broken down into two dashboards main ones: Revenue Overview and Subscription Overview.

If you can't locate the report you need, you can alter any report and add the report to your dashboard. Our customer support is here to help you develop custom reports that give you details you require.

Webhooks and data API make it easy to bring in subscription and revenue information to any software that supports business intelligence and CRM you employ. Reports can be downloaded as a CSV format, PNG CSV, or XLSX file format.

All-in-One Pricing (No Hidden Fees)

Many payment processors have a basic cost for processing transactions and certain of their core functions such as the ability to integrate the checkout. In reality, however, you'll usually be charged extra for other features such as the conversion of currencies or detection of fraud. There are a few payment systems that offer an all-inclusive solution, which is why most companies need to add an additional software. It can be difficult to expand internationally when you expand your business since the cost will rise when you include new features and applications.

is a complete payment solution for SaaS companies with everything included as a flat-rate fee which is determined by the volume of transactions you conduct . In addition, you'll only be charged when transactions take place.

Following, we cover four more payment platforms designed for subscription-based businesses.

2. Chargebee

Here are some highlights from Chargebee Highlights:

• Automated invoices, usage-based billing proration, as well as many more
• Automated method for the handling of receivables
• Revenue recognition that's in compliance with the law and subscriber models that comply with revenue recognition and subscription
• Support for in-app purchases
• Self-service portal for customers
• Smart dunning

It is possible to use the Chargebee platform at no cost for the first $100k in income earned. After that, they'll provide a variety of pricing plans that can accommodate the different income levels per month.

3. Recurly

Recurly is a platform for recurring bills designed for optimising the growth plan you have in place. Recurly easily integrates with various merchant accounts and payment gateways However, you have to manage these options in addition to your Recurly plan.

Here are some more highlights of Recurly's features:

• Customizable subscription models
• Automated, regular invoices
• Tools for revenue recovery
• Intelligent retention
• Analytics on customer subscriptions

Recurly offers three pricing plans however you need to contact the support department for more specifics.

4. Chargify

Chargify is a subscription-based billing application that is being merged with SaaSOptics that is a revenue management system. The merger will allow you to manage subscriptions accounting to track expenses and revenue and SaaS metrics tracking all through one revenue management platform.

Below are some of the best features Chargify offers:

• Billing based on usage and global
• Instruments for billing and recognition of income instruments
• System of billing analytics and measures
• Integrations with other programs (e.g. accounting software like QuickBooks and Xero)
• Payment gateways from around the globe

Chargify's pricing structure Chargify is designed for companies that earn at least 75k in monthly billings But, if you've more income or access to each feature, you'll need reach out to their support department.

5. Zoho Subscriptions

Zoho Subscriptions is part of Zoho Subscriptions is one of the elements that comprise Zoho platform (a suite of software designed to assist you in managing all aspects of your business, e.g., CRMs and ERPs). If you are already using this function of your Zoho platform, it could be an ideal choice. For those new to the platform generally encounter long learning curves.

Benefits of Zoho Subscriptions areas follows:

• Multiple pricing models
• Tax-compliant, customisable invoices that are able to be customized
• Conversions to multiple currencies
• More than 30 pre-built reports that monitor each step of the life cycle of a subscription
• Transactions with cash and checks (in combination with payments through credit card)
• Integrations out of the box with other bill options (e.g., Stripe, PayPal, etc.)
• These tools are able to be utilized to develop specific workflow guidelines

Everything associated with the Zoho service is priced separately, which includes Zoho Subscriptions. This could make it difficult and expensive to create an all-inclusive payments system.

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