Tips and Tricks #16: How to charge your subscribers a late fee in Zoho Subscriptions

Tips and Tricks #16: How to charge your subscribers a late fee in Zoho Subscriptions

Charging late fees to your subscribers can be hard to digest, but sometimes late fees are necessary to run a healthy business. In this post, we'll be looking at how and why you might need to charge late fees for your customers in Zoho Subscriptions. 

This post is part of a series of tips and tricks that we post every week. If you missed last week's post about bulk-updating your data in Zoho Subscriptions, go ahead and check it out.

Should your business impose late fees?

Imposing late fees on your subscribers is completely based upon your business practices. However, if you are faced with consistently late paying customers, then a late fee could be a good idea as it can help persuade your customers to pay their invoices on time. This, in turn, will allow you to maintain a healthy cashflow where you can focus on growing your business instead of worrying over missed payments.

If you do decide to go ahead with late fees, then here are a few pointers before you set them up:
  • Let your customers know about your newly introduced late fee system well in advance--no one likes an unpleasant surprise.
  • Send payment reminders with details regarding the late fee before their invoice is due. 
  • Don't overcharge the late fee and make sure to give your customers a sufficient grace period to pay off the invoice; this will help retain your customers' goodwill.
  • Ensure that the late fee complies with your local taxation laws. 

Setting up late fees in Zoho Subscriptions

Like many of our previous tips, we'll be using a custom function to achieve this. Here's how:
  • Go to Zoho Subscriptions > Settings > Automation > Custom Function.
  • Click + New Custom Function in the top right.
  • Enter a name for the custom function and select the module as Invoice.
  • Click Create Custom Events.
         
  • Select the workflow type as Date Based. 
  • Set the execution date of the custom function as a particular number of days after the invoice's due date. Also, set the execution time, which specifies the exact time that the custom function would be triggered. 
         
  • Click Apply Advanced Filter.
         
  • Add criteria to execute the custom function when the Status of the invoice is Overdue. 
         
  • Copy the script for this custom function, which can be found on GitHub, and paste it in the Deluge script editor.
  • Click Save.
Now, whenever an overdue invoice is 3 days past its due date, this custom function will be triggered and add a one-time charge to your customer, which will be sent in a separate invoice. You can customize the late fee amount and the grace period to suit your needs by making small changes to the script.

Try it out and let us know how it goes. Have any other business scenarios you'd like to see us cover? Leave a comment below and we'll try our best to address them in future posts.

Cheers,
Varun Steven
The Zoho Subscriptions Team

    • Sticky Posts

    • Tip #4 : Refer and Earn Workflow system for your Subscription Business

      Hello everyone, We've been coming up with a tip every week to address specific business scenarios which can be implemented for your business. In continuation to the previous post, this week we will be seeing about how you can implement the Refer and Earn Workflow system to acquire more customers. Why are Referrals important? Customer Acquisition is crucial for any business to sustain itself in a constantly evolving market. It involves persuading new consumers to purchase your products. Customers

    • Tip #2 - Cancellation of Offline Subscriptions based on the Expected Payment Date

      Hello everyone, As you all know, we are coming up with a custom function workflow every week to address specific business scenarios. In continuation of this previous blog, this week we will be seeing about Cancellation of Offline Subscriptions based on the Expected Payment Date. Business Scenario: In general, for any business, the customers make payments via online as well as offline. In case of subscription where the automatic collection of charge is enabled (aka online subscription), the customer's

    • Tip #3 : Send SMS Reminders for your Subscription Business

      Hello everyone, As you all know, we are coming up with a tip every week to address specific business scenarios. In continuation to the previous blog, this week we will be seeing how you can use SMS reminders for your Subscription Business. Using SMS messages for your Subscription Business: While managing your subscription business, more often than not, you need to keep your customers informed about upcoming renewals, payment reminders and cancellations. By keeping them informed in advance, you can

    • Tips And Tricks - Announcement

      Hello everyone, Every business is unique and each of them follows a specific workflow. While managing your customers' subscriptions with Zoho, you might have some needs unique to your business. Custom Functions helps you address such needs. This is a start to a series of posts, where we will be coming up with a custom function workflow every week that addresses specific business scenarios. Watch this space for further updates! Also, if you have any specific business scenario which needs to be addressed,

    • Tip #6 : Accessing external URLs from Zoho Subscriptions

      Hello everyone, We have been sharing a tip every week to address specific business scenarios which you can implement for your subscription business. Last week, we shared a tip about implementing the Approval Workflow system. This week, let's look at how you can access external URLs with the help of Custom Link. Business Scenario: Every business functions differently and has its unique requirements. At times, businesses might want to access other websites or applications by appending specific information

      • Recent Topics

      • Enhancements to Bigin's forms

        Greetings, I hope all of you are doing well. We're happy to announce a few recent enhancements we've made to Bigin's forms. We'll go over each one in detail. Merge field support in auto-filled forms The auto-fill option in Bigin's forms lets you predefine

      • Table dimensions

        I try changing the dimensions of the table on my computer but it doesn't change. Do I have to be a premium member or does it only work on the app?

