Variable Pricing (NCS Circ)

This feature enables NCS Circ clients to apply a surcharge (processing fee) for credit card payments without explicitly itemizing it. When a credit card is selected as the payment method, the surcharge is automatically added to the term amount and displayed as part of the total amount payable, without showing the surcharge as a separate line item. Conversely, if the payment method is a bank account (ACH) or bank draft, no surcharge is applied. As a result, for the same subscription or offer, users will see a difference in pricing depending on whether they choose a credit card or a bank account/draft as their payment method.

• The Variable Pricing is not available for payments initiated from SubCon Admin and is not applicable for payments through PayPal.

• Day pass subscriptions do not support Variable Pricing.

Subscribe does not calculate the credit card surcharge amount. The surcharge amount is received from the NCS Circ for each transaction.

Before you Start

Make sure you meet the following pre-requisites:

• NCS Circ version: 2025-0.0

• Subscribe version: 3.17.2

• To enable the Variable Pricing functionality, set the MG2 control API Setting Keys

  • DTI.CashDiscounting to 1

  • Billing.CreditCard.ProcessingFee.Enable to 0 (this disables Processing Fee flow)

• For an end-to-end flow of Variable Pricing, respective Business Rules must be set up in NCS Circ.

The 'Processing Fee' and 'Variable Pricing' features cannot be used simultaneously. If both features are enabled for a client, the Processing Fee feature takes priority. Disabling Processing Fee flow is recommended if you opt for Variable Pricing.

Variable Pricing in Subscription Panel for New Starts

With the Variable Pricing feature, a surcharge will be applied if the payment method involves a credit card—including but not limited to options such as Google Pay or Apple Pay (non-ACH). Conversely, no surcharge will be applied if the payment method is a bank account (ACH) or PayPal.

When Variable Pricing is enabled through the CMS component and the MG2 control key, the subscription cost displayed to users selecting a credit card payment option includes the surcharge amount. However, this surcharge will not be itemized in the payment details (such as processing fees, activation fees, etc.) and will instead be integrated into the total amount shown.

Presentation flow in SP

Below is an illustrative new start flow set up in a 'Simple' CMS theme:

1. Landing page where the users get to see different offers.

1. Offer details are displayed followed by the display of the components such as User Information, Address Information, Payment Information, and Order summary.

Selected offer details display

1. User Information - In this tab, the user enters the email. If the user is new, the user will be prompted to enter a password and confirm the entered password. If the user is already known, an info message such as "This email is already used" will be displayed. (is the email ID already available in the Subscribe database or Auth0?). The user clicks Continue button.

User Information tab

1. Address Information - The user enters address details.

Address Information tab

1. Payment Information - In this tab, the subscription payment is displayed and the price changes based on the selected Payment Method.

Payment Information tab

1. Order Summary

Order Summary tab

1. The final Congratulatory page

Final Congratulatory page

Configurations for the Variable Pricing Presentation

Variable Pricing Elements in SP Presentation	Configuration of Variable Pricing elements
Landing Page - Heading	Landing Page Heading - configuration (Page V3 > Subtitle)
Landing Tile - Title & Subtitle	Landing Tile Title & Subtitle - configuration (Page V3 > Landing-Tiles V3 > Title / Subtitle)
Digital Offer - Tile Top	Digital Offer Tile Top - configuration (Page V3 > Landing-Tiles V3 > Promotion Digital V3 > Tile top Text)
Digital Offer - Title and Subtitle	Digital Offer Title & Subtitle - configuration (Page V3 > Landing-Tiles V3 > Promotion Digital V3 > Title / Subtitle)
Digital Offer - Details	Digital Offer Details - configuration (Page V3 > Landing-Tiles V3 > Promotion Digital V3 > Body > Insert an image with offer details)
Components page - Title	Components page Title - configuration (Page V3 > Title)
Components page - Subtitle	Components page Subtitle - configuration (Page V3 > Offer Selector - Tiles V3 > Title)
Components page - Active sign	Components page Active sign - configuration (Page V3 > Offer Selector Tiles V3 > Sign Hide: OFF Active sign color: < # > Active sign background color: < # >)
Components page - Marketing Text	Components Page Marketing Text - configuration (These details come from the SolCon settings of the selected Offer Group. Offer Groups > Marketing text. The components in the Marketing text can be configured as follows: Inventory > Marketing Text > Attributes & Images Title Price)
Payment Information - Price details Payment Information - Price details (if Tax is applicable for the Zipcode entered in the Address)s	Payment Information Price details - configuration (Page V3 > Step V3 > Toggle ON the Pricing labels) You can also configure the pricing labels' text in the above component properties as given below:
Order summary - Price details Order Summary - Price details (if Tax is applicable for the zip code entered in the address)	Order Summary Price details - configuration (Page V3 > Step V3 > toggle ON the pricing labels) You can also configure the pricing labels' text in the above component properties as given below:

Note: The property ‘Cash Discounting Enable’ in the PaymentMethodsV3 component should be toggled ON in your CMS Presentation as below: (Page V3 > Step V3 > Payment Methods V3 > Toggle ON the property 'Cash Discounting Enable".

