How does a free trial work on a subscription offer?
The merchant sets the first payment of the Offer to 0. At checkout, on the hosted payment page with the customer present, a zero-amount verification authenticates and stores the card. The first rebill then runs after the delay set on the Offer, for example 14 days. A discount on the first billing cycles can follow the trial, and the first payment keeps its own price.
In detail
A free trial is an Offer whose first payment is set to 0.
At checkout
The customer is present, so the first payment is a customer-initiated transaction. At 0, it runs a zero-amount verification: the card is authenticated and stored in the NORBr Vault, and no money moves. The subscription is created from the Offer at that moment.
When the trial ends
The first rebill runs after the delay set on the Offer, in days, weeks or months after the first payment. From then on, every rebill is a merchant-initiated transaction on the stored card, charged on its date without the customer.
After the trial
The merchant can apply a discount on the first billing cycles, for example a reduced price for the first three months. The first payment keeps its own price and is not part of the discount period. Termination rules, pause rules and the Retry policy apply from the first rebill, exactly as they do for an Offer without a trial.