Introduction
To enable net terms as a payment option for certain customers, several steps need to be completed. The first couple steps enable your Reseller account to be able to offer this feature. These only need to be completed once. There are also a few steps that will need to be done each time you want to enable this feature for a particular customer.
Reseller Account Setup:
- Create a “Net Terms” credit term
- Create a “Net Terms” customer class
- Enable “Line of Credit” as a payment option
Customer Account Setup:
- Apply the “Net Terms” customer class to a specific customer account
- (optional) Setting a customer credit limit; if a custom limit is not set the default limit is used
Reseller Account Setup Steps
Create “Net Terms” Credit Term
The first step is to create a “Net Terms” credit term. This will be used to set a default credit limit for customers that are enabled for Net Terms payments. This term will be assigned to the “Customer Class” that you’ll create in the next step. Note that the credit limit assigned to this credit term can be modified for each customer if needed. This is just the default setting to be used for any new customers granted the ability to be billed using Net Terms.
- Log into your reseller control panel. Switch to Classic Panel.
- Switch to Billing Mode
- Type “credit” into the search field and select the “Credit Terms” option
- Then press the “Add New Credit Terms” button
- Give the new term a name such as “Net Terms 30 Days” and set the due period to “30”
- The “Due Period” setting is what defines how many days a customer on this term has to pay their balance
- The “Grace Period” is an additional amount of time the customer will have to pay the balance before the services are suspended
- The “Hold Period” is the amount of time the customer has after the services are suspended to pay their balance before the services are cancelled
- Next you have a decision to make. Do you want customers that are on Net Terms to automatically be put on Hold if they have an overdue balance after the “Grace Period” completes? If you select the “Automatic” option the customer’s services will be suspended after the “Grace Period” completes. If you select the “Manual” option then it will be the responsibility of your staff to set a customer’s account on hold.
- Then set the default credit limit each customer enabled for Net Terms payments will receive. Note that you can override this limit per customer when needed. Once you make your choice press the “Save” button to continue.
- The new term will then be created and be available to be used
Note that in our example we created a new Credit Term of 30 days with a credit limit of $5,000. Any customer that is enabled for this term will have 30 days to pay their invoices. Keep in mind though that the 30 days will only cover invoices totaling up to $5,000. If a customer set up for this credit term attempts to purchase services that will take them over the $5,000 limit they would need to make a payment prior to the 30 days term. If a customer is frequently getting close to their limit or exceeding it then it would be a good idea to override the default credit limit by setting a custom one for them. Setting up a custom limit is covered later in this guide in the “End Customer Setup Steps” section.
Create “Net Terms” Customer Class
The next step is to create a “Net Terms” customer class. This will be used to identify which customers are enabled to use Net Terms as a payment option. The credit term we created in the last step will also be tied into this customer class. Customers set up with this class will receive the default credit limit. Follow the steps below to configure the necessary customer class.
- Log into your reseller control panel. Switch to Classic Panel.
- Switch to Billing Mode
- Click on the “Settings” link under the “System” section on the left-hand side menu.
- Then click on the “Customer Classes” link under the “Operations” section
- Press the “Add New Customer Class” button
5. First, give the new class a name. In our example we’ve named it “Net Terms 30”. Then we’ll set the credit terms to the term we created in the last section (Net Terms 30 Days).
- Check the “Auto Apply Credits” checkbox. When a credit is available on an end customers account it will automatically be applied to their next invoice. Note that if you do not check this checkbox that any credits on an account will go unused unless they are manually applied to an invoice by a staff member or the end customer. Select a color for the class and then press the “Save” button to complete the class creation process.
- The customer class is created
Keep in mind that you can setup more than one customer class to cover different terms. If you want to have a “30 Days Terms” and “60 Days Terms” you can do that. You would just need to create individual credit terms and customer classes for each one.
Enable “Net Terms” Payment Option
The next step is to enable a payment option your customers can select instead of using a credit card when placing orders from either your Cloud Store or from within the Customer Control Panel.
- Log into your reseller control panel. Switch to Classic Panel.
- Switch to Billing Mode
- Type “payment system” into the search field and select the “Payment Systems” option
- Then press the “Manage Payment Methods” button
- Select the “Credit Limit” option from the “Manual” section and then scroll to the bottom of the page and press the “Save” button
- You will receive a confirmation message
Now, if a customer logs into their Control Panel or the Cloud Store the “Line of Credit” option will be available for them to select. Customers that have Net Terms will see that their orders provision automatically as they have a credit limit. Any customers that select “Line of Credit” and are not set up for Net Terms will find that their orders do not get processed until they submit a payment.
End Customer Setup Steps
Assign “Net Terms” Class to End Customer
Once the “Net Terms” customer class is created you’ll want to assign it to the customers that you’re offering a Terms account to.
- Log into your reseller control panel. Switch to Classic Panel.
- Switch to Billing Mode
- Click on the “Customers” link under the “Operations” section
- Select the account name for the customer account that you want to apply to new customer class
- Scroll down to the “Financial Information” section. Notice that the current customer class is listed as “Default”. To change the class for the customer account press the “Edit” button.
- Select the “Net Terms 30” customer class and press the “Save” button
- The customer class changed to “Net Terms 30”. Note that the credit limit for this account is now the default $5,000 value that we set when creating the credit term. In the next section we’ll cover how to set a custom credit value for customers that need something different than the default value.
Setting Custom Credit Terms for a Customer
Customers that receive the “Net Terms” customer class will receive a default credit limit. It is possible though to change the limit for particular customers. To change the default credit limit for a customer follow the steps listed below.
- Log into your reseller control panel. Switch to Classic Panel.
- Switch to Billing Mode
- Click on the “Customers” link under the “Operations” section
- Select the account name for the customer account that you want to adjust their credit limit
- Scroll down to the “Financial Information” section. The current credit limit is listed as $5,000. To change the limit for this customer, press the “Edit” button
- Select the “Customized for Account” option and then enter the new amount to be used as this accounts new credit limit. Press the “save” button to apply the change.
- The new credit limit is now available for this customer. Note that you can set a value higher or lower than the default limit.