Manage term duration and billing frequency
Appropriate roles: Admin agent | Billing admin | Sales agent
Managing your subscription involves managing two key aspects: the term duration and the billing frequency. The term duration refers to the length of time you commit to the subscription, while the billing frequency dictates how often you're billed for the subscription licenses.
There are three methods for updating billing frequency and two options for updating your term duration:
- Immediate changes: This method allows for a mid-term update to your subscription term and billing plan.
- Billing cycle changes: This method allows you to alter the billing frequency alone. The changes take effect at your next billing cycle.
- Scheduled changes at renewal: This is a planned update that can be set to occur at the time of your subscription's renewal. It enables you to adjust both the term duration and billing frequency in one go, according to the schedule you set.
In the new commerce experience you can confirm what changes can be made to any term duration and billing frequency combination (also referred to as billing plan) because all eligible changes will be made available. If a change to billing frequency or term duration is grayed out or doesn't populate in Partner Center, that indicates the change isn't eligible. Each method comes with specific rules and eligibility criteria. If certain options aren't visible, refer to the relevant sections to understand the reasons behind their unavailability.
Immediate changes
You can move to a longer term, not to a shorter one mid-term. Even when nearing the renewal date, it's not possible to alter the subscription term from Annual (P1Y) to Monthly (P1M) or Triennial (P3Y) to Annual (P1Y). Let's consider a customer who has a 12-month contract running from January 1, 2023, to January 1, 2024. If an attempt is made to switch this subscription to P1M on December 20, 2023, this change won't be allowed. This restriction applies even if the end date for the P1M subscription is outside of the existing subscription end date, such as January 1, 2024.
If you change your term, you can also update the billing frequency.
Note
Terms available depend on the product and SKU combination. For example, in some cases the Annual or Triennial term might not be supported for a particular product and SKU and won't show as an available term within the dropdown.
Eligible changes
| Term duration | Billing frequency | Term duration changes accepted | Billing frequency changes accepted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Triennial | Triennial (Upfront) | None | None |
| Triennial | Annual | None | None |
| Triennial | Monthly | None | None |
| Annual | Annual (Upfront) | Yes (Annual to Triennial) | Yes (Triennial term with Monthly, Triennial, or Annual billing plan) |
| Annual | Monthly | Yes (Annual to Triennial) | Yes (Triennial term with Monthly, Triennial, or Annual billing plan) |
| Monthly | Monthly (Upfront) | Yes (Monthly to Annual, or Monthly to Triennial) | Yes (Annual term with Monthly or Annual billing plan), or (Triennial term with Monthly, Triennial, or Annual billing plan) |
To change term and billing frequency:
- Go to the customer's subscription page and select the subscription that you want to change.
- Select the new term duration in the dropdown list.
- Select a different billing frequency in the next dropdown list.
- Select Submit.
Note
If you change the term or billing plan of a subscription with a promotion, eligibility for the new billing plan or term is validated and may not be applicable. If the updated subscription is eligible for a different promotion, it will automatically apply.
Billing cycle changes
If the subscription qualifies, you can change just the billing frequency. This change takes effect in the next billing cycle and doesn’t reset the billing term.
Note
Partner Center doesn't support switching to an "upfront" billing plan at midterm, this is only supported at the time of purchase. "Upfront" billing is when the billing term is the same as the billing plan (examples: annual term and annual billing plan or monthly term and monthly billing plan).
Eligible changes
| Term duration | Billing frequency | Billing frequency changes accepted |
|---|---|---|
| Triennial | Triennial (Upfront) | None |
| Triennial | Annual | Yes (Annual to Monthly) |
| Triennial | Monthly | Yes (Monthly to Annual) |
| Annual | Annual (Upfront) | None |
| Annual | Monthly | None |
| Monthly | Monthly (Upfront) | None |
To change billing frequency:
- Go to the customer's subscription page and select the subscription that you want to change.
- Select Manage billing frequency. A side panel displays the current billing frequency and a dropdown list that has the options for changing the frequency.
- Select a new billing frequency.
Scheduled changes at renewal
To update the term and billing frequency to be applied on your next renewal:
- Go to the customer's subscription page and select the subscription that you want to change.
- Select Manage renewal. A side panel displays the current billing frequency and a dropdown list that has the options for changing the term and billing plan.
- Select a new term and billing plan.
- Submit changes.
Billing frequency for End-of-sale offers
End-of-sale scenarios can apply to entire product/SKUs, regions/markets, and specific term and billing plans. You can't change the billing frequency for "End of sale" and "End of sale with conversions" offers. The option will be read-only in Partner Center. This applies to both existing subscriptions and during an upgrade to an "End of sale" or "End of sale with conversions" destination SKU.
For your next renewal (scheduled change), if the desired term and billing plan are "End of sale" or "End of sale with conversions," you won't be able to select it. Only active term and billing plans are available to select when managing your renewal.
At renewal if upgrading to another product or SKU that has an "End of sale with conversions" billing plan, then this is allowed as long as the term duration and billing plan are kept the same.
To learn more about End-of-sale offers, refer to Manage end-of-sale offers.
Billing frequency changes in legacy
Billing frequency is changed at the order level. After billing frequency is changed, the revised billing cycle is applied to all the subscriptions within that order.
Use the following steps to change the billing frequency of an online service for a customer:
- Sign in to the Partner Center and select Customers.
- Select the customer whose subscription billing frequency you want to change.
- On the customer's page, select the subscription that you want to change.
- On the Subscriptions page, you can see the current billing frequency. Scroll down, and under Billing frequency, select Monthly or Annual.
- A confirmation window appears with important information about changing billing frequency, and a list of the subscriptions about to be changed. Select OK to make the change.
- The new renewal date is displayed with the user's subscription information. You can see the changed billing frequency in the subscription details.
Related content
To see examples of reconciliation files following billing frequency changes:
- In new commerce, refer to Billing for one-time and recurring purchases in new commerce.
- For legacy, refer to Renew with annual billing, convert to monthly billing, and Change license quantity and convert from monthly to annual billing.
To make changes to billing frequency through API:
- For new commerce, refer to Update a subscription by ID - Partner app developer.
- For legacy, in addition to the above API, you can also use Change the billing cycle for a customer subscription.