Add recurring editions

Recurring editions are the recommended model for web applications. The customer is charged a standard amount on a recurring basis.

The setup for the recurring revenue model includes many of the same steps as found in the one-time edition (see Add one-time editions). The primary difference is that charges are recurring instead of one time, and some additional options are available, such as the ability to include a contract and a one-time setup fee.

Some of the features and options referenced in this topic might not appear, depending on marketplace, role, and company configuration.

To create a recurring edition

1. Enter the following information in the Edition Information fields.

   1. Name—The name for this edition. Select a name that differentiates this edition from others, such as size, expense, audience, or other criteria relevant to your business. For example, you could use names such as: Free, Standard, Pro Bronze, Silver, Gold, Home, Business.

   2. Edition code—Any string of characters to identify this edition in the XML that you, the Developer, exchange with marketplaces. You can use this code to associate this edition in AppDirect with the editions in your systems. If not applicable for you, enter any value.
      When you create an edition for a Microsoft perpetual software and software subscription product, add <product_id>:<sku> for example DG7GMGF0FKZV:0003.
      When you create an edition for a physical good that you want a fulfillment service to manage and ship, the edition code must include the following:

      • The shipping connector UUID for the fulfillment company—This identifies which fulfillment service is used in a specific zone to fulfill the product edition. The shipping connector translates fulfillment information between AppDirect and the fulfillment service.
      • The fulfillment service's SKU that identifies the product edition—this SKU is mapped to the marketplace's product edition.

   3. Target audience—The marketplace Pricing and Editions tab for this product displays this text as Ideal for {targetAudience}. For example: consumer, small business, enterprise. It helps users identify which edition best meets their needs.

   4. Position—Assign this edition a value relative to other editions of this product, to display them in a defined order. When you assign an edition a position, the position for other editions automatically adjusts, if required.

   5. Edition rank—Assign this edition a rank relative to other editions of this product, to define which ones represent upgrades versus downgrades. The lower the number, the higher the rank. For example, going from edition 4 (Silver plan) to 3 (Gold plan) is considered an upgrade. For information about how this value is used, see Subscription upgrades and downgrades.

   6. ​Show as primary pricing plan (Optional)—When you select this option, this edition is highlighted as a best seller and is selected by default when the user clicks the Buy Now button on the product profile.

   7. Purchase options (Optional)—Select one of the following for this edition.

      • This edition is selected when a customer chooses a one-click free trial—When the product has multiple editions that are free or have free trials and you select this setting, customers receive this edition when they choose a one-click free trial. We recommend that you use this setting for the lowest-priced edition that includes a free trial, if you offer one for this product.

      • This edition can only be bought as part of a bundle—Creates an edition of the product that can be used as part of a bundle, but is not visible when buying the product separately. It does not appear on the editions and pricing page for any user.

      • This edition is hidden from marketplace customers—Restricts marketplace visibility after the edition is published. Only marketplace employees, Marketplace Managers, Sales Support Representatives (SSRs), and Resellers can see it. Although it is hidden from marketplace customers, it can be purchased on behalf of customers. After it is purchased on behalf of a customer, the customer can manage the edition.

        📝 Note: If your storefront theme was created with the Storefront Builder or Storefront Toolkit (see Customize the storefront), it is not possible to view a hidden edition's profile page directly. Users with the Developer or Marketplace Manager role can however view a preview of the profile page.

      • Enable lead generation—Customers cannot purchase this edition without assistance from marketplace SSRs, when you select this option. You can only select this option if there is at least one other edition that is not set to Enable Lead Generation (and is, therefore, available for the customer to purchase independently).
        When you select this setting, instead of a Buy Now button, customers see a Contact Us button on the marketplace for this edition, through which they can submit their contact information. Marketplace SSRs receive notification of the lead and contact the potential customer to facilitate the purchase. When Marketplace Managers publish a product to a marketplace and configure Marketplace Settings for it, they can set the product, not just an edition, to collect leads instead of, or in addition to, offering customers the option to purchase.

   8. Restrictions—Restrict users from making subscription changes. For detailed information about these settings and how they function with related restrictions, see Edition, unit, and contract restrictions.
      Edition-level settings

      Setting name	Applies to and appears for	Default	Configuration options and impact
      This edition can be upgraded	Any edition, with or without contract	Checked	Checked: Subscription upgrades are allowedUnchecked: Restriction enabled—Subscription upgrades are not allowed
      This edition can be downgraded	Any edition, with or without contract	Checked	Checked: Subscription downgrades are allowedUnchecked: Restriction enabled—Subscription downgrades are not allowed
      This edition can be canceled	Any edition, with or without contract	Checked	Checked: Subscription cancellations are allowedUnchecked: Restriction enabled—Subscription cancellations are not allowed

2. At the top of the Payment Plans pane, configure the following fields:

   • Free trial period—If you want to offer a free trial period to customers, choose whether the trial period is in days or months, then enter the duration.
   • Expired free trial grace period—The grace period represents the amount of time (in days) after the free trial ends before customers' service is canceled. During that time they do not have access to their account and the application tile appears in a suspended state on the MyApps page.
     If you configure a free trial period and leave this field blank, after the free trial, the subscription and order statuses change to Expired until the subscription is manually canceled.
     If you configure a free trial period and enter zero in this field, it means the product has no grace period. After the free trial period, the order and subscription statuses change to Canceled the day after the free trial ends; this is not recommended because when a subscription is canceled, users cannot recover the same account even if they purchase a paid subscription.
   • Revenue model—Select the Recurring revenue model for this edition.

