How Plan Upgrades, Prorated Charges and Referral Credit Work

A My Local Shops plan upgrade does not make the owner pay the complete higher-plan price again for a period that has already been partly paid. The system charges only for the remaining days, keeps the existing billing cycle and renewal date, and activates the higher plan after the payment is verified.

If the seller has earned referral credit, that balance can reduce an upgrade or renewal payment. The calculation and available balance are checked again on the server so a displayed discount cannot be changed manually or spent twice.

Upgrade rules at a glance

Question	What happens
When can an owner upgrade?	While the current subscription is active
What changes?	The subscription moves to a higher plan and its higher combined shop/godown capacity becomes available
What stays unchanged?	The current monthly or annual cycle and the existing renewal date
Is the full higher-plan price charged?	No. Only the price difference for the remaining days is charged
Which current-plan price is credited?	Normally the price the seller actually paid for the current plan
Can the billing cycle change during upgrade?	No. Change monthly/yearly when renewing instead
Can referral credit be used?	Yes, when the seller has a balance and chooses to apply it
How much credit can one payment use?	Up to 50% of that upgrade or renewal charge
When is the higher plan active?	After successful payment verification; a genuinely free upgrade is server-approved without payment
Is there a payment record?	Yes. A paid upgrade creates verified payment, transaction and subscription-invoice records

Current plan prices, capacities and referral benefits are configuration-driven and may change. Check the live Pricing page and the signed-in Change Plan screen for the amount applicable to the account.

Why an upgrade is prorated

Suppose an owner paid for a lower plan covering 30 days. Halfway through the cycle, the business opens another shop and needs a higher location limit.

Charging the complete higher-plan monthly price would ignore the amount already paid for the remaining 15 days of the lower plan. Starting a fresh 30-day period would also change the renewal schedule.

My Local Shops instead calculates only the extra value required for the days still left in the current cycle.

In simple terms:

Upgrade charge before referral credit = remaining-day fraction × difference between the higher-plan price and the current locked price

The remaining-day fraction is based on:

• days remaining until the current subscription expiry; and
• 30 days for a monthly cycle or 365 days for an annual cycle.

The final amount is calculated to paise. If a positive calculation falls below the payment provider's practical minimum, the payable upgrade is kept at a minimum of ₹1.

A simple monthly upgrade example

The following numbers are only an illustration, not current plan pricing.

Assume:

• the owner paid ₹300 for the current monthly plan;
• the target monthly plan costs ₹600;
• 15 of the 30 cycle days remain; and
• the owner has ₹100 of referral credit available.

First calculate the plan-price difference:

₹600 − ₹300 = ₹300

Then charge that difference only for the remaining half of the cycle:

15 ÷ 30 × ₹300 = ₹150 prorated upgrade charge

Referral credit can cover at most 50% of this payment:

50% of ₹150 = ₹75 maximum usable credit

Although the account has ₹100 available, only ₹75 is applied to this transaction.

₹150 − ₹75 = ₹75 paid today

After verification, the seller moves to the higher plan. The unused ₹25 referral balance remains available for a later eligible renewal or upgrade.

The original renewal date does not move. The seller paid ₹75 in this example to use the higher plan for the 15 days that remained, not to buy a second full month.

Why the system uses the price actually paid

Plan prices can change over time. A seller may have purchased the current plan when its price was different from the price shown today.

For a fair upgrade, My Local Shops normally uses the account's stored subscriptionPricePaid: the full plan rate that was locked when the current subscription was purchased or renewed. It does not simply assume that the seller paid today's live price for the lower plan.

This matters in both directions:

• if the current plan became more expensive later, using today's price could give credit the seller never paid; and
• if it became cheaper later, using today's price could under-credit an earlier higher payment.

For an older account that does not yet have a stored locked price, the calculation falls back to the current live price of its existing plan.

After an upgrade, the target plan's current full rate becomes the new locked rate for that account. If the owner upgrades again later, the next calculation therefore begins from the correct paid basis.

Monthly remains monthly and annual remains annual

An upgrade is a tier change inside the period already purchased. It is not a renewal.

• A monthly subscriber upgrades using monthly plan rates.
• An annual subscriber upgrades using annual plan rates.
• The current expiry date remains unchanged.
• The billing cycle cannot be switched during the upgrade.

