Managing Downgrades in your Partner Portal

If you're an ActiveCampaign Reseller, you can now apply a downgrade to one of your child accounts immediately instead of waiting for that account's billing term to end.

What counts as an upgrade vs. a downgrade

Whether a change applies immediately or gets scheduled for the end of the billing term depends on how the system classifies the change, not just whether it looks like a step up or down in plan tier. 

When a change includes both an upgrade and a downgrade

Sometimes a single change includes both an upgrade and a downgrade element together — for example, adding SMS while also reducing contact limit, or moving up a tier while dropping seats. In these cases, the system doesn't look at each part on its own. It looks at the overall value of the change as a whole and classifies it based on that net effect and determines this automatically, serving the option to schedule or apply the change immediately when classified as a “downgrade”.

Downgrade timing: end of term vs. right now

When you downgrade a child account's plan, it normally takes effect at the end of that account's current billing term. The account keeps its current features until then, and the change takes effect on the next bill date. If you need the change to apply immediately instead, you have two ways to do that from the child account's Change your account page in the Partner Portal.

Take note

• Both options below are available from the child account's Change your account page in the Partner Portal
• This option is only available for eligible billing setups. If you don't see either option on a child account, that account may not be eligible for immediate downgrade processing
• Upgrades are always processed immediately for child accounts and aren't affected by anything on this page
• If you manage downgrades through the Agency API instead of the Partner Portal, the default behavior is reversed — see Using the Agency API below and reference your Agency API documents in your Partner Portal.

Option 1: Choose "Downgrade Now" while making the plan change

1. Go to Change your account for the child account and start the plan downgrade as usual.
2. If the change would normally be scheduled for the end of the account's term, you'll see a message: "This change is scheduled for the end of the account's billing term. If you'd like this change applied immediately, select 'Downgrade Now.'"
3. Select "Downgrade Now," then click the "Submit" button.
4. The child account's plan updates immediately, and a prorated credit (if applicable) for the unused portion of the term is applied to your reseller credit balance.

If you don't select Downgrade Now, the changes will be scheduled to take effect at the end of the child accounts billing term.

Option 2: Already have a downgrade scheduled on a child account? Process it now.

If you previously scheduled a downgrade on a child account and it's still waiting to take effect at term-end, you don't need to redo the whole change.

1. Go to Change your account for the child account. You'll see the existing scheduled-change notice along with a Process Downgrade Now button.
2. Click the "Process Downgrade Now" button. A confirmation window appears: "Proceeding with this downgrade will apply the package changes immediately. If applicable, a prorated credit will be issued to your reseller credit balance for the remainder of the term."
3. Click the "Submit" button to confirm, or click "Cancel" to leave the downgrade scheduled as-is.
4. The child account's plan updates immediately, and a prorated credit (if applicable) for the unused portion of the term is applied to your reseller balance.

What to expect after either Downgrade Now option

• The child account's plan changes take effect on the day its actioned
• If a credit is owed for the unused part of the term, it's issued automatically as a prorated credit memo to your reseller balance. You don't need to request it separately
• Prorated credit memos can take a short time to appear on your account after the change processes. Once processed, your reseller credit balance displays on your Billing Profiles page in your Partner Portal
  • Note: This balance is consumed on any future billings for any of your child accounts until exhausted. It's pulled from first, before your assigned payment method is charged
• With the Process Downgrade Now button specifically, your confirmation won't show an exact dollar amount up front. The credit is calculated and applied automatically once processing completes

Using the Agency API

If you manage downgrades through the Agency API rather than the Partner Portal UI, the default behavior is the reverse of what's described above:

• By default, a downgrade takes effect immediately. You don't need to opt in
• If you'd rather the downgrade wait until the end of the child account's billing term, pass the new optional scheduled parameter with your request
• This parameter only applies to downgrades. It's ignored on upgrades, which are always immediate