3. Billing frequency—From the drop-down list, choose one of the options.

   📝 Note: You must define either a flat rate that applies to all units or a per-unit rate with more advanced pricing options for this revenue model. The next step describes how to configure a flat rate. The steps after that describe how to configure more advanced pricing options. Configure one or the other.

4. Flat Rate Price—Set a price for this product. This price is charged once per billing cycle. Skip this step if you want to define a price for one or more unit types (for example, megabytes and/or users) for this product. Do the following:

   1. If the Price Per Unit pane is displayed, click the trash icon.
   2. If the Flat Price pane is not displayed, click Add A Flat Rate Price.
   3. Enter a price.

5. Configure a price that applies to all quantities purchased of a selected unit type—The units can be megabytes, users, or any other unit type. Do the following:

   1. If the Flat Rate Price pane is displayed, click the trash icon.
   2. If the Price Per Unit pane is not displayed, click Add Price Per Unit. The Price Per Unit pane opens.
   3. Define the unit type. The default is set as Users, but you can change this to meet your needs. Many unit types are preconfigured, including megabytes, gigabytes, contracts, boxes, data points, units, licenses, and many others. To search for the unit type you need, start typing the unit type name in the per field, and options autopopulate.
   4. Enter the price per selected unit type in the price field. If more than one currency is configured, enter the equivalent price for each currency.

6. Configure the range for the price (optional)—To charge the price you entered for one range of quantities purchased, and charge another price for a different range of quantities purchased, enter a minimum and maximum quantity value for the price you entered. For example, 1-100 means that the user pays the price that you entered for each of the first 100 megabytes.
   Although usage is referenced in the next step, you can use price ranges for metered or unmetered products.

7. Add additional usage ranges (optional)—To add a usage range, click Add another usage range. Additional fields appear. For example, you might configure an additional usage range of 100-200 megabytes of usage, and reduce the price to reward customers for higher-volume purchases. Repeat the last step and this step to configure additional ranges. Usage range configuration:

   • The minimum for the next usage range must be the same number as the maximum for the previous usage range. This applies for all subsequent usage ranges that you add.
   • For the first range, the price for the range applies to the minimum value, up to and including the maximum value. For subsequent ranges, the price for the range applies to volumes greater than the minimum values, up to and including the maximum values.

8. Configure the following options as required, available at the bottom of the Recurring Price pane. These include:

   • Allow custom metered usage—Selecting this option allows the Developer to charge the user for custom metered usage. When you enable this, the Metered Usage setting that appears for the Usage Range must be off.
   • Separate pre-paid order—If metered usage is enabled, this option is available. This splits metered usage billing onto a separate order. Other charges occur at the beginning of the billing cycle, this charge occurs at the end.
   • Keep billing cycle on usage change—When this option enabled, and an end user increases or decreases the number of units but not the pricing plan, it keeps the order on the same billing cycle. Upon activation, the end user pays the prorated amount for the remaining time in the current billing cycle and then pays the full amount at the start of the next billing cycle. For example, if an end user has already purchased 5 users at $1/ month and upgrades half-way through the month to 15 users, they owe $5 at the time of upgrade (half of the 10 users) and pay $15 at the start of the next billing cycle.
   • Keep billing cycle on pricing plan change—When this option is enabled, the billing cycle remains the same when an end user changes to a new pricing plan. Upon activation, the end user pays the prorated amount for the remaining time in the current billing cycle and then pays the full amount at the start of the next billing cycle. For example, if an end user purchased a plan that cost $50 per month and upgrades half-way through the month to a plan that costs $75 per month, they owe $25 at the time of the upgrade and pay $75 at the start of the new billing cycle.

9. The following settings appear depending for the pricing you configured. Check those that apply to your product edition, using the following description to guide your selection:

   • • Restrict purchases to increments of—Restricts the user to buying the product in specific increments. When you select this option, the input field that appears for customers in the checkout workflow is converted to a dropdown list. For example, the customer might see a dropdown list of 5,10,15, and 20 units.
       The maximum number of values that can appear in the dropdown list is 50; the dropdown list does not appear in checkout if the number of values exceeds 50. To avoid configuring a range and increments that exceed the maximum dropdown list values, consider the number of values your configuration involves. For example:

