Billing
      Back to home
      1. Help Center
      2. Billing

      Most Common Billing Scenarios and Types

      Here's a breakdown of our most common billing scenarios and types:

       

      • Monthly and Variable 5th Week Billing: This is by far the most consistent way to bill as it bills on the same date you choose every month (i.e., our "Set It and Forget It" plan). For students starting mid month, we have a "proration" feature that allows for you to prorate the amount you wish, which you can then charge one time on the date of your choosing. Then, you can start the monthly/variable plan on the 1st of following month. Find our FAQs regarding monthly billing plans and variable 5th week billing plans to dive in deeper.

      Note: If you delete a lesson off of the schedule or if there is a holiday, the system will STILL charge the same total/full monthly rate.

      • Packages:  There are many schools that like to utilize packages as they only want to charge for lessons given.  When creating a package plan, the amount of lessons included is completely at the discretion of the school, so the possibilities are endless! With this plan, the lessons and subsequent payment will ONLY recur after the attendance types they allow are achieved. Check out our FAQ dedicated to package plans for further information.

      Note: The package plan will auto-bill (unless end date set or plan is canceled after it bills) once attendance is marked for LAST lesson of the package. 

      • Packages of 1: This is most commonly found in Australia but can be great for anyone that wants to bill "weekly" or as students come in for their lesson. With this “recurring package of 1”, you will be able to bill the student once attendance has been marked for the lesson they attended. Other schools may decide to use this billing option if they only want to charge their student lesson by lesson (as the lesson is taken- an automated work around). 

      Note: Put 100% discount in the “promotion” section within the “plan builder” when creating this plan so there is only 1 charge for first payment. 

      • School Semester Billing:  Schools that use semesters create a start and end date for the semester.  Then, our system calculates how many lessons are in between those start/end dates (minus holidays), adds up the amount per lesson that was entered in, divides it by number of payments entered, and charges the students accordingly on whichever date you choose (i.e., the 1st, the 10th, etc). You can find what is still owed from each student on the payment report. If you would like to collect the entire amount of the semester up front, that's a possibility too!
        • What is so wonderful about a semester billing plan is that it opens up the possibility of "holding" a spot. To do this, you can enter in an amount as a down payment which will then deduct for the amount owed. Learn more about semester billing here.
      • Group Lessons: 
        • Two things are done typically:
          1. Creating a group plan in our Plan Builder allows for you to book lessons for one or multiple days per week and have everyone signup through the Widget/s directly into the group (it will put on the schedule automatically). However, if you don't like to allow students to sign themselves up, admins can schedule students into existing groups too.
          2. If each student in the group is charged a different rate/has a different billing plan, you can create the group our "old school" way: go to members>create the group/class>then drag onto the schedule. Then, individually book the students into the group from the schedule, choosing the billing plan you would like.

            Find more information on our group billing plans here.
      • Multiple Billing Rates Per Teacher:  Sometimes, each of your teachers may be paid different rates/different in general. The easiest way to navigate this is to create several different plans, each reflecting the specific pay rate of whichever teacher to whom the student on this billing plan is assigned.  However, if you did not want to create a massive amount of different plans, there is another option of utilizing the “discount” box to minimize plans, reducing the rate per student if necessary.  The discount will be applied to every payment if used.
      • Free Trial or Discounted Single First Lesson: 
        • Two ways this is done typically:
          1.  For schools that offer the first lesson free, sometimes, the easiest way is to book a single lesson onto the schedule. You can customize the color of the lesson to reflect that it's "free" if that would make it easier to decipher/as a reminder for teachers and admins. Then, after the initial lesson, you can drag the student onto the schedule for future lessons and assign a proper billing plan.
          2. Another way to navigate this is to “assume the sale” and use the proration feature to "bill" for the trial lesson and have the first month's bill set to come out “unless they cancel” (you can actually have scheduled dates for proration and start date for the following month's bill to come out).