Received a subscription from a contractor

When a contractor invoices you for ongoing work - a monthly retainer, a support agreement, an ongoing service - they can set it up as a subscription instead of sending you a new invoice every time.

This guide is for companies already using Ruul. If you don’t have a Ruul account and a subscription request just arrived by email, start with why did I get an invoice from Ruul?.

The difference from a normal invoice is worth being clear about before you approve: a subscription charges a card you save, automatically, every period. After your one approval there is nothing further for you to do, and nothing further for you to pay manually.

What arrives

Your contractor sends the subscription and you receive an email with a link. The link shows you everything you are being asked to agree to:

• the amount per period and the currency
• how often it charges - weekly or monthly
• how long it runs - a set number of periods, or until one of you cancels
• a preview of the invoice you will receive each period

Nothing has been charged at this point, and nothing will be until you complete the next step.

Approving it

To start the subscription you save a card. That card is what gets charged each period, so it should be one that stays valid and is authorised for recurring payments - a corporate card is usually the right choice.

The first period is charged as soon as you save the card, and the whole schedule is dated from that day.

Your card details are handled by the payment provider. Ruul never stores your full card number.

Card only - and what to do if that does not work for you

Subscriptions have no bank transfer option. There is no setting to change this.

If your company can only pay by bank transfer - because finance needs an invoice in the approval system, or corporate cards are not issued for recurring charges - tell your contractor before they set anything up. They can send you a scheduled invoice instead: it repeats on the same rhythm, but you receive each invoice and pay it yourself, by transfer or by card. Same schedule, a payment method that works for you.

Each period is a real invoice

A subscription is not one large payment. Each period produces its own invoice, with its own invoice number, and every one of them appears in your Payments alongside everything else - so your accounting and your records need nothing special.

The subscription page gathers all the periods together so you can see the commitment as a whole.

Managing it

Find the subscription under Payments → Scheduled, or open any of its invoices and select Manage subscription.

The page shows how many periods have been charged, the next payment date, the total you pay per period, and the full payment schedule - periods already charged link to their invoices, upcoming ones show their dates.

Manage subscription is where the card lives:

• Add payment method - save another card
• Set as default - choose which saved card this subscription charges
• Delete - remove a saved card

If you are replacing a card, add the new one and set it as default before deleting the old one, so there is always a valid card for the next charge.

If a payment fails

The subscription moves to Past due and Ruul stops collecting - it does not keep retrying against a card that is not working.

To fix it, open Manage subscription, add or select a working card, and set it as the default. Billing continues automatically and the subscription returns to Active once a charge succeeds. Your contractor sees the status too, so they know the payment is being sorted out.

Canceling

You can cancel at any time, from Cancel subscription on the subscription page. Your contractor can also cancel from their side, and each of you is notified when the other does.

When a subscription is canceled:

• all future billing stops - your card will not be charged again
• payments already made are not refunded - periods already charged stay paid
• invoices already issued stay in your records and remain exactly as they were

Canceling cannot be undone. If the work continues later, your contractor sets up a new subscription - which is also how the amount changes, since neither the amount nor the frequency can be edited on a running subscription.

Good to know

• Ruul is the counterparty on the invoice, exactly as with a one-time invoice - see why did I get an invoice from Ruul.
• You can decline a subscription instead of approving it, and your contractor is told.
• Your contractor cannot start it for you. Saving the card is your authorisation, and only you can give it.