Managed billing lets team owners route all client payments through a single payment processor, ensuring consistent payment collection across your entire practice. This article covers how to enable and configure managed billing for your team, including services, packages, programs, invoices, and payment plans.
In this article:
- Understanding Billing Modes: Managed vs. Unmanaged
- Enabling Managed Billing
- Enabling Managed Billing for Existing Offerings
- Enabling Managed Billing for Services, Packages, and Programs
- Enabling Managed Billing for Invoices
- Enabling Managed Billing for Payment Plans
Understanding Billing Modes: Managed vs. Unmanaged
Before configuring your team's payment settings, it's worth understanding how the two billing modes work and which structure fits your practice.
| Managed | Unmanaged | |
| Who collects payments | Team owner | Each team member individually |
| Payment processor | Team owner's processor | Each team member's own processor |
| Best for | Centralized payment collection | Independent contractor models |
How Unmanaged Billing Works
With unmanaged billing, each team member collects client payments through their own connected payment processor, such as Practice Better Payments. Funds go directly to each team member's linked bank account.
This model works well for practices where team members operate independently and manage their own revenue.
Enabling Unmanaged Billing
With unmanaged billing, each team member collects payments through their own connected payment processor. Before switching to unmanaged billing, confirm that every team member who needs to collect payments has their own processor connected.
To enable unmanaged billing:
- Go to Settings > Invoices & Payments.
- Select Unmanaged from the Billing mode dropdown.
- Click Save Changes at the top of the page.
⚠️ Important: If a team member does not have a payment processor connected, clients may be able to complete bookings without paying, even if the service requires payment at booking. Verify that every team member who needs to collect payments independently has a payment processor connected.
Choosing the Right Billing Mode for Your Practice
The right billing mode depends on how your practice is structured.
- Managed billing works well when the team owner is responsible for collecting all revenue and distributing earnings to team members. Keep in mind that centralizing payments may require you to manage payroll or a similar compensation process separately.
- Unmanaged billing works well when team members operate as independent contractors and are responsible for their own payment collection.
📍 Note: If you are the owner of a Team plan account, review your billing mode settings to confirm they reflect your intended payment structure. Payment visibility between team members is controlled by the “team member access” settings and permissions for invoices and payments, regardless of which billing mode you use.
Enabling Managed Billing
Managed billing is available on the Team plan only. When enabled, all client payments across your team are collected under your connected payment processor (Practice Better Payments). This applies to booking pages, payment plans, and invoices.
📍 Note: Managed billing settings are only visible to the team owner or team members with the “Modify Managed Billing Settings” permission. Team members are not notified when this setting is enabled or changed.
To enable managed billing:
- Go to Settings > Invoices & Payments.
- Near the bottom of the page, select Managed from the Billing mode dropdown.
- Adjust your invoice confirmation notification preference. You can allow team members to receive payment confirmation notifications for their bookings, or route all notifications to the team owner.
- Optionally, add a default invoice header to appear on all managed billing invoices.
- Click Save Changes near the top of the page.
To switch to unmanaged billing at any time, return to Settings > Invoices & Payments, select Unmanaged from the Billing mode dropdown, and click Save Changes.
⚠️ Important: If your payment processor is not connected and a client attempts to pay for a service set to require payment, the client will be able to complete their booking without paying. Ensure your payment processor is connected before enabling managed billing.
What Happens to Previous Payments
Payments already processed under a team member's own payment processor are not affected by switching to managed billing. Those funds were sent to the bank account connected to that team member's processor at the time of the transaction. Any refunds for those charges must also be issued from that same account.
Team Member Payment Processor
If a team member has their own payment processor connected, enabling managed billing globally will override it for all offerings where managed billing is active. Team members with the appropriate permissions can view payment details for bookings processed under the team owner's processor. This is controlled under team member access settings.
Enabling Managed Billing for Existing Offerings
To apply managed billing to all existing services, packages, and programs at once, click the Enable all button on the Invoicing & Payment Settings page.
If you are switching from Unmanaged to Managed Billing, click Save Changes for Managed Billing and then the Enable All button will appear.
Enabling Managed Billing for Services, Packages, and Programs
You can override the global billing mode for individual offerings. This lets you apply managed billing to some services, packages, or programs while leaving others on individual billing.
To update the billing mode for a specific offering:
- Open the service, package, or program you want to update.
- Go to the Advanced Options tab.
- Select Managed (or Individual) from the Billing mode dropdown.
- Click Save Changes.
📍 Note: This setting can only be adjusted by the team owner or team members with the "Modify Managed Billing Settings" permission.
Enabling Managed Billing for Invoices
The billing mode for individual invoices can be set independently from your global setting. By default, new invoices inherit your global billing mode at the time they're created.
To update the billing mode on an invoice:
- Open the invoice in Draft status.
- Locate the Payment Options section.
- Toggle the managed billing setting as needed.
- Save the invoice.
📍 Note: The billing mode on an invoice can only be changed while the invoice is in Draft status. Once the invoice is sent to a client or a payment is attempted, this setting becomes read-only.
Enabling Managed Billing for Payment Plans
Managed billing can be enabled or changed on a payment plan at any time, including after the plan has been created and while it is still active.
To update the billing mode on a payment plan:
- Open the payment plan you want to update.
- Select Managed (or Individual) from the Billing mode dropdown.
- Click Save Changes.
The updated billing mode will apply to all upcoming installment payments for this payment plan.
📍 Note: Any installments already processed will not be affected. Refunds for previously processed installments must be issued from the payment processor that was connected at the time of the original charge.