Ooooby's advanced billing and debt management system offers flexibility and efficiency in handling financial transactions, resembling a prepaid service. This system benefits both hubs and customers by facilitating upfront payments, allowing for order modifications, and ensuring smooth financial operations. Here's an in-depth look at how advanced billing, debt-based billing, and related processes work within Ooooby.
Advanced Billing Explained
Advanced billing in Ooooby operates similarly to a prepaid account, where customers pay in advance for their subscriptions. This approach provides several advantages:
Flexibility for Customers: Allows changes to orders as needed.
Financial Advantage for Hubs: Enables receiving payments upfront, enhancing cash flow.
How It Works:
Billing Period Selection: Customers are billed in advance for a chosen period, ranging from one to four weeks or more.
Calculation of Bill: The bill is calculated by considering the subscribed deliveries, products, delivery fees, any discounts, and adjusting for any debt or credit on the account.
Impact of Extras: Once-off extras are deducted from the existing account balance, potentially reducing the duration before the next billing cycle.
Debt-Based Billing
Debt-based billing ensures customers are billed only for the debt incurred on their accounts, essentially bringing their balance back to zero.
Operational Timing:
Initiation: Billing is conducted immediately after an event is completed.
Objective: To charge customers for received items, ensuring account balances are cleared.
Billing Initiation
Billing is a manual process initiated by a crew member when:
A customer’s account balance falls below zero.
The cost of the upcoming delivery exceeds the account balance.
Billing Process:
Crew Member Action: Billing is started from the Customer Billing page.
Payment Scheduling: Pending payments are listed on the Scheduled Payments page and customers are notified of upcoming charges.
Payment Execution: Payments are processed early in the morning on the scheduled date, with notifications sent for both failed and successful transactions.
Managing Account Changes and Issues
Automatic Debt Limit Reset: A customer's debt limit may revert to zero if their credit card expires. Updating credit card details resets it to the hub’s default limit.
Updating Card Details: Crew members can update card details on behalf of a customer, typically over a phone call.
Declined Payments: Customers are generally advised to contact their bank for declined payments, as the reasons are usually outside Ooooby’s control.
Conclusion
Ooooby's advanced and debt-based billing systems offer a structured approach to managing financial transactions, providing benefits to both hubs and customers. By understanding and utilizing these systems effectively, hubs can maintain a steady cash flow while offering customers the flexibility and convenience they appreciate.