How to Add a Recurring Billing
Most of what your school collects is the same amount, from the same person, on the same day every month. A recurring billing is how you set that up once and stop thinking about it. It generates the invoices on schedule, and if you turn on autopay, it charges the card or bank account on file without anyone at the front desk touching it.
Before you start
- The person or family needs to exist in Kicksite.
- For autopay, they need a saved Payment Method. If they don’t have one, you can add it during this process, or send a Payment Method Invite and come back later.
- Your Revenue Streams should be set up, because you’ll pick one here and it’s what makes your revenue reports readable later.
- If you’re setting up the same billing for a lot of students at once — same amount, same start date, same terms — don’t do them one at a time. Use Add Recurring Billings on the Student List instead.
Where to start from
You can begin either on the Student’s Profile or from the Finance section.
- From a profile — open the person’s profile, scroll to the Finances module, click Add New +, then Recurring Billing.
- From the Finances page — click Finances in the left panel, open the Recurring Billings tab, then click Add New. Start typing the person’s or family’s name in the Student/Family field and pick them from the results.
If the Profile already has recurring billings, those appear as soon as you select ADD NEW + RECURRING BILLING. Worth a glance before you add another — duplicate memberships are one of the most common billing mistakes.
Filling out the billing
- Amount — What they’re charged each time.
- Taxed — Toggle on if this charge is taxable. The rate pre-fills from your Recurring Billing Details in Finances Settings; you can override it here for this one billing.
- Start Date — The first date an invoice is generated. Any date from today forward.
- Frequency — A number and a unit. Enter 1 and Months for the usual monthly membership. Days, Weeks, Months, and Years are all available.
- Duration — Leave Unlimited checked for an ongoing billing, or check Limit to and enter a number of Total invoices for a fixed term.
- Revenue Stream — Usually Membership. This becomes the billing’s title, so “Membership for John Smith” is what you’ll see everywhere afterwards.
- Autopay — On by default if your school has billing. Leave it on to charge automatically; turn it off to generate invoices you’ll collect against manually.
Common setups
| You want | Frequency | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Ongoing monthly tuition | Every 1 Months | Unlimited |
| A 12-month contract | Every 1 Months | Only 12 occurrences |
| Weekly for a 20-class term | Every 1 Weeks | Only 20 occurrences |
| Annual association dues | Every 1 Years | Unlimited |
About the Start Date
Pick whatever day the person actually pays. Months that are too short are handled for you — a billing set to the 31st generates on the last day of February rather than skipping the month.
Finishing up
- Autopay off — Click Add. The billing is created and the first invoice generates on the start date.
- Autopay on — Click Continue. Choose a saved Payment Method or add a new card, then click Confirm Autopay.
You’ll see a confirmation that autopay is enabled, and the person is charged on the schedule you set.
What happens next
- An invoice generates on the start date, then again each period. Kicksite generates them one at a time; use Pre-Generate Next Invoice on the details page if someone wants to pay ahead.
- With autopay on, the invoice is charged on its due date and a receipt emails to the payer, assuming that notification is enabled in Finances Settings.
- Recurring billing invoices are paid oldest first. If someone falls behind, Pay Open Balance catches up several at once.
- The price, duration, tax, and Revenue Stream can be changed later — see How to Edit a Recurring Billing.
When a payment fails
- Card declines — The billing keeps trying. After 5 consecutive declines it inactivates itself. Declined card billings show in the Declined Recurring Billings module on your Dashboard.
- ACH declines — The billing inactivates immediately, on the first failure. These appear in the Inactive Unpaid Billings module instead, which is why a bounced bank payment can look like it vanished if you’re only watching the Declined module.
To restart an inactivated billing, pay the open balance in full, then set it back to Active and pick a resume date.
Troubleshooting
The billing was created but no invoice appeared. Check the start date. Invoices generate on that date, not when you create the billing. A billing starting the 15th sits idle until the 15th.
Autopay is on but nothing was charged. Confirm a Payment Method is actually attached — click Switch Payment Method on the details page to see. A billing can have autopay enabled with no valid card if the card was later archived.
The amount is right but the reports look wrong. Check the Revenue Stream. A billing filed under the wrong stream is invisible in the Collected Revenue by Revenue Stream report, which is usually where schools first notice.
Limitations
- Recurring billings can’t be deleted, only inactivated and archived. That’s deliberate — deleting financial records breaks your books.
- Discounts can be applied to a recurring billing created through Student Sign-Up, but not to one created here or to one that already exists.
- An inactivated billing attached to a membership doesn’t inactivate the membership. If someone leaves, handle both.