Membership renewals, expirations and monthly billing

Overview#

Every membership has a term, for example 12 months. When the term ends, TradesWork either renews it (a new term, new visits and a renewal invoice) or expires it. Monthly plans also get an invoice each month. This runs automatically every day. Owners and admins can also run it by hand from the Memberships page. Money is only recorded as collected when a payment really happens; without saved-card billing, renewal invoices stay open for the office to collect.

Before you start#

• To see what's ending soon, you need jobs.read (every office role).

• To click Run renewals, you need memberships.manage (owners and admins).

• Automatic card charging needs a payment processor with saved cards. See Settings › Integrations › Payment Processing.

• Retry and reminder rules live in Settings › Accounting › Billing & Collections (needs billing.manage, owners and admins).

Steps#

See what's ending#

1. Go to Follow Up › Memberships.

2. The Ending in 60 days tile counts active memberships whose term ends in the next 60 days.

3. The Ending soon list shows each one: customer, plan, price and billing, end date, and a badge: Auto-renews or Won't renew.

4. Call the Won't renew customers before their end date if you want to keep them.

What happens each day#

The daily membership run does four things, in order:

1. Starts pending memberships. A membership sold with a future start date changes from Starts later to Active on its start date.

2. Marks visits done. Booked visits whose job is completed become Done.

3. Renews. For an active membership with Renews automatically whose term has ended:

   • A new term starts the day the old one ended, for the plan's number of months.

   • The next term's visits are created.

   • A renewal invoice line "[plan] membership renewal" goes on a new billing job.

   • If saved-card billing is set up, the card is charged. If not, the invoice stays open: "No saved-card billing yet: collect from the renewal invoice."

4. Expires. A membership that doesn't auto-renew becomes Expired at the end of its term. Its open visits are dismissed and the discount stops.

Run renewals by hand#

1. On Follow Up › Memberships, click Run renewals.

2. A banner shows the result, for example "Membership run: 3 renewed, 1 expired, 0 started, 5 visits marked done."

3. If renewal invoices couldn't be charged, the banner adds "renewal invoices are open for collection (no saved-card billing yet)".

4. If a membership couldn't be processed, the banner says how many. Running again is safe: each term is only renewed once.

Collect renewal and monthly invoices#

1. Monthly plans bill the first month on the sale invoice. Each later month goes on its own invoice on a billing job, on the membership's next bill date.

2. With saved cards, each invoice is charged automatically. Failed charges are retried on the schedule in Billing & Collections (by default 1, 3, 7 and 14 days after the first failure) with a text asking the customer to update their card. After the last retry the period is past due.

3. Without saved cards, find the open invoices in Accounting › Billing & Collections and send them or take payment like any other invoice.

Stop a renewal#

• To end a membership early, cancel it from the customer page (see "Sell a membership from the office or the field"). Canceling also turns off auto-renew.

Settings that change this#

• Settings › Operations › Memberships: each plan's term length and Renews automatically.

• Settings › Accounting › Billing & Collections: retries, reminders and past-due rules for membership dues.

• Settings › Integrations › Payment Processing: saved cards for automatic charging.

• Marketing › Campaign Library: "Renewal reminder 30 days out" (text), "Call members two weeks before renewal" (task) and "Win back expired members" (call after expiry).

Tips#

• Install the renewal reminder templates from the Campaign Library. Members who hear from you before the renewal stay longer.

• Check the Ending soon list every week and call anyone with Won't renew.

• If you missed days (for example the service was down), the next run catches up. It never double-bills a term or a month.

Troubleshooting#

• Renewals created invoices but nothing was charged. → No saved-card billing, or the customer has no saved card. → Collect from the invoice, or set up payment processing.

• "The card charge failed: collect from the renewal invoice." → The processor declined the card. → The billing retries will try again; you can also send the pay link.

• A membership didn't renew. → Renews automatically was off for that customer or plan, or it was canceled. → Sell a new membership from the customer page.

• I don't see Run renewals. → You need memberships.manage (owner or admin).

FAQ#

Q: Does renewing change the price? Renewals bill the member's current price. Changing a plan's price applies to new sales.

Q: Do unused visits roll over? No. At expiry, open visits are dismissed. At renewal, the new term gets a fresh set of visits.

Q: Where are renewal invoices? On a billing job for the customer, named "[plan] membership renewal". They also appear in accounting like any invoice.

Coming from ServiceTitan#

• Same: memberships renew or expire at term end, and recurring billing invoices dues on a schedule.

• Different: renewals, visit completion and pending starts run in one daily job you can also trigger with Run renewals. TradesWork never marks a renewal paid without a real charge.

• Where it lived: ServiceTitan Follow Up › Memberships (expiring), the membership renewal process, and Accounting recurring billing.