General Billing Options

Select General Billing Options from the Settings menu.  Initially, you should set only the basic options, then you can set the more advanced options after you have decided on your billing structure and logistics.

Pro-rate amount due at sign-up

Check this box to pro-rate the amount due at the beginning of a contract. 

For example, suppose a member signs up on the 20th of the month and you do your billing on the 1st day of each month.   Gym Assistant can automatically calculate how much the member should pay up-front to take them from the 20th until their first billing data on the 1st.  If you specify that the member’s first payment should be due later than 1 month from the signup date (e.g. the 1st of the following month), then Gym Assistant will calculate the additional amount she should pay to cover the time until that first payment.

Note: This is a default setting. This setting can be overridden for specific membership plans (see Advanced Options) or manually when a member’s contract is created (click Admin and check or uncheck the Pro-Rate box).

Pro-rate amount due at contract end

Check this box to pro-rate the amount due at the end of a contract.

For example, suppose a member contract ends on the 20th of the month and you do your billing on the 1st day of each month. Gym Assistant will automatically calculate the member’s last payment to take them from the 1st until her contract ends on the 20th.

Note: This is a default setting. This setting can be overridden for specific membership plans (see Advanced Options) or manually when a member’s last payment is taken (click Admin and check or uncheck the Pro-Rate box).

Enforce Contracts

Check this box to require that all members have a valid contract.  If you try to record a payment for a member after his contract end date then you will be given a choice to either renew the existing contract or create a new contract. 

·         If you choose Renew Existing Contract then the payment will be recorded and the member’s Contract End Date will be advanced by the contract length for that member’s current membership plan. 

·         If you choose Create New Contract, then you will be taken to the Start New Contract window for the member.

Sales Tax Rate

Set the Sales Tax Rate for your city or enter zero if you will not be charging sales tax.

·         Check the Charge Tax on Membership Fees box if membership fees are taxed.

·         Check the Charge Tax on Contract Fees box if initiation fees and other fee add-ons are taxed.

Automatic Billing Options

Min days to pay at sign-up

This setting determines the minimum number of days that a member should pay for at the beginning of a contract.  This option only affects recurring billing (Credit Card and ACH) memberships, and it lets you control for how long the member must initially pay.  This setting is most often used to ensure that members pay up-front for at least a minimum time or to ensure that you will have enough lead time before their first bill date.

For example, suppose you process your recurring billing members on the 1st of each month.   If a members signs up on the 25th then you could have him pay for 5 days up-front and then bill him on the 1st for the first full month.  But if you want him to pay more up-front then you could have his first billing date on the 1st of the following month (so he pays for a little more than 1-month at signup). 

Monthly processing days-of-month

This setting determines when you process your billing each month.  The billing days should be separated by commas.  For example, if you will be processing your billing on the 5th and 20th of each month then this field should be set to “5,20”.

Other General Billing Options settings can be configured later, and you will find detailed information elsewhere in this document.