How team billing works: one subscription, seats and members who already pay

A team pays for everyone it covers with a single subscription, held by the team and paid by the Owner (or by someone the Owner has given the billing ability). Each person the team covers takes one seat. The team never receives a separate bill per person.

Anyone with their own account can start a team from People & Team. Team prices are on the pricing page. This article explains how the billing behaves once a team exists.

Who takes a seat

A seat is counted for each person the team covers, and a person's secondary accounts never take one of their own. Here is how the common cases work out:

• A Member, Admin, Managed or Sponsored person. One seat each. See Team members: Owner, Admin, Managed and Sponsored for what those labels mean.
• The Owner, if they use GetCalendario themselves. One seat, like anyone else.
• The Owner, if they only run the team. No seat. An Owner who does not yet use GetCalendario can choose not to take a seat when they start the team. An Owner who already uses it always takes one, and an Owner without one pays for the others but keeps whatever plan they already had.
• Secondary accounts. No seat. A secondary counts against its primary's own limits, exactly as it does on a personal plan. See What a secondary account is.
• A member whose own paid monthly plan is still running. No seat yet. Their own period is allowed to finish, so the team does not bill the same month twice. More on this below.

A paying team's subscription has a minimum number of seats, so a very small team may be billed for more seats than it has people. A team that has not yet reached five people is not billed at all: the team trial starts when five people are actively using GetCalendario. See How the team trial works.

When people join or leave a paying team, the number of seats on the subscription is updated to match. The team checks this on a regular schedule and also whenever its billing changes, so a missed update is corrected on the next check.

What happens to a member who already pays

If someone with their own paid plan joins a team, nothing changes while the team is on its free trial. They keep paying and keep their own plan. The hand-over happens when the team makes its first payment, so nobody is refunded into a team that then fails to pay. Members who join a team that is already paying are handed over the same way, shortly after they join.

How it is handled depends on how they pay:

• Monthly plan. Their own subscription is set to stop renewing at the end of the month they have already paid for. The team's seat for them starts then, and the email they receive names the date. Nothing is refunded, because nothing is cut short.
• Annual plan. Their yearly plan is cancelled that day, and the unused part of the year is refunded to the card they paid with. The refund is never more than they actually paid: if the year was bought with a coupon, a punch-card reward or at a discount, only the unused share of the money really charged comes back, not the list price. If nothing was charged to a card, there is nothing to refund to. If money is refunded, the email gives the amount, which the email says usually shows up within 5 to 10 days.

Either way, their calendars, connections and rules stay exactly where they were. They are sent an email titled "(Team name) now pays for your GetCalendario".

Two things worth knowing. First, a person's old plan does not come back by itself. If they later leave the team, or the Owner closes it, they fall back to Free unless they buy a plan again. A team that stops paying, or whose free trial ends without a card, does not send anyone to Free: after 14 days its syncing pauses until it pays (see What happens if the team bill is unpaid). Second, a team that is being closed does not cancel or refund anybody's plan.

Covered members cannot buy their own plan

While the team is paying for you, there is no plan for you to buy. If you try to start or switch a personal plan, the page tells you "(Team name) pays for your GetCalendario, so there's no plan to buy." This is deliberate: a plan bought now would just be handed over and ended again. While the team is only on its trial, you can still buy a plan of your own. After the team lapses, nobody on it can start a plan of their own, or leave it, for the first 7 days; from then a member can choose Pay for yourself instead on People & Team, which takes them off the team first. See What happens if the team bill is unpaid. See How to upgrade, downgrade or cancel.

Who can change the billing

The ability to pay for the team and manage its card and plan is called Manage billing. The Owner always has it. It can be given to others through groups, but it is left out of the Admins group on purpose, so an Admin cannot pay for the team or change how it is billed unless the Owner gives them that ability. See Team groups and permissions.

Someone with the billing ability sees a Pay for your team button while the team is on its trial or has lapsed, and a Card and invoices link once it is paying. That link opens our payment provider's billing page, where, depending on our payment provider's settings, the card can be updated. A team that has never paid has no billing page yet. Cancelling the subscription on that page closes the team (at the end of the period already paid, or straight away if you cancel straight away). See How to close a team.

An ability to see invoices is listed among the group abilities, but it is not offered yet, and there is no invoices screen in GetCalendario itself.

What a member sees

A member does not see the bill or the number of seats. On the team page they see a short line about the stage the team is in. Once the team is paying, a member without the billing ability sees "Your team pays for your GetCalendario."; people with the billing ability see the seat count there instead. A team never sees anyone's calendar content, whatever its billing looks like.

To close a team, see How to close a team.