Subscription billing automates and streamlines recurring payments. Subscription billing models are popular across a wide variety of industry segments including information providers, electronic publications, digital content merchants, SaaS solutions, online games, web hosts, internet services, and adult entertainment merchants.

Subscription billing models based on time intervals such as monthly recurring billing are most common. Subscription billing is also effective for recurring payments based on metered usage such as pay-per-view.

Subscription Billing Specialized Payment Processing

Businesses in any industry may be placed in a high risk payment processing category because subscription billing has longer contingent liabilities than do one-time purchases. For example, with subscription billing, buyers can initiate chargebacks from the end of the subscription billing period rather than from time of purchase.

To maximize revenues, merchants discover it is highly advantageous to establish accounts with a payment processing service which has flexible underwriting guidelines and a deep understanding of payment processing for subscription billing.

Boost Revenues from Subscription Billing

You can establish an unlimited number of subscription billing plans quickly and easily. Various subscription billing models can be created and managed based on duration, frequency and usage.

With our specialized payment processing for subscription billing you will

• Protect Subscription Billing Cash Flow
• Increase Retention with Dynamic Subscription Billing Descriptors
• Safeguard Security with Subscription Billing Tokenization
• Reduce Subscription Billing Payment Processing Expenses

Protect Subscription Billing Cash Flow

Subscription billing is vulnerable to revenue leakage of 5-12% during each recurring billing cycle. Loss of revenue occurs when the card on file used for subscription billing is declined. Declines happen for many reasons, including card upgrades, new issuance of cards due to security breaches, expiration of cards, and lack of available funds on a card.

Unique technology transforms 50-75% of card declines into authorized recurring billing transactions. The payment processing system retrieves updated card information from customers’ issuing banks. The declined subscription billing transaction is then resubmitted with the new card data. As a result, 50-75% of declined subscription billing transactions turn into authorizations and recurring payment income is protected

Automatic account updating for subscription billing can be combined with a subscription billing transaction recycling. When a credit card is declined because it is over limit, the transaction can continue to be worked, based on the internal rules, for up to 15 days to receive an approval. The system monitors the card and as soon as there is enough credit available, the subscription billing transaction is automatically submitted for authorization and payment. This procedure happens without merchant or consumer intervention.

Increase Retention with Dynamic Subscription Billing Descriptors.

Descriptors are what customers view on monthly card statements as the description of the purchase. Many companies with subscription billing models have multiple products or recurring payment plans, each with a different name. The payment processing system enables each product to have its own descriptor, including a separate customer service number.

By displaying a specific product descriptor, consumers immediately know what was purchased when the subscription billing appears on their card statement. Chargebacks are avoided, customer service calls are reduced, and customer retention is increased.

If a merchant chooses to use a unique customer service number on the descriptor for each product, customer calls can be answered with the name of specific product. The product name is more familiar to the buyer than a company name which the customer may not recognize. This keeps buyers in a “comfort zone” with customer service from the very beginning of the call.

Safeguard Security with Subscription Billing Tokenization

The payment processing service uses tokens rather than card data for subscription billing recurring payments. Tokenization keeps card payments safe and secure by eliminating the risk of storing card information in a company’s internal databases. Transferring liability from the company to the payment processor helps ensure PCI compliance and protects business operations.

Card data submitted to the payment processor is encrypted and stored. A token is assigned and returned to the subscription billing transaction. Recurring payments are processed using the token instead of card data.

Reduce Subscription Billing Payment Processing Expenses

Some subscription billing companies increase security and reduce operating expense by connecting directly with the front/back end payment processor rather than using a payment processing gateway. Direct connection gets rid of extra transaction fees charged by payment processing gateways which drive up costs unnecessarily. Direct payment processing connections can also reduce interchange costs resulting in savings on payment processing fees.