Upgrades/Downgrades From Members Perspective
Link: https://support.brilliantdirectories.com/support/solutions/articles/5000673912
The following steps outline the steps members follow to upgrade to a higher membership level or downgrade from a paid to a free membership plan:
1. Click "Change My Plan" in the Member Dashboard:
2. Here, the members can select the preferred membership plan and click "Click to Continue":
3. The members will then be able to select which plan they would like to upgrade to:
4. The billing module will confirm the payment amount. How that amount is calculated depends on whether prorated plan changes are turned on for the site.
When prorated plan changes are off (the default): the system does not prorate the upgrade. It charges the full price of the new membership plan (in this example, the Premium plan is $19.99) and starts a new subscription. The unused portion of the old membership is not refunded or credited. However, an admin of the site can issue a partial refund from the payment gateway account (Stripe, 2Checkout, Authorize.net, PayPal Payments Pro, etc), if necessary.
When prorated plan changes are on: the unused value of the member's current plan is added to the member's account as credit and applied to the new invoice, so the member pays only the difference. This requires all three of the following:
- The Member Credits System add-on is active.
- MEMBER CREDITS: Enable Credit System is set to ON.
- MEMBER CREDITS: Enable Prorated Plan Changes is set to ON.
Both settings are in Settings » Advanced Settings, under Sign Ups & Billing » Billing.
The unused value is the amount paid for the current plan, divided by the number of days in its billing cycle, multiplied by the number of days left before its next due date. If the member enters a coupon, the coupon is applied to the new plan's price first, and the credit is applied to what remains. Any credit left over stays on the member's account and is used toward future payments. No credit is given while the member is past due on the current plan. The calculation and its related settings are explained in detail in Prorated Discounts and Credits for Membership Plan Changes.
Example: A member purchased a monthly Basic Membership for $1 on 03/15/2021. 15 days later (03/30/2021), the member upgrades to the Premium Membership, which is $19.99. The system starts a new Premium subscription on 03/30/2021 and cancels the old Basic subscription.
- With prorated plan changes off, the member is charged the full $19.99.
- With prorated plan changes on, the Basic plan has 16 days left in its 30-day billing cycle, so $0.53 of credit ($1 ÷ 30 days × 16 days) is added to the member's account and applied to the new invoice, and the member is charged $19.46.
The order summary below shows an upgrade with prorated plan changes off:
5. A success message will appear if the transaction is processed successfully.:
6. If the member is moved to a membership plan that does not have upgrade/downgrade options available, the Change My Plan button will no longer appear:
7. Under the billing section on the member dashboard, if the Downloadable PDF Invoices add-on is active on the site, the members can view or download their invoices.
From the Owner's Perspective
The transaction will appear in the member's "Transaction History".
*To locate this section, search for the member and click Actions » Payment History » Transactions tab:
The payment will also appear on Finance » Transaction History:
To learn how to "set up upgrade options" in every Membership Plan, please read this article: Setup Upgrade Options in Membership Levels.
