Group payers

The payer in a paid Premium group or an Enterprise group is the owner or moderator whose Groups.io account contains the credit card or debit card that is used to pay for the group’s plan. Only one payer can be associated with a paid group. Typically, a group owner is the payer, but a moderator can be the payer if they have the Billing privilege.

Note: A group that uses the sponsorship feature to pay its plan fees does not need to rely on a specific payer as long as the group’s sponsorship reserve contains sufficient funds to pay the fees. For more information, see Using the sponsorship feature to defray Groups.io hosting costs.

Billing notifications

In groups that are billed annually, payers receive a renewal notification email from Groups.io 14 days in advance of the billing date. Moderators in the group who have the Billing permission receive this notification as well.

In groups that are billed monthly, no notifications are sent in advance of the billing date.

Groups are billed on the day of the month on which the group was originally created or upgraded.

Payment receipts are sent to moderators who have the Billing permission as well as to the payer.

If a credit or debit card fails during the billing process (for example, if it has expired), the payer for the group receives a warning email from Groups.io. The payer has 14 days to fix the issue and pay the invoice. Another warning email is sent to the payer after 7 days if the issue has not been fixed by then; this warning is also sent to the group’s owners and to moderators with the Billing permission. If the issue still has not been fixed by the 14th day, the group is downgraded and the payer, owners, and moderators with Billing permission receive an email notification.

Note:

• For monthly groups created or upgraded on the 31st day of the month: When billing comes due for a shorter month, the group is billed on the last day of the shorter month. The billing date remains the 31st, and billing occurs on the 31st in the months that have 31 days.
• For monthly groups: Groups.io does not retry billing a group for a given month. If an issue occurs with the billing for that month, the payer must manually pay the overdue invoice.
• If a group’s payer has deleted their Groups.io account: On the day the group is to be billed, Groups.io sends an email to all owners of the group telling them someone needs to become the payer for the group. The owners have 14 days to remedy the situation, with a warning after 7 days if it is not yet resolved.

Updating the credit card or debit card on file

! Important: Credit cards and debit cards are associated with Groups.io user accounts, not with individual groups. If you have more than one group and need to use different cards for them, you will need to have a different owner account (or moderator account with the Billing privilege) for each group.

To update the credit card or debit card on file with Groups.io:

1. Go to your Groups.io account
2. Desktop browser: In the left menu, select Billing.
   Mobile browser: Tap the More icon at the bottom of the page, then tap Billing on the More menu.
   Restriction: In the Groups.io mobile app, the Billing entry is not available due to rules imposed by Google Play and the Apple App Store. Therefore, on a mobile device, you must use a browser to update the payment method. 
3. On the Billing page, in the Credit Card On File panel, click or tap the Update Payment Method button.
4. On the Update Credit Card page, enter the new card information and click or tap the Update Credit Card button.

Changing the group’s payer

The group member who is to be the new payer must be either an owner of the group or a moderator with at least the Billing privilege.

The member who is to be the new payer follows these steps:

1. Desktop browser: On the left menu at the group’s website and select Admin > Preferences > Billing.
2. Mobile browser: Tap the More icon at the bottom of a group page, then select Admin > Preferences > Billing on the More menu.
   Restriction: In the Groups.io mobile app, the Billing entry is not available due to rules imposed by Google Play and the Apple App Store. On a mobile device, you must use a browser to change the payer.
3. On the Billing page, in the Current Plan panel, click or tap the Set Me As Payer button.
   Note: If the new payer does not already have a credit or debit card on file in their Groups.io account, they can enter it at this point.

Changing the billing interval

You can change the billing interval from yearly to monthly or from monthly to yearly:

1. Desktop browser: On the left menu at the group’s website, select Admin > Preferences > Billing.
   Mobile browser: Tap the More icon at the bottom of a group page, then select Admin > Preferences > Billing on the More menu.
   Restriction: In the Groups.io mobile app, the Billing entry is not available due to rules imposed by Google Play and the Apple App Store. On a mobile device, you must use a browser to change the billing interval. 
2. On the Billing page that appears, in the Current Plan panel, click or tap the Switch to [Monthly or Yearly] Billing button (in a desktop browser, it is at the upper right). The button label depends on the group’s current billing interval.
   Note: You must be the payer for the group for this button to be visible.
3. On the Verify Switch popup that appears, click or tap Yes to confirm the change.