Auto-Billing
Use this page to have a member's card or bank account charged automatically each period.
Quick steps
- Go to Memberships, click All Members, then click the member's name.
- Click Set Up Auto-Billing. (On a cancelled member it reads Reactivate with Auto-Billing.)
- If you see When should the first charge happen?, pick the date their current period ends if they've already paid up to then — or Today if they haven't.
- Click Continue with card, or Continue with PAD to take payments straight from their bank account.
- The member types their card or bank details into the secure payment form. When it's saved, you're back on their page with Auto-billing via credit card is now active for [Name].
Choosing Today for someone who already paid at the counter charges them twice for the same period.
Common questions
The member already has a card saved. Then the payment form is skipped and auto-billing is set up with the card on file. Nothing is typed in again.
How do I stop auto-billing but keep the membership? Click Turn off auto-billing (or Disable) on their page. The membership stays active until the current period ends, and you can take payments at the counter instead.
Why can't I change the member's expiry date? While auto-billing is on, the date follows the payment processor. Turn off auto-billing to set it by hand.
The payment form never loads. Your store's web address has to be listed as a checkout URL in your Helcim account, under Integrations → API Access.
Can a punch card be auto-billed? No. A punch card is bought once, so it never gets auto-billing.
More detail: before you start
Auto-billing hands a member's recurring payment to the payment processor your store has connected. Once it is set up, the member is charged on their own schedule without anybody at the counter doing anything.
It is set up one member at a time, from the member's page: Memberships → All Members → [member] → Set Up Auto-Billing.
Before You Start
- Your store needs recurring billing switched on with the payment processor it is connected to. Until then the screens still open, with a Preview mode banner, so you can walk through exactly what a member will see — but nothing is processed.
- The membership needs a plan, and must not be paused.
- Punch cards never get auto-billing. A punch card is bought once and used up, so the button is not offered and no saved card is ever charged for it.
More detail: each setup step in full
Step 1: When Should the First Charge Happen?
This question only appears when the membership's current period ends in the future — in other words, when there is time on it that may already have been paid for. If the membership has already run out, there is nothing to ask and the charge is taken from today.
The fieldset is headed When should the first charge happen? with two choices:
| Choice | What it says | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| On [date], when their current period ends | "They've already paid up to then. Nothing is charged today." | Automatic charging begins on that date. |
| On [date], when their free trial ends (the wording used for a member on a trial) | "Nothing is charged during the trial." | Automatic charging begins when the trial is up. |
| Today | "They haven't paid for this period yet. Their period restarts from today." | The first charge is taken now, and the member's period restarts from today. |
Which one is already selected depends on how you got here:
- Straight from enrolling somebody — Today, because the period ahead is not one they have paid for.
- A member on a free trial — the trial-end option, because that is exactly when the first charge belongs.
- Anything else — the period-end option, because the usual reason to be on this screen is a member who is already paid up at the counter.
The end date reads the same for somebody who paid at the counter last week and for somebody enrolled a minute ago. That is why the screen asks rather than deciding. Pick Today for a member who owes for the period they are in.
Step 2: Card or Pre-Authorized Debit
Two panels:
| Choice | What it says |
|---|---|
| Credit Card | "Visa, Mastercard, Amex. ~2.5% per charge." Setup takes about 30 seconds; the customer enters the card in a secure hosted form; higher per-transaction fees and a higher decline rate. |
| Pre-Authorized Debit (PAD) | "Direct from bank account. ~$0.25 flat per charge." The customer enters their bank details in the same hosted form, the processor generates and stores the PAD agreement, and it is cheaper with fewer declines but slower to settle (about three business days). |
Whichever you pick, the payment details are entered in the processor's own secure form. The page says so: card data never touches our servers.
Step 3: The Payment Form
The screen is headed Set Up Auto-Billing — Credit Card (or — Pre-Authorized Debit) and states, in one sentence, the member's own price (after any discount on them) and the date:
- "Nothing is charged now. The first charge of $114.75 is on September 30, 2026, when their current period ends, then every month."
- or "The first charge of $135.00 is taken today, as soon as this is saved, then every month."
For pre-authorized debit it adds that a PAD agreement is captured with the bank details. Underneath: You can cancel auto-billing at any time from the membership page.
The member (or you, with them there) fills in the secure form. On success you are returned to the membership page with Auto-billing via credit card is now active for [Name].