      • Direct link to Record Summary

        Hi everyone, In one of my reports, I have built a Record Summary template to display the details of one record. I would like to be able to link directly to this Record Summary once I submit a new record, without having to go to the list of records first and click on View. Is there a possibility to do so ?  Should I use the URL by passing some parameters ? Thank you very much for your help ! Guillaume

      • Amendment effective date

        Hi everyone, I noticed that the amendment effective date mentionned in my amendment is not right. Indeed, when a contract is amended several times, it states the previous amendment and their effective date. However, the effective date stated is always

      • Show both Vendor and Customers in contact statement

        Dear Sir, some companies like us working with companies as Vendor and Customers too !!! it mean we send invoice and also receive bill from them , so we need our all amount in one place , but in contact statement , is separate it as Vendor and Customer, 

      • STOCK history in zohosheets

        is it possible to get historical stock value using stock function in zoho sheets? i could not see from and to period in the helper document.

      • Auto sync Photo storage

        Hello I am new to Zoho Workdrive and was wondering if the is a way of automatically syncing photos on my Android phone to my workdrive as want to move away from Google? Thanks

      • Agent password reset

        Hi Zoho support, I would like to ask if there is a way the admin can reset a password of an agent? Regards

      • Can receive but not send messages in Zoho Mail

        Hello! I was able to configure my email client successfully in that I can receive messages just fine. However, when I send messages out, they seem to go out fine (I don't receive any errors or anything), but the recipient does NOT receive those messages.

      • Mail is sent twice!

        Been using Zoho for a while now. Installed Zoho for someone else and some weird things are happening. Mails are being sent twice. He is using Thunderbird as an email client. I already read about email being duplicated in the sent folder. But in my case

      • Can't login IMAP suddenly

        Since this evening I'm getting the error: You are yet to enable IMAP for your account. Please contact your administrator... IMAP always been enabled in my account and was workign fine for the past 7 years. Already tried turning IMAP off and on again.

      • Sending of username did not succeed: Mail server pop.zoho.com responded: User already specified

        I am having issues receiving emails from Zoho in Thunderbird. I am getting the above error. The first error tells me Authentication failed, and prompts me to enter in my password. Then I get the above error. I can receive emails when I log in online to

      • Bug tracking

        Hi, does anyone know how to track errors during picking or packing? This way I can keep track and see how to improve and prevent errors in this area.

      • Migration of corporate mail environment from Yandex 360 to Zoho mail

        I have to migrate a corporate mail environment with an existing domain from Yandex 360 to Zoho mail. It is vital to migrate all users with all the data. I have read the article on this topic using MacMister Email Backup Software just now and have some

      • I'm unable to send mail pthrough Zoho SMTP programmatically

        This has been working for years, but today it's been offline all day long. I see nothing anywhere on your site about this. I'm not the only one experiencing this. Downdetector has a spike of reports today

      • Can no longer send email via Django site

        This was working fine as of 11/7/25. Now I am unable to send user verification emails from a Django site on a AWS lightsail sever. When a user attempts to register the following error occurs. I have also attempted to send a test email via the shell and

      • unable to send email but able to receive email

        my email address is info@securityforceservices.ca

      • Login to server failing

        When trying to retrieve my mail, I am getting this error message -- Login to server pop.zoho.com with username (my email address) failed. It gives me the option to retry, enter password, or cancel. Then I get this message -- Sending of username did not

      • Configuration failed: 200 response not received for POST request.

        Hello, I am trying to set up a webhook to connect with an Salesforce but I receive the following error from Zoho: Configuration failed: 200 response not received for POST request I have tried testing it on webhook.site as well and receive the same error

      • Zoho Migration Assistant not working

        Hello, I am trying to use you Migration assistant to migrate emails from Rediff to Zoho. I am stuck in the first step. After downloading the migration tool, I copied the link to verify user credentials, however, after pasting the link in the browser,

      • Contacts Missing — PeopleSync/Zoho Mail

        English: In our company we use ManageEngine Mobile Device Manager (MDM), Free edition, to manage corporate mobile devices. Our usage policy does not allow personal Google accounts on these devices; therefore, Google account sync is blocked through MDM.

      • Best way to integrate Zoho with mobile app for managing customer requests with real-time notifications?