       • If the range is 1-500 in increments of 5, the dropdown list needs to display [(total range of 500) divided by (increment value of 5) =] 100 values, which exceeds the maximum of 50 values. The dropdown list will not appear is it needs to in the checkout workflow.
       • If the range is 1-500 in increments of 100, the dropdown needs to display [(total range of 500) divided by (increment value of 100) =] 5 values, which is less than the maximum of 50 values. The dropdown list will appear as required in the checkout workflow.
       • Keep pricing per tier with volume—To explain which option to select, it's easiest to use an example using this scenario: Price ranges are configured as follows: For the first 1-10,000 API calls, the price is set at $0 per call, and every call above 10,000 is charged at 10 cents:
         • If the checkbox is not checked—For the first 10,000 API calls, the user is charged $0. However, after the 10,000 call threshold is passed, the user is charged $.10 for every call reported during the billing period, including the first 10,000. So for 10,001 calls, the user is charged $10,001 X $0.10, for a total charge of $1000.10.
         • If this functionality is enabled with a checkmark—There is no charge for the first 10,000 API calls. For each API call above the 10,000 threshold, those additional calls are charged at $.10 per call. Therefore, for 10,001 calls, the user is charged $.10.
       • Display price per increment—When the increment checkbox is checked, set the minimum quantity to purchase to match the increment. This changes the display on the product Pricing & Editions page to reflect the cost based on the minimum number of required units, instead of the price per individual unit. For example, if you set a minimum of 5, and an increment of 5, at $1 per user, the customer sees a price of $5/5 users instead of the normal $1/user.

       1. Metered usage—When active, this enables metered usage for the specified unit type. For example, $5/user based on usage.

       📝 Note: Metered usage for recurring and tiered revenue model products is recorded on one-time orders. Each time metered usage is received, that order is used to invoice the customer.

       2. Setup fee per unit—When active, this results in an additional cost per unit at the first checkout for each unit purchased. For example, $50 setup for each $20/unit/month.
       3. Restrict users from making subscription changes. For detailed information about these settings and how they function with related restrictions, see Edition, unit, and contract restrictions.

   Unit Type settings

   Setting name	Applies to and appears for	Default	Configuration options and impact
   Allow customers to decrease units	Any unit type, with or without configured contract terms	Checked	Checked: Unit quantity decreases are allowed Unchecked: Restriction enabled—Unit quantity decreases are not allowed
   Allow customers to increase units	Any unit type, with or without configured contract terms	Checked	Checked: Unit quantity increases are allowed Unchecked: Restriction enabled—Unit quantity increases are not allowed

   4. Contract Restrictions—If you configure a contract, the following settings might appear. With them, you can restrict users from making mid-contract subscription changes. For detailed information about these settings and how they function with related restrictions, see Edition, unit, and contract restrictions.
      Unit Type Contract Restriction settings

      Setting name	Applies to and appears for	Default	Configuration options and impact
      Contract Restrictions | Block user from increasing units	Editions with recurring and tiered pricing, and configured contract terms	Unchecked	Checked: Restriction enabled—Unit quantity increases are not allowed mid-contract. During the update subscription workflow, a message notifies users that the contract does not allow them to change the subscription mid-contract, and that the changes will take effect after the current contract ends. Unchecked: Unit quantity increases are allowed and applied mid-contract.
      Contract Restrictions | Block user from decreasing units purchased with original contract	Editions with recurring and tiered pricing, and configured contract terms	Unchecked	Checked: Restriction enabled—Unit quantity decreases are not allowed mid-contract if they decrease the quantity to fewer than the original quantity purchased. However, if the unit quantity was previously increased, decreases are allowed with the same condition: the total quantity cannot be fewer than the original quantity purchased. During the update subscription workflow, a message notifies users that the contract does not allow them to change the subscription mid-contract, and that the changes will take effect after the current contract ends. Unchecked: Unit quantity decreases are allowed and applied mid-contract.
      Contract Restrictions | Block user from decreasing units	Editions with recurring and tiered pricing, and configured contract terms	Unchecked	Checked: Restriction enabled—Unit quantity decreases are not allowed mid-contract. During the update subscription workflow, a message notifies users that the contract does not allow them to change the subscription mid-contract, and that the changes will take effect after the current contract ends. Unchecked: Unit quantity decreases are allowed and applied mid-contract.

   5. (Optional) You can create another pricing configuration for a different unit type. To do so, click Include another usage rate and complete the fields using the same process previously described.

   6. One time setup fee (optional)—Click Add a One Time Setup Fee to activate this feature. This fee is only due at the first checkout and is not billed again. Upgrades and downgrades do not incur this fee. Customers are charged a one time setup fee if they cancel and repurchase the product, or if they switch editions.

   7. Contract terms—Click Add Contract Terms to display the contract fields.

10. Describe this edition's features and benefits. Explain to your customer what this edition offers, perhaps that other editions do not.

    • Text—A short description of the feature aimed at generating interest in your product and this edition.
    • Tooltip information—Additional information about the benefit that is only visible when a user hovers over the feature.
    • Add another feature—Click to add more features.

11. Do one of the following:

    • Click Save.
    • Click Save and Preview. A preview of your marketplace product profile appears. To edit a profile element, you can link directly from the preview to the configuration page for the element.