When the member already has that kind of payment method saved with the processor — from an earlier membership, or from a card taken when they signed your waiver — the form is skipped altogether and auto-billing is set up straight away: used the payment method already on file. Nothing is re-entered. See Waiver Registration Page for how a card gets saved at signing.
Choosing a later first-charge date tells the payment processor to begin billing then. If the processor ends up scheduling the first charge on a different day, a line is added to the membership's Notes saying which date it actually used, so check that note on the first few members you set up this way rather than assuming the date held.
More detail: reactivating a cancelled member
Reactivating a Cancelled Member
A cancelled membership shows Reactivate with Auto-Billing instead. A blue panel confirms which plan they will come back on — change the plan first if it should be a different one.
From there it is the same two steps, and the first-charge choice is what decides whether they lose the time they paid for:
- They cancelled inside a period they had already paid for, and you leave the period-end option selected — they keep that time, and the first charge lands when it runs out.
- You pick Today — a fresh period starts today and today's charge pays for it.
- Their paid time has already run out — a fresh period starts today and they are charged today, regardless.
More detail: what changes on the member's page, and turning it off
What Auto-Billing Changes on the Member's Page
Once it is on, the Subscription Details panel shows Auto-Billing as Active (Card) or Active (PAD), with Last synced ... ago underneath, and a Disable link. If the processor reports failed payments it reads Failing (Card) in red and the member's status becomes Past Due.
Two things become read-only while auto-billing is on, because the payment processor owns them:
- The expiry date. Trying to change it gives This membership is on auto-billing — its date syncs from the payment processor. Turn off auto-billing to set the date manually.
- Auto-renew. Trying to change it gives This membership is on auto-billing. Use "Turn off auto-billing" to stop renewals.
Changing the discounts on an auto-billed member updates the recurring amount at the processor too, so the next charge matches what the screen says. If that update cannot be made, a line is written into the membership's Notes telling you to change it at the processor by hand.
Turning Auto-Billing Off
Turn off auto-billing (or the Disable link) stops the processor charging the member. The confirmation explains the consequence, and afterwards you get Auto-billing turned off. The membership stays active until the current period ends.
This is not the same as cancelling. The membership stays active, and the expiry-date and auto-renew controls come back so you can run the member on counter payments instead. To end the membership, use Cancel.
More detail: what the nightly sync does
What the Nightly Sync Does
Each night, every auto-billed membership is read back from the payment processor and the local record is brought into line:
- Status changes — active, paused, cancelled — are copied over.
- The Current Period Ends date follows the processor's next billing date.
- Failed payments flip the member to Past Due and show Failing on their page.
This is why the expiry date is locked while auto-billing is on: anything typed in by hand here would be overwritten the same night.
More detail: troubleshooting
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| The payment form never appears, just "Loading secure payment form..." | Your store's web address has to be listed as a checkout URL in your Helcim account under Integrations → API Access. Without it, the payment form is refused and nothing on this page can say why. The screen shows the same hint after ten seconds. |
| Auto-billing is already enabled for this member. | It is already set up. Use Disable first if you need to redo it. |
| Resume the membership before setting up auto-billing. | It is paused. Resume it, then set up billing. |
| This subscription has no plan — assign one before enabling auto-billing. | Edit the membership onto a plan first. |
| Setup session expired. Please try again. | The setup page was left open too long, or reloaded from the browser's history. Start again from the membership page. |
| We couldn't confirm that with Helcim, so nothing was saved. | The response from the payment form could not be verified, so nothing was recorded. Try again. |
| Card was vaulted but Helcim subscription creation failed. | The payment method was saved but the recurring schedule was not created. The membership's Notes carry the reason. |
| Setup was cancelled or declined. | The member closed the form or the payment method was declined. You are returned to the membership page after a few seconds. |
| A member was charged on the wrong day | Check the membership's Notes — when the processor schedules the first charge somewhere other than the date chosen, a line is written there saying so. |
| Preview badge on the button | Recurring billing is not connected for your store yet, so the screens are a walkthrough only. |
More detail: best practices
Best Practices
- Answer the first-charge question deliberately. It is the difference between a paid-up member being left alone and being charged twice for the same month.
- Check the Notes after the first few setups, particularly where you deferred the first charge.
- Offer pre-authorized debit for long-term members. A bank mandate does not expire, get reissued, or decline because somebody replaced their card.
- Use Turn off auto-billing, not Cancel, when a member simply wants to go back to paying at the counter.
What's Next?
- Members — everything else on the membership page.
- Membership Discounts — changing what an auto-billed member is charged.
- Membership Plans — pricing, trials and cadence.