ChargebeeAPI

Contract terms

Subscriptions can run indefinitely or they may run for a fixed number of billing cycles. Subscription can have "contract terms", which define a lock-in period on the subscription for a certain number of billing cycles. This prevents the subscription from being canceled by the customer when it is within the contract term.

The contract term resource described below defines the properties of this lock-in period. This includes the number of billing cycles, the total contract value, the action to be taken at the end of the contract term, and so on. To allow for exceptions, you also have the option of terminating an active contract term and charging a termination fee.

A contract term starts in the active state and ends in the completed state. If the contract was canceled due to non-payment or other reasons, it can end in the canceled or terminated state. A given contract term is always associated with one, and only one subscription. A subscription, however, can be associated with only one active contract term. Over time, a subscription can be associated with several non-active contract terms. The active contract term for a subscription is available as an object within the subscription.

To enable and configure contract terms, follow these steps in the Chargebee UI:

  1. Click Settings on the left navigation.
  2. Click Configure Chargebee.
  3. Under Billing, click Contract Terms.
  4. Enable and configure the feature as needed.

Once contract terms have been configured, the following actions can be performed using the API:

Including a termination fee

When a contract is canceled mid-term, you can set a termination fee to be levied. Here's how:

  1. Create the termination fee as a non_recurring addon.
  2. Associate this addon with a plan or include the addon to a subscription. In either case, set the event_based_addons[on_event] parameter to contract_term_termination.

Once the above steps are done, the termination fee will be charged automatically if you terminate the contract in the middle of its term.

Sample Contract termJSON

Contract terms attributes

id
required, string, max chars=50

Id that uniquely identifies the contract term in the site.

status
required, enumerated string

Current status of contract

Possible Enum Values
active

An actively running contract term.

completed

The contract term has run its full duration.

cancelled

The contract term was ended because: - a change in the subscription caused a subscription term reset.

  • the subscription was cancelled due to non-payment.
terminated

The contract term was terminated ahead of completion.

contract_start
required, timestamp(UTC) in seconds

The start date of the contract term

contract_end
required, timestamp(UTC) in seconds

The end date of the contract term

billing_cycle
required, integer, min=0

The number of billing cycles of the subscription that the contract term is for.

action_at_term_end
required, enumerated string, default=renew

Action to be taken when the contract term completes.

Possible Enum Values
renew
  • Contract term completes and a new contract term is started for the number of billing cycles specified in contract_billing_cycle_on_renewal.
  • The action_at_term_end for the new contract term is set to renew.
evergreen

Contract term completes and the subscription renews.

cancel

Contract term completes and subscription is canceled.

renew_once

Used when you want to renew the contract term just once. Does the following: - Contract term completes and a new contract term is started for the number of billing cycles specified in contract_billing_cycle_on_renewal.

  • The action_at_term_end for the new contract term is set to cancel.
total_contract_value
required, in cents, default=0, min=0

The sum of the totals of all the invoices raised as part of the contract term. For active contract terms, this is a predicted value. The value depends on the type of currency. If the subscription was imported with the contract term, then this value includes the value passed for total_amount_raised .

total_contract_value_before_tax
required, in cents, default=0, min=0
cancellation_cutoff_period
optional, integer

The number of days before contract_end , during which the customer is barred from canceling the contract term. The customer is allowed to cancel the contract term via the Self-Serve Portal only before this period. This allows you to have sufficient time for processing the contract term closure.

created_at
required, timestamp(UTC) in seconds

The date when the contract term was created.

subscription_id
required, string, max chars=50

The Id of the subscription that this contract term is for.

remaining_billing_cycles
optional, integer, min=0

The number of subscription billing cycles remaining after the current one for the contract term. This attribute is only returned for active contract terms.