        Hello, I'm building a solution for a travel company where customers submit requests through a website, and the sales team manages these requests through a mobile app. The Requirement: Customers fill a form on the website (name, email, number of children,

      • Kaizen #57 - Mass Update API in Zoho CRM

        Hello everyone! Welcome back to yet another post in the Kaizen series. This week, we will discuss the Mass Update API in Zoho CRM. In this post, we will cover the following: 1. Introduction 2. Mass Update Records API  3. Schedule Update and Get Status

      • Getting Attachments in Zoho Desk via API

        Is there a way to get attachments into Zoho Desk via an API?      We have a process by which a zoho survey gets sent to the user as a link in a notification.    The survey has several upload fields where they can upload pdf documents.    I've created

      • Pincode based Product Restriction

        we have different types of products. 1) Very bulky items like plywood. 2) Too delicate items like glass These type of products we want to sell to local customers. Other products we want to supply all over India. There should be an option to restrict products

      • Related Lists filter

        I have Contacts showing in our Accounts module. I customized the Contacts module with an Employment Status field, with the following picklist options: "Primary Contact", "Secondary Contact", "Active Staff(not a main contact)", and "No longer employed".

      • Standalone custom function not generating logs

        Why dont't standalone custom functions generate logs when the're called from another function? I have some functions (workflow, buttons and blueprint) that have common parts, so I put that part in a standalone function which is called from the others.

      • Add "Reset MFA" Option for Zoho Creator Client Portal Users

        Hello Zoho Creator Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to request an important enhancement related to Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for client portal users in Zoho Creator. Currently, Creator allows us to enforce MFA for portal users,

      • Urgent Security Feature Request – Add MFA to Zoho Projects Client Portal Hello Zoho Projects Team,

        Hello Zoho Projects Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to submit an urgent security enhancement request regarding the Zoho Projects Client Portal. At this time, as far as we are aware, there is no Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) available

      • Creator HTML page refresh

        Hi, I have added around 5 different html snippets in single creator page. I understand, I can refresh the entire page from page script using Navigational URLs https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/creator/developer-guide/others/url-patterns/articles/navigational-urls

      • Zoho Desk - Custom Module Related List Columns on Tickets

        I have a custom module in Zoho Desk called Asana Tasks, each task has a lookup to a Ticket. On the Ticket I want to see the columns of the Asana Tasks in the related list . Is there a way to do this? Right now it just has the name of the record and I

      • What is your opinion of the new UI?

        Hi Everyone, I would like to see what everyone thinks of the new Zoho One Dashboard. I don't get it, but perhaps I'm missing something. What are your thoughts?

      • What are the OAuth scopes needed to access the Zoho MCP server?

        I think I'm authenticating with the MCP server endpoint successfully using a bearer token but I can't successfully initialize an MCP session. I'm using the official MCP Python sdk (https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk). I get as far as here

      • "Temporary Error" in Zoho CRM Data Source sync

        I edited my setup for the Zoho CRM to Zoho Analytics Data Source Import configuration to add some new fields. After I saved the changes, I clicked the (Sync Now) link. After a few minutes I got a Sync failure error. The only reason given is "A temporary

      • cant upload images in signature- urgent help needed. ta!

        HI, I have been trying to insert the company logo in the signature. i have tried it several times since yesterday, the longest I waited was 1 hour and 12 minutes for the pop up window to upload a 180 KB .jpg file. what am i doing wrong..  an urgent reply will be appreciated,  Ta

      • Account blocked for IMAP use

        Hello, My email client (Evolution) can't sync mail anymore. It gives the error: "Your account is temporarily blocked for IMAP use. This may happen if you exceed the maximum number of simultaneous IMAP connections allowed. Kindly try again after some time."

      • Is SMTP included in the free plan?

        My client has a Zoho Mail Free 14 day trial that ends tomorrow. She has set up a domain email address with SMTP on a third party app and is wondering if it will continue working once her plan downgrades to the free forever plan. Thanks

      • Zoho mail issue.

        I have verified my domain ohhoexpress.online by adding necessary TXT and MX records. But when I am sending email to any external email id, it is showing as zohomail.com. Also while I am sending mail to internal mail id, it is saying user not found whereas

      • My email is blocked from sending

        I get this message when I try to send any message .. > Unable to send message, Reason 554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked We have urgent emails to send and the issue continues to persist from yesterday. Please help us with this issue as soon as possibl

      • [WEBINAR] Smooth year-end closure with Zoho Books (KENYA)

        Hello there, This webinar is for all Kenyan businesses looking to wrap up their financial year smoothly! Join our free session to learn how Zoho Books can simplify your year-end process. What to expect from this webinar: - All the latest updates in Zoho

      • Next Page