A section dues product sets the price for joining one section. You can create a price for a specific membership package, or leave the package blank to create a catch-all price for packages that do not have their own product. This article explains how to create, update, retire, and delete section dues products. For the reinstatement and mid-term proration rules that also affect section pricing, see Dues Proration and Renewal Pricing Overrides.
What This Controls
- The price to join a section, either for a specific membership package or as a catch-all price for packages without their own product. This price applies when someone joins the section through the standard Join process, and when you add the section later through Contact Options › Add Section.
- Whether members receive a lower price when they join or renew in certain calendar months.
- Whether a section is free to join because its dues are turned off, or because it has no active dues product.
Where to Find It
Go to Sections › Search, then select the section name to open its Section 360 page. Select the Dues Products tab. From there, select Create Dues Product to add a product, or select a product's pencil icon to edit it.
Create or Edit a Section Dues Product
Prerequisites
- The section already exists.
- Your account's Membership settings have a business unit selected if you want Rhythm to fill in that field automatically.
- Open the section's Section 360 page and select the Dues Products tab.
- Select Create Dues Product, or select a product's pencil icon to edit it.
- Under Select a package:, choose the membership package this price is for, or leave it blank to make this the section's catch-all product.
- Review the Name:, ID:, and Business unit, which fill in automatically and cannot be changed here.
- Enter the Price and any other pricing fields for the product.
- If you want to discount dues by month, turn on Dues Proration and enter a percentage for each month. Then choose New Members, Existing Members, or Both under How should we apply this dues proration?
- Select Save Changes.
Result
The product is saved and appears on the Dues Products tab of the section's Section 360 page. Rhythm uses that price from that point forward for any order that matches it.
The Settings
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Select a package: | Any active membership package, or blank | Blank | Chooses which package's members use this price. When you leave it blank, the product becomes the catch-all price for any package that does not have its own product for this section |
| Name / ID / Business unit | Generated; not editable on this form | The section's name, plus the package's name when one is chosen; your account's business unit | Updates automatically whenever the selected package changes, and again each time you open the form to edit the product |
| Price | A number | Blank | Sets the price charged for joining the section under this product |
| Dues Proration (switch) | On, off | Off | Turns on a monthly discount for this product |
| January: – December: | A percentage, or blank | Blank | Sets the reduced share for orders placed in that calendar month |
| How should we apply this dues proration? | New Members, Existing Members, Both | Both | Limits the monthly discount to new members, members who are active or not yet terminated, or everyone |
Dependencies and Precedence
- A dues product only charges anything while the section's own dues are switched on. When the section's dues are turned off, the Dues Products tab shows a warning that no product will be charged. When dues are on but there is no active product for a member's package, the section is free for that member to join, and the tab does not show a warning.
- The first matching product wins. You can create more than one catch-all product, or more than one product for the same package, on a section. Rhythm uses the first one it finds to price the section, and it does not alert you that a duplicate exists.
- A package that has since been deactivated stays on an existing product. The package picker shows only active packages, but a product created for a package that is later deactivated continues to price that package.
- Adding a section through a query Mass Update does not charge for it. When a section is added to members' records through Mass Update instead of through the Join or Add Section process, members are not charged even if that section normally has a cost.
- Special Pricing Logic on a section dues product can change the price based on where a member is coming from. You can configure Special Pricing Logic to charge the renewing-member price to someone joining from a specified package or section. Advanced Rules & Logic can also use sections as the condition, so you can set up reciprocal rules that keep members from being charged the new-member rate when they move between related sections. Change affiliation, in both the console and portal, has been observed to apply this same configured logic when it prices added sections.
- Whether a section's dues show as their own invoice line or combine with the membership dues into one line is a configurable choice, not a fixed behavior, so different organizations can set it up either way.
- Tax on a section's dues is evaluated from the purchaser's checkout details. Rhythm calculates it from the buyer's checkout address and tax zone, and tax only applies when the buyer selects a dues option that has tax configured.
- Tax on dues depends on the Taxes setting in more than one financial configuration. For tax to work as expected, turn on Taxes in the financial configuration for the membership package and for the dues itself. Also check the tax product's own financial configuration for its Taxes setting.
Tip
Configuring a tax zone on a dues product is not enough to confirm that tax is set up correctly. Test the full join or add-section process with purchaser details that match the tax zone, and select the dues option that has tax configured, to see the tax amount actually applied.
Change Impact and How to Revert
- Retiring a product by setting it inactive stops it from pricing the section while keeping its history. Orders already placed keep their original price. If every product on a section becomes inactive, the section becomes free to join, and the Section 360 page does not show a warning. Rhythm now guarantees that only active section dues products are used to charge for section membership, for both new and renewing members; an earlier defect that let an inactive product still be selected has since been fixed.
- Deleting a product removes it permanently. Rhythm refuses the delete when another record depends on the product in a way the platform tracks; which records those are is not established here.
- Deleting a membership package that a section dues product still prices for is refused while that product exists, even when the product is inactive. Retire or delete the product first if you need to delete the package.
Warning
The confirmation dialog for deleting a dues product warns that the action cannot be undone, but this page does not tell you whether any order still references the product you are deleting.
Permissions
Membership Administrators can create, edit, and delete section dues products from the section's Section 360 page.
Validation and Errors
| Message or symptom | Cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The product cannot be saved | The section, or the selected package, no longer exists | Confirm that the section and package are still active records |
| A section you expect to charge dues turns out to be free | Every product for that section is inactive, or dues are turned off for the section itself | Reactivate a product, or turn the section's dues on |
| The delete of a dues product fails | Another record depends on the product | Retire the product instead of deleting it |
| The delete of a membership package fails, mentioning a dependency | A section dues product still names the package, even if inactive | Retire or delete the section dues product first, then delete the package |
| A renamed section's dues still charge the wrong amount | The section's dues products were not resaved after the rename, so the active dues configuration is out of sync | Open and save each of that section's dues products again after renaming the section |
Related
- Dues Proration and Renewal Pricing Overrides
- Coupons
- Review a Section on the Section 360
- Create or Edit a Membership Package
- Design and Run a Query