1. Home
  2. How to use the Fee Calculator for Memberships

How to use the Fee Calculator for Memberships

The Fee Calculator allows you to charge applicants different amounts for memberships and renewals based on their answers to questions.

If you have ever wanted to charge differing fees based on someone’s budget or salary, or any other criteria, continue reading this article!

Using the Fee Calculator

This article was written with the assumption that you are already familiar with basic Membership setup, and with the Membership Fees tab.

1. When configuring your Membership Fees, select the ‘Fee Calculator’ option.

Image indicating the 'Fee Calculator' option when configuring Membership Fees.

2. Set your base ‘Application Fee’ and ‘Renewal Fee’ fields as necessary.

These are your base Membership Fees, and the Fee Calculator will add on top of them.

If you want the Fee Calculator to be the sole charge, just enter $0 here.

3. Enter a description for your Fee Calculator to be seen by your applicants. Click the ‘+ Add’ button next to ‘Calculation Questions’ to add the first criteria that will determine the fee logic.

Configuring Fee Questions

4. Write your question. This is the text that will be posed to members when they are completing their registration.

5. Specify an Invoice Label. This is what the line for the Fee Calculator charge will be labeled on the Membership Invoice.

Image showing the Fee Calculator setup. Specifying a question ("How many cats do you own?") and the Invoice Label.

In the example above, a prospective member would have an invoice that shows the base membership fee on one line, and a line beneath labeled “Cat Fee”.

Cost Per Unit

Suppose you had a cat-owner membership category. You can configure the Fee Calculator to charge increasing amounts based on how many cats an applicant owns.

Image showing the settings for a Fee Calculator that charges based on Unit Fees

Unit Cost – How much does each item cost? In our example, applicants will be charged an additional $6 for each cat they own.

Is this Question Mandatory – Use this to enforce your Fee Calculator.

Minimum Charge – Toggle this on to charge a minimum amount no matter what. In our example, the minimum fee is $12: if an applicant owns less than two cats, they will still be charged $12 even though the unit fee is only $6.

Maximum Charge – Toggle this on to specify an upper limit on your Fee Calculator. In our example, the maximum fee is $30: if an applicant owns more than five cats, they will still only be charged the maximum of $30.

The Membership Invoice will have a line for the Fee Calculator itself, and additional lines for any adjustments that stem from the maximum or minimum charge fields. Specify the sub-ledgers you want these additional lines to write to as necessary.

Image showing a sample invoice of someone with an application fee of $1, a cat fee of 6 cats for $6 each, then an adjustment to meet the maximum charge specified of $30. Each of the three on their own lines respectively.

The sample above shows a payment confirmation screen for someone with six cats based on the example we’ve been using. Notice there is a separate line for the base application fee, a separate line for the Fee Calculator itself, and a separate line for the maximum-charge adjustment.

Fee Ranges

Suppose, instead, you wanted to charge different amounts based on an applicant’s salary or budget. You can do this by using Fee Ranges instead of the Unit Cost method.

Image showing the Fee Calculator setup, indicating that 'Apply Fee Ranges' is on, and specifying the '+ Add Range' button.

Toggle on ‘Apply Fee Ranges?’ and click the ‘+ Add Range’ button to create as many ranges as necessary.

Image showing the configuration screen for a fee range. If specified units are between 50001 and 1000000, charge $30.

In this example, an applicant would be charged $30 if their salary fell between $50001 and $100000. You can add as many Fee Ranges as you need.

Image showing an example Fee Calculator setup where three Fee Ranges have been specified.

This way, you can ask applicants for their salary or any other measurable criteria, and charge different amounts accordingly.

If you choose to use Fee Ranges instead of the Unit Cost method, just put ‘0’ into the ‘Unit Cost’ field when configuring your Fee Calculator.

 

Congratulations, you now know how to use the Fee Calculator in Member365!

Was this article helpful?