Subscriptions — creating & configuring

A subscription is a contact-level recurring payment plan. When you confirm a subscription, SwiftFox creates the first period and generates an invoice for it (or for the whole year on common-period plans).

Create a subscription

1. Open the contact's profile and go to the Financial tab.
2. In the Subscriptions section, click Create Subscription. The Add new subscription panel opens.
3. Under Select Plan, choose the plan (plans are configured for your account), then click Proceed. If the contact already has a subscription in a single-subscription category, the plan is greyed out and can't be selected.
4. Choose the fee level — the fee options double as the interval (for example Weekly $60 or Monthly $200). If the plan allows custom amounts, enter an Amount instead.
5. Set the Starting from date. To backdate, type the date into the field — the calendar will not let you pick a date before today.
6. Tick Auto Renew if the subscription should renew automatically at the end of its term.
7. On anniversary plans, choose the Period Type if the plan supports it — Anniversary Default, Fixed Rounded or Rolling Rounded (see Subscription period settings). Common plans don't show this.
8. Choose any Options / Add-ons available for the plan (for example a join fee or insurance).
9. Under Select Payment, choose the payment method: add or select a gateway source (for example Add Credit Card - Stripe), or a placeholder method such as Cash or Cheque.
10. Set the Email invoices behaviour for this subscription — Inherit, Yes or No.
11. Click Proceed. For scheduled (gateway) methods you can set the next charge date and optionally record an initial payment, then Confirm. The subscription appears in the Subscriptions table.

Payment method options

• Gateway method — credit card or bank account. Enter a new source or select a saved one. SwiftFox will trigger the gateway for scheduled charges.
• Invoicing — generates a SwiftFox invoice (or a Xero invoice via the Xero Integration). No money is taken until the member pays.
• Placeholder — cash, cheque, bank transfer or payroll deduction. Placeholders track only; no payment is triggered.

Anniversary date and Paid To Date

• The Anniversary date is the next scheduled charge date. It keeps recurring payments on the correct cadence (annual, fortnightly, common period, etc.).
• The Paid To Date is the date through which the member is considered paid. On the invoice-first model it is derived from invoices — specifically the first unpaid invoice — rather than edited by hand. To correct it, reallocate payments so the earliest invoice is paid first.

What gets generated on confirm

• The subscription is created with its first period.
• An invoice is generated for the first period (anniversary plans) or for the whole year (common period / common renewal plans).
• If you took payment immediately, a receipt is generated and allocated against the invoice.
• Future periods are created automatically as time progresses.

Pro rata

If the plan has pro rata enabled and the member joins partway through a period:

• Anniversary plans pro rate the first partial period at the daily rate, then charge subsequent full periods normally.
• Common period plans pro rate the partial first period and charge each remaining full period at the standard rate (for example 22 remaining fortnights at $10 plus a partial first fortnight).

If pro rata is disabled, SwiftFox still calculates how many full periods remain in the year and charges accordingly.

After creating a subscription, open the new invoice from the Subscription view to verify the line items and pro rata amount before confirming any manual payments.