This is the part that surprises people. A vendor's subscription is not a separate billing system — it is a membership, held in the Memberships module, linked to the vendor.
The relationship
| Record | What it is |
|---|---|
| Vendor | The supplier: their profile, products, offers, announcements. |
| Vendor subscription package | What they are buying, and for how much. |
| Member | The billing relationship — the subscription itself, with its dates, balance and transactions. |
A member record can be attached to a vendor rather than to a person, which is what makes the whole membership machinery available to your vendor programme.
What you get for free because of it
- Recurring billing — periods, renewals and automatic collection.
- Payment methods held against the subscription, including card requests when one fails.
- Transactions and balance — what has been charged, what has been paid, what is outstanding.
- Accounts receivable — vendors owing money appear alongside every other debtor.
- Reporting — vendor income sits in the same figures as the rest of your subscription revenue.
Where to look for what
| Question | Look at |
|---|---|
| What is on their listing? | The vendor profile. |
| What did they agree to buy? | The subscription package on their membership. |
| Have they paid? | The membership's transactions and balance. |
| Why did the payment fail? | The membership's payment methods. |
| Should they still be listed? | The vendor's connection status. |
Searching for a vendor in Memberships
The member list can be searched by vendor name as well as by person, so a vendor subscription is found the same way as any other — and a vendor administrator can be invited straight from the member record.
TWO RECORDS, TWO JOBS — KEEP THEM IN STEP