Behind every membership application, Rhythm prices an order. That order includes the package or change fee, plus dues for any chapters, sections, and add-ons the applicant chose. This article explains how Rhythm builds that order so you can understand why a charge appeared, or why it did not.
The Package or Change Fee Comes First
For a join or renewal application, the main order line is the membership package. Rhythm uses the package the applicant chose unless an order-generation rule assigns a different package automatically, even when a pre-processing customization already set a package on the application. Order-generation rules live on the application process (Setup › Applications › Processes › Create Application Process), and when a rule matches, the package assigned by that rule overrides the applicant’s choice. This setup is standard Rhythm configuration your implementation team can put in place for you; it does not require custom code. A rule can assign a package without assigning a membership type, which leaves the type as a placeholder until something else sets it.
If you turn on order-generation rules for a process but save it without configuring any rules, Rhythm turns the setting back off instead of saving an unusable setup. In some cases, a rule that was configured earlier can still affect applicants after you switch order-generation rules off. If pricing still behaves as though a rule is running, check whether a rule was left configured on the process, not only whether the setting shows as off.
Choosing a join application process instead of a rejoin or renewal path does not change the charge by itself. The amount comes from the membership package’s price, so a package priced the same for new and renewing members does not add a separate join or rejoin fee just because of the process someone used.
Pricing refuses the application when it has no package, no rule assigns one, or the named package or membership type does not exist. An application process can also run a one-time customization before pricing to fill in or adjust application details. If that step fails, pricing fails and checkout is blocked for that applicant.
If a package uses Purchasing Eligibility to control who can buy it, remember that order-generation rules run first and can still assign that package regardless of its eligibility settings. To let Purchasing Eligibility decide what someone can buy, turn off every order-generation rule on the process that can assign a package. Leaving even one active rule in place is usually enough to override the applicant’s choice. Passing a package’s “Test this Eligibility Criteria” check is also not a guarantee. In some cases, the same person can still be stopped by an advanced-rule error when they work through the application or a storefront order, so treat a passed test as a good sign rather than a promise.
Tip
If a pricing change does not seem to have taken effect when you test it, confirm that you used the exact same application process the applicant used. A different process, or an older path that is still active, can price the same package differently after you make your change.
For a change of affiliation, the main order line is the process’s change fee instead of the package price. Rhythm prices the change only when the member already has a membership and the process has a change fee configured. Otherwise, pricing refuses the change. Choosing a higher-priced package on a change of affiliation does not automatically charge the difference between the old and new package prices. The order still uses the process’s change fee, not a calculated upgrade amount, and Rhythm does not offer a supported way to calculate and charge that difference automatically. If your organization needs a renewal added to a change-of-affiliation order, Rhythm does not generate it automatically; someone must add it by hand as a line item during order review before checkout. On a change, add-ons chosen for seat holders are not charged separately, but an add-on the member selects for themselves appears as its own order line and is included in the total.
Tip
Renewal and change-of-affiliation applications require an existing membership. If pricing refuses one of these applications, first check that the person or organization has a current membership record.
Dues for Chapters, Sections, and Add-Ons
For each chapter the applicant chose, Rhythm adds a dues line using that chapter’s package-specific dues product, when one exists. If it does not, Rhythm uses the chapter’s general dues product. If the chapter’s dues are switched off, or the chapter has no active dues product, Rhythm does not add a line for it. Section dues work the same way. Some join or rejoin application processes set the package from the chapter selection instead of asking for the package directly. In that flow, the applicant chooses a chapter and, if it offers more than one, one of its dues products. That choice decides the membership package because packages are linked to the chapter dues products your chapters offer.
Add-ons are priced a little differently. Rhythm adds a dues line for each add-on with a quantity above zero. It first looks for a dues product tied to the applicant’s membership package. If it does not find one, it uses the add-on’s catch-all dues product, which is the product created with no package selected. Choose a membership package on an add-on’s dues product to make that price apply only to that package, or leave the package blank to make it the catch-all price everyone else uses. Unlike chapters and sections, an inactive add-on product is still used, so an add-on can be charged even when its product is inactive.
