Agency Billing to Clients and Payouts from Clients

Agency Partners in the United States and most international locations are able to use the Constant Contact Lead Gen & CRM billing platform feature to bill their clients for the services they provide.

This article applies only to Agency clients. For individual clients, please return to the help center home page and search for another article.

How Billing Works

All billing to clients through the billing platform is 100% on behalf of the agency, and all revenue is paid out to the Agency Partner.  Using the Lead Gen & CRM billing platform does NOT affect what the Agency Partner pays to Constant Contact for the services, other than the platform fees billed by the payment processor.

1. On the billing date (the day after the billing cycle for the Agency closes), Constant Contact builds an invoice for the Agency Partner and all clients.
   
   
   1. The pricing and charges for both the Agency and the client(s) are governed by the Agency’s Billing Plan, which can be found in Settings->Billing Plan Summary
      
      
      1. The Agency is billed for their Partner package minimum, any active client license fees, any product and overage charges incurred by the Agency and clients, and any applicable taxes and fees.
      2. The client is billed for the license price set by the Agency and any taxes indicated by the Agency on the client’s Client Configuration page, as well as any product and overage charges incurred by the client.
         
         
   2. The invoices are available for download once they are created
      
      
      1. The Agency can download the client invoices on the “Billing Overview” page in the Agency account by clicking on the client’s name in the Client Charges section
      2. The client can download the invoice from within their account selecting the Settings gear icon in the bottom left, clicking on “Monthly Service Overview” from the left hand menu then clicking the “Export” button in the top right
      3. These links will create a .pdf that you can print or download.  Make sure you have any pop-up blockers off.  Prior months can be accessed using the "< Prev" button at the top right of each page.
         
         
2. After we build the invoices, charges are processed against the payment methods provided on each account through our 3rd-party payment processor, Stripe.
   
   
   1. If an Agency has requested not to bill a client through the Lead Gen & CRM platform, no charges will be processed to the client.  The Billing Overview page will show the status “Agency Invoiced” in the Client Charges section
   2. If the charge to the client’s credit card is successful, the Client Charges section of the Billing Overview page will display the charge as “Paid”.
   3. If the payment method is an ACH- or SEPA-enabled bank account, the billing overview status will say “Pending”, while the charge is awaiting settlement.
   4. If the charge fails, it will say “Retrying”.
      
      
      1. We will automatically retry the charge on the 5th weekday and the 10th weekday after the initial billing date.
      2. If all three attempts fail, the billing overview will say “Uncollectable”.  After the third attempt to charge a client, no further automatic charge attempts will be made.  The Agency can request that we retry the charge manually, or will need to collect from the client outside of the Constant Contact billing platform.
         
         
3. After the funds are collected from the client, they are processed through the Agency Partner’s Stripe Connect account, and paid out to the designated payout account, generally 3-5 business days after the funds are collected.  The Client Charges section will then reflect the status “Paid Out”.

Special Considerations

1. If a client does not have a payment method on file, the system will automatically flag the clients' charge as “Uncollectable” and does not try to recharge them.  If a charge to a client fails, the client and the Agency Partner will be notified.  If we are unable to collect the funds from the client on the Agency’s behalf after our automatic retry cycle, the Agency will be notified, but it will have no effect on the services to the Agency or their clients.  The Agency will just need to collect those funds from the client another way.
   
   
2. The same payment method can not be used on multiple accounts.  If accounts are connected, the Agency Partner can bill for all accounts by adjusting the pricing on the Client Configuration page of one of the accounts, and request that the others be opted out of being billed through our platform.  Or the Agency can request that all related client instances be marked as Agency Invoiced, and bill them outside of the Lead Gen & CRM system.
   
   
3. If an Agency does not wish to bill the client through the Lead Gen & CRM billing platform, then once the client instance is fully configured, other than the payment method, they can email Billing Support at crm-billing@constantcontact.com, to request that the client be opted out of billing through our system (“Agency Invoiced” status).
   
   
4. Agency Partners are billed in arrears (at the end of the billing cycle).  Client accounts are technically billed at the beginning of the billing cycle, for the upcoming month.  This allows our Agency Partners to receive the funds from the client before they provide the services.  However, as billing for both the Agency and the Client start on the same date, we recommend that Agency Partners either:
   
   
   1. Incorporate the month the agency is “in the hole” into the monthly charges made to the client.  This can be done by increasing the monthly license price to the client by an amount sufficient to cover the month of service that the agency will be paying for without the client being billed.
      
      
   2. Have the client sign an agreement with the agency to provide sufficient notice for final billing, which may include an early termination or cancellation fee.
       
   3. Bill an onboarding charge using the “Agency Services” option on the Client Configuration page. (This creates a separate line item on your client's invoice.  It is still a monthly charge, so if you're using it for a 1-time entry, like onboarding fees, make sure to go back in and remove it after the client is billed.)

Questions?