Invoice line items include the key components ChartMogul uses to calculate MRR.
We cover how to manually add invoice line items to create or renew a subscription in another article.
In this article, we outline advanced scenarios for how to add invoice line items manually using a custom data source:
- Switching plans (non-prorated)
- Switching plans (prorated)
- Adding a one-time purchase
- Adding a refund
- Adding a subscription with multiple components
Switching plans (non-prorated)
- Your customer Wayne Enterprises is currently on a monthly Bronze plan with a charge of $100 per month from January 1, 2019.
- At the start of the new month, February 1, 2019, the customer has upgraded to a new monthly Gold plan.
- Your monthly Gold plan is $250 per month.
For the above customer, add these details as an invoice line item.
Line Item |
Value |
Invoice |
JL_FG_13400001 (Wayne Enterprises) |
Subscription ID |
jl_subid_01 |
Type |
Subscription |
Prorated |
No |
Service period start |
2019-02-01 |
Service period end |
2019-03-01 |
Amount |
$250 |
Plan |
JL Gold Plan Monthly (jlgoldmonthly) |
Quantity |
1 |
In this case, total MRR after this charge = $250
MRR movement after this charge = $150 (check the image below)
Switching plans (prorated)
- Your customer Daily Metropolis is currently on a monthly Bronze plan with a charge of $100 per month.
- At the start of the new month, June 1, 2019, they renewed their current monthly Bronze plan.
- In the middle of the month, on June 16, the customer upgraded to a new monthly Gold plan (prorated upgrade for the remaining 15 days in the billing cycle).
- Your monthly Bronze plan is $100 per month, and the monthly Gold plan is $250 per month.
- You charge the customer a prorated amount of $125 and credit $50 for the unused time in the Bronze plan.
For the above customer, add these details in two separate invoice line items.
Invoice line item 1:
Line Item |
Value |
Invoice |
JL_FG_13400005 (Daily Metropolis) |
Subscription ID |
jl_subid_02 |
Type |
Subscription |
Prorated |
Yes |
Service period start |
2019-06-16 |
Service period end |
2019-07-01 |
Amount |
-$50 |
Plan |
JL Bronze Plan Monthly (jlbronzemonthly) |
Quantity |
1 |
Invoice line item 2:
Line Item |
Value |
Invoice |
JL_FG_13400005 (Daily Metropolis) |
Subscription ID |
jl_subid_02 |
Type |
Subscription |
Prorated |
Yes |
Service period start |
2019-06-16 |
Service period end |
2019-07-01 |
Amount |
$125 |
Plan |
JL Gold Plan Monthly (jlgoldmonthly) |
Quantity |
1 |
In this case, total MRR after this charge is calculated as follows
MRR = Amount * Subscription duration ratio * Prorate factor
Amount = $125
MRR for the prorated charge line item = $125 * 1 * 2 = $250
Since this prorated charge is for a plan change, the new MRR of the subscription will simply be the MRR from the new Gold plan.
New MRR of the subscription = MRR from Gold plan = $250
MRR movement after this charge = $150 (check the image below)
If you wish to understand how subscription duration ratio and prorate factor are calculated, please refer to this article.
Adding a one-time purchase
- Your customer Arthur Curry has a non-recurring setup fee of $100 that includes a tax of $6
- The transaction fee is $2
For the above customer, add these details as an invoice line item
Line Item |
Value |
Invoice |
JL_FG_13400006 (Arthur Curry) |
Description |
Setup fees |
Type |
One time |
Amount |
$100 |
Transaction fees |
$2 |
Tax amount |
$6 |
Note: One-time type invoice line items do not contribute to MRR but will impact your cash flow metrics
Adding a refund
- Your customer Arthur Curry buys a license of your monthly Bronze plan for December starting from December 1, 2019.
- Your monthly Bronze plan is $100.
- They made a payment on December 1, 2019.
- On December 5, 2019, they realized they no longer need the plan.
- As part of your refund policy, you issue a full refund on the same day, though they can continue to use the services until January 1, 2020.
For the above customer, add these details as an invoice line item
Line Item |
Value |
Invoice |
JL_FG_13400007 (Arthur Curry) |
Subscription ID |
jl_subid_03 |
Type |
Subscription |
Prorated |
No |
Service period start |
2019-12-01 |
Service period end |
2020-01-01 |
Amount |
$100 |
Plan |
JL Bronze Plan Monthly (jlbronzemonthly) |
Quantity |
1 |
For the above customer, add these details in transactions
Line Item |
Value |
Invoice |
JL_FG_13400019 (Arthur Curry) |
Transaction ID |
trans_id_04 |
Type |
Refund |
Result |
Successful |
Date |
2019-12-05 |
If you want to cancel the customer subscription permanently and churn the customer, go to the subscriptions tab and cancel the subscription.
The current MRR will be set to zero in this case (check the image below for MRR movements after cancellation)
Adding a subscription with multiple components
- Your customer Barry Allen buys a subscription with multiple components in December - a monthly Bronze plan and a monthly Gold plan starting from December 1, 2019
- Your monthly Bronze plan is $100
- Your monthly Gold plan is $250
For the above customer, add these details as invoice line items.
Invoice line item 1:
Line Item |
Value |
Invoice |
JL_FG_13400008 (Barry Allen) |
Subscription ID |
jl_subid_04 |
Subscription set ID |
jl_subsetid_01 |
Type |
Subscription |
Prorated |
No |
Service period start |
2019-12-01 |
Service period end |
2020-01-01 |
Amount |
$100 |
Plan |
JL Bronze Plan Monthly (jlbronzemonthly) |
Quantity |
1 |
Invoice line item 2:
Line Item |
Value |
Invoice |
JL_FG_13400008 (Barry Allen) |
Subscription ID |
jl_subid_05 |
Subscription set ID |
jl_subsetid_01 |
Type |
Subscription |
Prorated |
No |
Service period start |
2019-12-01 |
Service period end |
2020-01-01 |
Amount |
$250 |
Plan |
JL Gold Plan Monthly (jlgoldmonthly) |
Quantity |
1 |
In this case, the total MRR after this charge is $350 (check the image below).
The subscription set ID should remain the same for different invoice line items part of the same subscription. For more information on subscriptions with multiple components, please refer to this article.