If an owner wants to move from monthly to annual, or annual to monthly, that is a renewal-cycle decision. Keeping the two actions separate makes the charge and expiry date understandable.

Read how monthly, annual and expired-plan renewal works for the renewal rules.

What changes immediately after a successful upgrade

The upgraded subscription plan becomes active after the payment is verified. The system does not wait for the old cycle to end.

The most important practical change is the plan's new combined location capacity. Shops and godowns count together.

For example:

• one shop plus one godown uses two locations;
• two shops plus one godown uses three locations; and
• the higher plan can be selected when the business needs more permitted locations than the current plan provides.

All plans already include the connected app suite and unlimited product records. The upgrade is primarily about moving to the higher location tier defined on the live Pricing page, not buying each app separately.

Once active, the same owner account continues to use Trade Manager, Inventory Manager and Order Manager. Authorised Staff Bill access also remains connected to the owner's subscription and assigned billing locations.

Step-by-step: upgrade on the website

1. Sign in to the My Local Shops website with the owner account.
2. Open My Subscription.
3. Choose Change Plan.
4. Review the current plan, billing cycle, active location count and available plans.
5. Select a higher plan.
6. Review the price breakdown: target-plan rate, current locked rate, remaining days and prorated charge.
7. Review any referral credit offered for the payment.
8. Confirm the displayed amount and complete payment.
9. Wait for verification; do not close the payment flow while it is confirming.
10. Download the subscription invoice if required.

The amount shown in the browser is not treated as final authority. The backend independently checks the active subscription, target plan, billing cycle, expiry, locked price, remaining days, referral balance and expected amount.

This protects the owner from stale screen data and protects the platform from a modified payment request.

What is referral credit?

Each eligible seller can receive a referral code. The owner can copy it from the Seller Referral Dashboard and share it with another wholesale business owner.

When a genuinely new subscriber uses a valid seller referral code on their first successful subscription:

• the new subscriber can receive the extra subscription days configured for the referral programme; and
• the referring seller receives the currently configured subscription-credit amount.

The referral reward is connected to a successful first subscription, not merely to creating an account or shop form. A seller cannot refer their own account, and an existing seller's renewal is not treated as a new referral.

Because referral offers can change, this article does not hardcode the bonus amount or extra-day count. The dashboard and subscription screen show the live programme values.

How earned referral credit is used

Referral credit is not a cash wallet and is not silently added to sales, party payments or business profit. It is a dedicated balance for eligible My Local Shops subscription payments.

At present, an existing seller can apply it toward:

• a plan upgrade; or
• a subscription renewal.

It is not used to discount the referred person's first subscription purchase. That first purchase is what creates the referral benefit: extra days for the new subscriber and credit for the referring seller.

On the Change Plan screen, the owner can see the available referral balance and choose whether it should be applied. When enabled, the screen shows:

• the original upgrade or renewal charge;
• referral credit applied; and
• the amount payable today.

Why referral credit is capped at 50%

A single eligible payment can use referral credit up to half of that payment's pre-credit amount.

If the owner has less credit than the cap, the available balance is used. If the owner has more, only the capped amount is deducted and the remainder stays in the referral balance.

The cap means every paid renewal or upgrade still collects part of its value through the payment gateway. It also prevents a referral discount from turning a paid checkout into a zero-value payment that the gateway cannot process correctly.

A rare upgrade can still be genuinely free for a different reason: the account's locked current-plan rate may already equal or exceed the live target-plan rate. That case is recalculated and approved by the server through a separate free-upgrade path; it is not created by referral credit.

Referral credit is checked twice safely

The available balance can change between opening the page and completing payment, especially if another device is being used.

My Local Shops therefore does not trust a discount amount typed or modified by the browser. At order creation, the server:

1. recalculates the eligible upgrade or renewal amount;
2. reads the current referral-credit balance;
3. applies no more than the 50% cap; and
4. stores the approved credit with that payment order.

During payment verification, the approved value is used again. The actual credit deduction and successful payment record are committed together. This prevents the same balance from being spent by two simultaneous payments.

If payment fails or is not verified, the referral credit is not treated as successfully spent.

What records are created

A successful paid upgrade creates connected subscription records rather than only changing a label on the screen.

The system records:

• the verified payment;
• the payment-provider references;
• the financial transaction;
• the target subscription plan;
• the new locked full-plan rate;
• any referral credit applied;
• a referral-ledger entry for spent credit; and
• a downloadable subscription invoice.