If a chapter, section, or add-on type limits which membership types can use it, pricing checks that limit against the package’s membership type. That may not be the type the applicant expected, because an order-generation rule can change the package. When a rule changes the package, the restriction check follows the membership type assigned by that rule.
On a change of affiliation, Rhythm leaves off dues for chapters and sections the member already belongs to, so they are not charged twice.
Your Rhythm account can bundle chapter, section, and add-on dues into the package line instead of showing them as separate items. The order line uses the chapter or package name as its own name only when this inline bundling is turned on. Without inline bundling, dues show as their own lines instead. When dues are bundled, the combined line’s description does not list the section or add-on names. On a storefront order, a bundled product may not appear on the initial Add Item to Order step; it appears on the order details page instead, even though the total already includes it. Because the bundled product is already included, adding that same product again during Add Item to Order creates what looks like a duplicate line. You do not need to add it separately when it is already bundled into the package. If you need a required line item on every join or renewal order and a required donation is not the right fit, you can add the amount as a bundled product on the membership package instead.
Tip
If you have trouble clicking into an inline dues or price value to edit it, check your browser’s zoom level. A zoom percentage other than 100% can make the field hard to select.
Warning
If your account uses the calculated credit-card processing fee (Membership & Committees › Other Settings), set Order Minimum to 0 rather than leaving it blank. An unset Order Minimum can cause a processing error, including for a complimentary add-on order that comes to $0. When a processing fee applies, it is calculated on the whole order the application process generates, including any chapter dues, not on a single line by itself.
Pricing an Organization's Seats
When an organization’s application names assigned contacts as seat holders, Rhythm charges the organization for each seat holder’s chosen chapters, sections, and add-ons. Rhythm adds one set of lines per seat holder and skips anyone who is already a member in their own right.
If a package includes a limited number of contacts for free, each seat holder beyond that included count is charged as an additional seat. For that extra-seat charge to appear, the package needs both pieces of setup: the maximum number of included contacts and the add-on product that prices an additional seat. Without both, a renewal order can leave out an extra-seat charge you expect. Rhythm compares the organization’s active assigned contacts against the total number of seats it has purchased for the membership, not only against the package’s built-in included-contact count. That means a seat the organization already bought stays credited even after the person holding it is removed. Replacing one assigned person with another in a seat the organization already purchased does not add a charge. Rhythm adds a charge only when the organization increases the number of active assigned members beyond the total seats it has already purchased.
An organization’s renewal order can include add-on line items and a higher total that a join order for the same organization would not show. This can happen when an assigned contact already has an add-on on their own personal membership. On renewal, dues for that personal add-on are added into the organization’s order along with everything else. Proration is set at the membership package level and applies to renewals no matter which process the organization uses. It can change the renewal amount shown when a membership was assigned, reassigned, or terminated during the previous term, or shortly before the renewal was generated. A renewal continues to use the same organization or group pricing rules the membership was purchased under; it does not revert to individual pricing.
Some organization memberships use flowdown instead of assigned seat holders, so benefits flow down to related individuals automatically rather than through a list you assign. When an organization membership uses flowdown, an add-on bought at the organization level is charged once and then distributed to everyone it covers. With assigned memberships, add-ons stay on each individual’s own membership instead and can be charged separately when that person’s portion renews. If your organization membership already lets buyers choose how many members are included through the membership or seat-selection flow itself, consider whether you still need a separate add-on for extra members. Offering both can lead a purchaser to double-count and pay for more than they meant to. For membership tiers based on how many people an organization covers, model each tier as its own membership package rather than relying on assigned members alone. A custom field on the application, such as a member-count choice, combined with a condition, can steer the applicant toward the right package. Nothing automatically re-associates an existing organization with a different package as its member count changes later.
