How to use the contracts module to create contractual services?
Service Providers who have the Standard or Gold package can choose to use the contracts module. The contracts module allows the Service Provider to create Services which in turn become contractual.
The contract module is automatized and it can be used to configure:
- the duration of said contract and how many payments the User must make
- when the contract starts
- if the User is allowed to end the contract on their own
- if the User can purchase the contractual service on their own or not
- if the contract is extended automatically
If the User purchases a contractual Service then the Service Provider will be notified of it and later on the Service Provider can manage existing contracts in the Service Provider account's "Finances" - "Contracts" view.
When using the contracts module the Service Provider does not need to mark tickets as used since the contracts module will perform a transaction to Users automatically. If needed, then the Service Provider can configure the contractual Service so that it can only be sold from the cashier view by the Service Provider.
We recommend that the Service Provider should check if all the transactions have successfully been made at least once a month (just in case if any Users didn't have enough funds to cover the transaction or when their employer doesn't offer compensation to them any more etc.). This can easily be correlated in the "Contracts" view.
If you configure the contractual Service to be purchasable by Users themselves, then Users can buy the Service on their own and upon a successful purchase a contract will instantly start, meaning that automatic payments will begin on the 1st day of each month.
NB! The transaction will fail if the User doesn't have enough funds on their Stebby account. In that case the User will be notified about the failed transaction in the Stebby environment as well as in an e-mail. Additionally the Service Provider can filter by Users whose transactions have failed for some reason.
To create a contractual Service, follow through these steps:
- Activate the "Enable contracts module" button at the bottom of your Service Provider account's "Settings" view.
- Enter the "Sales & Services" - "Services" view of the Service Provider account and click on the "Add new service" button.
- Whilst setting up the Service, select "Contract" as the Service type.
- Assign a name and a price for the Service. The regular price applies for the Service and if you wish to sell the Service at a discount then assign it a Stebby price as well. However, assigning a Stebby price isn't mandatory. Additionally choose the Service group under which the Service will belong.
- Activate the "Users can find the service on the platform" button. After activating said button Users will be able to find the Service on our platform. If the Service isn't to be seen by the User on your Service Provider page, activate the "The service is sold only at the cashier" button.
- If the Service is to be sold all year round, enable the "(Basic option) Always" button.
- If the Service is to be sold only for a specific time period, click on the "For a specific time period" button.
- The "Only a certain number of tickets available" choice should be applied if only a select amount of Users can purchase said contractual Service.
- If the Service is both to be sold only in a specific timeframe and the Service is also in limited quantity, choose the "For a specific time period and there is only a certain number of services available".
- Set up the number of payments and payment cycles.
- The number of payments indicates how many payments will be made during the contract. The payment cycle indicates a period during which payments will be made - for example if the number of payments is 1 and the payment cycle value is assigned as 4 then only one payment will be made and the contract will be valid for 4 months. If the number of payments were 2, the next payment after the first one would be made 4 months later and thus the contract would be valid for 8 months. For a regular yearly contract choose 12 as the number of payments and 1 as the payment cycle.
- Configure the start date of the contract and the cancellation policy.
The start date of the contract can be set to be: date of purchase + 1 month, date of purchase, start of the current month, start of the next month or conditional start of next month which has its specific rule when the contract will start depending on when the User purchases the service.
The condition is:- If purchased on the 1-25. date = start of next month
- If purchased on the 26-31. (end of month) date = start of the month after next.
- The cancellation policy indicates whether the User can cancel the contract on their own. If you wish that the Users couldn't cancel their contracts on their own, select "Cancellation of the contract is forbidden".
- You can configure the contractual Service to be paid before the period (for example for the payment of next month to be done in the current month) by activating the "Contract is prepaid" button.
- By activating the "User can make the first purchase on the Point of Sale page" button Users will be able to purchase the contractual Service on their own. Leave the button unchecked if you do not want this.
- If the contract is to be automatically extended automatically, activate the "Automatically renew the contract after it expires" button and select the number of further payments.