Billing
Manage the billing lifecycle of a customer: bill generation, delivery, and collection
Billing covers the whole billing lifecycle of a customer. It generates the bill, delivers it, and collects the payment. A brand can bill on several cycles, and each customer can have their own delivery preference.
Billing entity
Billing in the API holds four parts:
- Bill generation: The bill is created from the subscription charges and the usage.
- Billing cycles: The cycle is monthly, quarterly, or annual.
- Bill delivery: The bill goes out by email, by SMS, on paper, or through the customer portal.
- Payment collection: Payment processing settles the bill.
Key capabilities
Automated billing
Generate a bill from the subscription charges and the usage of the customer.
Billing cycles
Bill on the cycle that the customer and the business want.
Multi-channel delivery
Deliver a bill by email, by paper mail, by SMS, or in the self-service portal.
Payment integration
Collect a bill automatically, or take a manual payment for it.
Common use cases
Subscription billing
Bill a recurring telecom subscription or service plan.
Usage billing
Bill variable usage: a data overage, or a premium service.
Bill delivery
Send a bill on the channel and in the format that the customer selected.
Payment collection
Collect a bill through the payment processing that the brand uses.
Related resources
A billing entity connects to these API resources:
- Customers: The billing preferences and the billing relationship of one customer.
- Subscriptions: The service charges and the subscription fees on the bill.
- Invoices: The formal statement that the billing lifecycle generates.
- Payments: The payment that settles the bill.
- Usage: The consumption that a usage-based charge is calculated from.
- Taxes: The tax that the platform calculates and puts on the bill.