A change fee is the product Rhythm charges when a member changes chapters, sections, or add-ons partway through their term using a change-of-affiliations application. This article explains how to create a change fee and when Rhythm charges it. To set up the application process that uses the fee, see Application Processes, Forms, and Status Reasons.
Where to Find It
In the Membership & Committees Console, go to Setup › Membership › Change Fees. Select Create Change Fee to add a fee, or use the edit or delete icon on an existing row.
Settings
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name: / ID: | Text / generated with your business unit's prefix | — | Required. You select this name when you set up a change-of-affiliations process. |
| Price | Currency amount | — | The amount Rhythm charges when the fee applies. |
| Other product options (installment plans, cancellation fees, bundles) | As offered on the pricing panel | — | These are the same product options you use for other Rhythm price products. |
Like other Membership price products, you maintain a change fee's G/L code in the financial configuration in Finance & Billing setup. Rhythm stores it there as a miscellaneous product, not as an editable invoice field or on this Setup screen.
How a Change Fee Is Charged
Rhythm charges a change fee only through a Change Affiliation application process that names the fee (see Application Processes, Forms, and Status Reasons). Rhythm adds the fee to the order once for each change application, no matter how many chapters, sections, or add-ons the applicant changes in that application. If a change process should not cost anything, assign it a $0 change fee instead of leaving the field blank, because the process still requires a named fee.
The change fee is a fixed amount, not a calculated difference. Change Affiliation does not automatically calculate and charge the price difference between packages for a mid-term upgrade. It charges the amount you set on the fee itself, no matter which packages are involved. This process was originally built to support adding to a membership, not switching to a different membership package and charging the difference.
This change fee is separate from any chapter dues a change might trigger. Rhythm charges chapter dues on a change-of-affiliation application only when the applicant selects a different chapter than the one they already have. Keeping the same chapter does not create a chapter-dues charge.
Dependencies and Precedence
- Create the change fee before you finish setting up a change-of-affiliations application process. The process's Change Fee: picker is empty until a fee exists.
- A change fee is a Collect product, so it uses the same Collect pricing options as other Membership price products, including installment plans, bundles, and cancellation fees.
Change Impact and How to Revert
- Changing a change fee's price affects only applications submitted after the change. It does not change orders that were already charged.
- You cannot delete a change fee that an application process still names. First remove the fee from every process that uses it, or choose another fee on those processes, then delete it.
Permissions
Creating, editing, and deleting change fees are Membership administrator actions in the Console. If you cannot reach Setup › Membership › Change Fees, ask the person who manages security roles for your Rhythm account to give you access.
Validation and Errors
| What you see | Meaning and what to do |
|---|---|
| A server error when deleting a change fee | An application process still names the fee. Edit that process to remove or replace the change fee, then delete the fee. |
| "A record already exists with this name." beside ID: | The generated identifier is already taken. This warning does not block saving. |