In some cases, adding an additional assigned member has been observed to make checkout calculate charges for more memberships than were actually added. If a total looks too high right after adding someone, check the seat count before you complete checkout.
A renewal or change-of-affiliation application for an organization must have an existing membership for these seat charges to be added. Otherwise, pricing refuses it the same way it refuses an individual renewal or change.
Tip
An application’s Bill To value tells you who is actually charged. If Bill To names the organization, the charge bills to the organization; if it names an individual, the charge is usually billed to that person instead.
Extras: Order Rewrites and Cross-Sells
A membership type can have a custom rewrite step that receives the priced order and can change it before checkout. This step runs only after custom order generation is switched on for that membership type. If that customization fails, pricing fails for the whole application. Cross-sell items the applicant chose on the application are also added to the order when your Rhythm account has cross-sells configured. For pricing logic too complex to build as a rule, your Rhythm account can have a custom function written and registered under Integrations, then turned on from Membership settings so it runs as this rewrite step. When the order is processed, the priced application is available to that function.
Pricing an application does not save it. Each time Rhythm prices an order, it creates a fresh calculation instead of reusing the calculation from a moment before. This matters for special pricing because nothing is saved until the whole application is submitted. A special pricing rule cannot use an answer entered earlier in that same application; it can use only data already saved on the contact or organization record before pricing runs. For that reason, membership special pricing does not use membership application form fields as eligibility criteria. Build eligibility from record-level fields on the contact or organization instead of from application answers. When you do, the rule can also apply automatically on a renewal even if that same rule could not apply on the person’s original application, because the data it needs is already saved on the record by the time renewal pricing runs. A rule based on organization type works the same way. It applies only after the organization record actually carries that type, so an organization created fresh through the Portal may not qualify for organization-type pricing until an administrator sets its type in the Console. Because eligibility has to live on a persistent record, weigh where you store it. An employer-based eligibility rule kept on an individual’s contact record, for example, can stay in effect after that person’s employment changes unless something keeps it up to date. A package can also be configured with a base price of $0 that depends entirely on separate pricing logic to set the real amount. If that logic is missing, misconfigured, or cannot evaluate because it lacks the data it needs, Rhythm can still let the order go through at $0 instead of blocking it.
Country-based special pricing, and other country-specific fee rules, use the country on the contact’s preferred address rather than a country entered elsewhere on the application. If you configure a pricing rule with a list of countries, you can remove one country without clearing the others. Select that country and use its own row control to delete it, since there is no separate “x” icon beside each entry the way there is elsewhere in Rhythm.
A custom field you add to the membership application form is a separate field. It does not write into, or read from, the order’s own Special Instructions field.
If a membership package offers installment plans, the totals shown during checkout can depend on the installment plan’s settings, including its upfront percentage, on top of the package’s price. In some cases, combining an installment plan’s upfront percentage with a package’s own additional required cost has produced a due-now or scheduled total that does not match the expected combined amount. Check the numbers shown before checkout if a package uses both. Rhythm does not offer a way to show installment plans only for a join flow and hide them for a standard renewal, or to limit when a plan is offered by date. If you no longer want a plan offered, disable it on the package by hand.
Tip
Test a dues increase in your sandbox before you change pricing in your live account. Check the outcome for both new joins and renewals, and include any special pricing rules that could change the result.
Pricing a Group Together
When several people apply together as an application group, checkout can price one combined order for every draft application in the group and bill it to the group’s owner. The group must exist and have at least one draft application in it; otherwise, the request fails.
Related
For what happens to a membership once its priced order is actually paid, see How Buying or Renewing a Membership Package Updates Your Record. For how Rhythm suggests and prices the chapters an applicant may choose from, see How Chapters Are Suggested, Offered, and Priced While Joining. For when an application waits for staff approval before any of this activates a membership, see How Membership Applications Are Held for Approval.