The invoice identifies the transaction as an upgrade. The seller can also use payment history to review subscription payments and the referral ledger to understand earned and spent credit.

The cycle and expiry remain the same for an upgrade, so there is no artificial extra period added to the account.

Upgrade, renew and downgrade are different actions

Action	Main purpose	Charge/date behaviour
Upgrade	Move to a higher location tier during an active period	Prorated remaining-day difference; current cycle and expiry stay unchanged
Renew	Add another monthly or annual period	Full current renewal price; extends from future expiry or starts from today if expired
Downgrade	Move to a lower location tier	No upgrade payment; the account must first fit within the lower location limit

Do not select renewal merely to get a higher plan in the middle of an active cycle. Use Change Plan so the existing paid period is credited correctly.

Downgrades require different safeguards because a lower plan may allow fewer shops and godowns. The next guide explains that process separately.

Realistic example: adding a second shop

Consider a clothing wholesaler with one shop on the current plan. The owner has already recorded purchase trades, inventory, parties and invoices and now opens a second shop.

The business needs a plan whose combined location limit can accommodate both shops.

The owner opens Change Plan and selects the higher tier. The page reads the active subscription and shows the higher plan's rate for the same monthly or annual cycle. It subtracts the rate already locked for the current plan and applies only the remaining-day fraction.

If referral credit is available, the owner reviews the capped discount and final payable amount. After the payment succeeds:

• the higher plan becomes active;
• the renewal date remains as it was;
• the owner can create the additional location within the new limit;
• existing trades, products, parties, invoices and shop data remain unchanged; and
• the payment and invoice remain available for reference.

There is no need to create a new account, reinstall the apps or move business data to another subscription.

Common misunderstandings to avoid

“I am upgrading, so I receive a new full month or year”

No. An upgrade changes the tier for the time remaining on the current subscription. Renewal adds a new period.

“I can switch from monthly to annual during the upgrade”

No. The upgrade keeps the existing cycle. Make the cycle choice when renewing.

“The current plan is always credited at today's website price”

Not normally. The stored price actually paid is used when available, protecting the seller when public prices have changed.

“All my referral balance should remove the complete payment”

No. A maximum of 50% of one eligible upgrade or renewal charge can be paid using referral credit.

“Referral credit is withdrawable cash”

No. It is subscription credit for eligible My Local Shops renewal and upgrade payments.

“Creating a referred account is enough to earn credit”

No. The referral is rewarded after the referred owner completes a genuine first subscription successfully.

“The browser alone decides the upgrade amount”

No. The server independently recalculates and verifies the plan, price, remaining days, referral credit and payment.

Frequently asked questions

Do I pay the full higher-plan price when upgrading halfway through the month?

No. You pay the positive price difference only for the days remaining in the current cycle, before any eligible referral credit.

Does upgrading change my renewal date?

No. The current subscription expiry and billing cycle remain unchanged.

Can an expired subscription be upgraded?

An upgrade requires an active subscription with a future expiry. Renew an expired subscription first using the applicable plan and cycle flow.

When can I use a higher shop or godown limit?

After the paid upgrade is verified, or after a rare genuinely free upgrade is approved by the server.

Do shops and godowns have separate limits?

No. They count together toward the plan's combined location allowance.

Can referral credit pay 100% of an upgrade?

No. Referral credit can cover at most 50% of that eligible payment.

What happens to unused referral credit?

It remains in the seller's referral-credit balance for a later eligible renewal or upgrade.

Can I see how referral credit was earned and spent?

Yes. The Seller Referral Dashboard and related history show referral activity, while subscription payment history records successful plan payments.

Will an upgrade affect my products or invoices?

No. It changes the subscription tier; it does not replace existing trades, stock, products, parties, invoices, payments or reports.

Where do I see the current price?

Use the live Pricing page for public plan information and the signed-in Change Plan screen for the account-specific prorated amount.

Continue reading

• My Local Shops subscription: one subscription, four business apps
• Subscribe, download the apps and set up your first shop
• Understand monthly, annual and expired-plan renewal
• See how all four apps share business data safely in the cloud
• Compare current plans and location capacity

The next guide explains how downgrades work when the lower plan allows fewer shops or godowns, what must be changed first, and how existing business data is protected.