On this page
- What are auto-renewal payments?
- Auto-renew payment settings
- Renewing through a form
- How are auto-renew payments processed?
- Payment failures
- Cancelling auto-renew payments
What are auto-renewal payments?
You can set up auto-renew payments so that membership dues can be automatically charged on a regular schedule. This saves members the trouble of having to manually renew their membership. Before configuring your auto-renew payment settings, we recommend reviewing our articles on member type settings and member self-service renewal process. A few things to note regarding auto-renew payments:
- Auto-renew must be set up with your payment processor (e.g. Payroc, Moolah, Authorize.net etc.). Credit card information is stored in your payment processor, not MC Professional.
- Your renewal notifications must be turned on for auto-renew to work.
- For a member to update a credit card, the member must be in their renewal period and take a membership/renewal form. They will need to opt-in again to establish the connection with your payment processor.
Auto renewal payments are not compatible with multi-year pricing options.
Auto-renew payment settings
Navigate to Database > Member Types. Hover over the member type you want to edit and click EDIT SETTINGS.
Under the Renewal Settings section you can set auto-renew to Off, Required, or Optional:
Optional: If auto-renew is set to optional, members can choose whether or not they want to keep a credit card on file so that their membership is automatically charged to their credit card each year. To opt-in to optional renewal payments, the member will need to renew through a form.
Required: If auto-renew is set to required, each member will need to opt-in to auto-renewal payments to renew their membership. The member will still receive a renewal reminder prior to their expiration date with the renewal invoice attached.
Renewing through a form
For members to opt-in to auto-renew, they need to renew through a form. See Membership Forms for more information.
If auto-renew is required, the Automatically Renew checkbox will be selected automatically when the member goes through the form.
If auto-renew is optional, the Automatically Renew checkbox will be checked off automatically. If the member wishes to opt-out, they will need to clear the checkbox manually.
How are auto-renew payments processed?
Once a member enrolls in auto-renew payments, their credit card is saved within your payment processor. They will be charged membership dues automatically, on their next expiration date.
Depending on your renewal notification settings, the member will still receive a renewal reminder prior to their expiration date with the renewal invoice attached. On the member's expiration date, payment will be made automatically and posted to their renewal invoice.
Payment failures
If payment fails, the member will receive the payment failure notification email (if set up in your member type notification settings). Your member will move into graced or lapsed status depending on your member type settings.
To link the membership form in your payment failure notification email, you will need to use the site links feature. This will direct the user to the form to renew their membership and update their payment information.
Cancelling auto-renew payments
If a member has opted-in to auto-renew payments and wants to opt-out, the member can take the renewal form through your website (or the admin can take the renewal form on their behalf) and uncheck auto-Renew.
The member must be in their renewal period to access the renewal form.
If Auto-Renew is set to required for the member type, and the member wants to opt-out, an admin will need to remove their expiration date by editing their profile. Then, move them to the prospect member type so they are no longer considered an active, dues-paying member in your database.
If an admin changes a member's member type, this will remove them from auto-renew payments and the member will need to opt-in via a membership/renewal form the next time they are in their renewal period.