The above configuration is one of the most important prerequisites for the Variable Pricing feature.

Variable Pricing in Self-Service

If the Variable Pricing feature is enabled in the Self-Service, the credit card surcharge is applied only to the base amount of the offer and any outstanding dues. Elements such as donations, tips, taxes, etc., are excluded from the surcharge calculation. The surcharge amount and the base amount of the offer are sent to NCS. However, these amounts are combined and presented as a single rate term to the end-user on the Self-Service page. As a result, the surcharge is not displayed as a separate line item and remains invisible to the end-user.

Variable pricing can be applied to the following payment flows:

1. One-time payment

2. Autopay (EZPay signup)

3. Restarts

When the Variable Pricing feature is enabled, on the Payment page, there will be two Rate columns in the Rate grid, (one for Credit Card and the other for Bank account) clearly highlighting the rate difference for the same offer with respect to the payment method.

Two Rate columns in the Rate grid

Below is an example list of CMS Contents on each page that can be customized as per your requirement:

(CMS > Content > Select the Page (Payment/SubscriptionRestart/AutoPaySignUp) > Select the appropriate property and edit the label text as per your requirement)

1. Payment Page -> PaymentOptionsHeader.ACHAmount

2. Payment -> AutoPaySignUpHeader.ACHAmount

3. SubscriptionRestart -> PaymentOptionsHeader.ACHAmount

4. AutoPaySignUp -> AutoPaySignUpHeader.ACHAmount

One-time payments

One-time payments include making a one-time payment for an active subscription that is not on autopay, paying a Tip, or a donation.

The credit card surcharge is not applicable for Tip and Donation amounts even when the payment is done using credit cards.

Hence for one-time Tip and donation payments, the variable pricing will not be in effect since the credit card surcharge is not calculated in these payments. Tip Payment

Adding a Tip feature is ideally not applied to Digital subscriptions.

For a non-digital subscriber, the 'Add Tip' hyperlink will be available on the Dashboard page. Clicking on it opens up the Add a Tip page where the user can enter the Tip amount.

Given below is an example of a one-time Tip payment for an active user who is not on Autopay. The user needs to pay only the Tip amount even when the payment method is a Credit card.

Entered Tip amount to pay (One-time payment)

Paying only the Tip amount and no surcharge

Donation Payment

Both digital and non-digital subscribers can pay for donations. Just like Tip payments, donations are free of surcharges, and hence, variable pricing does not affect donation payment.

Subscription Payment

However, for subscription cost payment, the credit card surcharge will be added to the rate amount, and it will be displayed as a single rate term if the payment method is a credit card.

One-time payment of subscription which is not on Autopay

Autopay Sign up (EZPay signup)

Below is the Dashboard page of a user who is not on Autopay.

1. The user clicks on the 'Sign up to EZPay' link.

1. The rate grid displays varying price details for credit card options and ACH options (bank account) for offers. For an offer with a term length of 4 months, CC Amount is $180.0 whereas ACH Amount (Bank account) is $100.00.

1. In the above example, the selected payment method is the Credit card option. After entering the credit card details, the final Payment Confirmation page will be displayed as shown below. Please note that during EZPay signup, the user may also opt to pay a Donation amount. The subscription amount will be deducted later.

Restarts

A subscription can be restarted if,

• it is already stopped and stopped within a certain number of days (the number of days is configurable using the MG2 Control key Restart.MaxStoppedDays)

• there have been no payment events in the last 24 hours and/or no already pending Restart request with a future date.

• it is not a Trial or Complimentary subscription

The visibility of the 'Restart subscription' hyperlink is determined solely by the CMS link restrictions.

When the user clicks on the 'Restart' hyperlink on the Self-Service Dashboard page, the Restart workflow starts.

Restarts with Negative balance: When restarting a stopped subscription, if there is any outstanding amount from the previous subscription, the end-user must pay the negative balance along with the subscription cost.

In this case, the credit card surcharge is calculated on the subscription cost amount and a grace cc surcharge is calculated on the due amount to be paid. These surcharges (cc surcharge and grace cc surcharge) are then added to the subscription cost and will be displayed as a single term in the Amount column of the rate grid. Hence the credit card surcharges are not visible to the end user. The negative balance (debt) will also be displayed separately. Refer to the image below.

For Bank account payments, the user has to pay just the subscription cost and the debt amount.

Payment Information for a restart with a negative balance

Restarts without a Negative balance (no due amount):

For credit card payments, the subscription cost displayed in the Amount column will include the actual cost plus the credit card surcharge. Additionally, the user may choose to pay a donation or tip amount during the restart process. For Bank account payments, the user has to pay just the subscription cost.

Restart with no previous due amount

When Variable Pricing is enabled and if the payment provider is Fluid Pay via Naviga Pay, split transaction is applicable. For more details on split transactions, refer : Split Transactions for Fluid Pay via Naviga Pay.