Plans and billing

Every venue is on a plan. This page covers what each plan includes, the Reservations add-on, starting the 15-day trial, the Billing page — changing plan, your card, invoices, cancelling, subscribing again and CFDI — what happens when a payment fails, and what happens when a subscription ends. The plan choice you see right after signing up is introduced in First steps.

What each plan includes

The plans differ in one thing: inventory. Everything else — the floor plan, the menu, staff, the time clock, reports, receipts and the iPad POS — comes with every plan. Reservations is an add-on you can put on either plan (see The Reservations add-on). The price is shown on each plan when you choose it, before IVA: 16% IVA is added on top.

A bar you add from Settings › Your bars gets its own plan and its own subscription, with no free trial: it's charged from the day you subscribe (see First steps). To bill several bars together, ask Barform about Grupo.

On the plan cards:

• Barra — "Tables, menu, staff, time clock, reports, receipts — the whole bar, minus inventory."
• Barra Pro — "Everything in Barra, plus stock, costs, counts and purchase orders."

To see which plan your venue is on, an admin opens Settings › Billing and reads Your plan.

What inventory adds

• The Inventory section of the sidebar and its pages.
• Menu › Recipes, and the recipe and cost columns on Menu › Products.
• In Settings › Venue: the Purchasing card and the Counting method setting.
• The Add the stock items line in Today's setup checklist.

On a plan without inventory, the Inventory pages show "Inventory isn't part of your plan" — "Stock levels, costs, counts and purchase orders come with Barra Pro. Everything else in Barform keeps working exactly as it does now." An admin sees Change plan in Billing, which opens the Billing page (see Change plan); a manager reads "An admin can move the venue to Barra Pro in Settings › Billing." Menu › Recipes takes you to Products, and inventory actions answer "That isn't part of your plan."

The iPads follow the plan too: without inventory, the More menu leaves out Waste, Count and Purchasing, and the first sign-in of the day doesn't offer to count stock.

The Reservations add-on

Reservations is one add-on, on top of either plan: "The reservation book, your own booking page and automatic guest messages by WhatsApp, SMS and email — 1,000 messages a month included." That is:

• the book of reservations in the back office and on the iPads, with bookings holding tables on the floor plan;
• your public booking page, the form for your own website, and each guest's own page for their booking;
• the automatic messages to guests by WhatsApp, SMS and email, and the notices to the bar.

The 1,000 messages a month are a guide, not a hard limit: nothing stops, warns or charges you when you pass them, and the notices to the bar don't count.

Without the add-on, your venue has no reservations at all: no Reservations in the back office, no book or holds on the iPads, a booking page that says "This venue is not taking bookings online right now.", and no messages. Bookings already made are kept and come back when you add it. See Reservations.

Add or remove Reservations

Who can do this: admins — the organization's owner or a venue admin.

The Reservations card on Settings › Billing, under your subscription, shows the add-on's monthly price (IVA is added on top) and what it includes.

1. Click Add Reservations.
2. Read "Add Reservations?": "The book, your booking page and guest messages turn on in the back office and on the iPads." It also says what you pay. During the free trial: "Nothing is charged during your free trial; when it ends you pay $X for it." Otherwise: "From now on you pay $X more. Stripe charges the rest of this billing period on your next invoice."
3. Click Add Reservations. "Adding Reservations." appears and, under the button, "Waiting for Stripe to confirm the change — this takes a few seconds."
4. When Stripe confirms, the card shows On and Remove Reservations. Reservations appears in the back office, and the iPads show the book from their next sign-in.

To take it off, click Remove Reservations and read "Remove Reservations?": "The book, your booking page and guest messages turn off: the iPads stop showing the book, the booking page stops taking requests and no more messages go out. Your bookings are kept and come back if you add it again." Stripe credits the unused part of the billing period on your next invoice ("Nothing was charged for it during your free trial." during the trial). Click Remove Reservations.

• The add-on can be added or removed while the subscription is in its free trial or active. Otherwise the card says "You can add it once your subscription is active." While a cancellation is waiting, it's paused until you keep your subscription (see Keep your subscription).
• When you pay by transfer (SPEI) or on Grupo, the card says "Barform manages this account's billing by hand. Write to access@barformpos.com to add Reservations."
• If Stripe hasn't confirmed after 25 seconds: "Stripe has the change; it shows here as soon as Stripe confirms it. Refresh in a minute." If it fails: "Could not change Reservations. Try again."
• A subscription that ends takes the add-on with it. After subscribing again, add Reservations again.
• If bookings still hold deposits that groups paid online, "Remove Reservations?" adds a warning, for example "2 bookings have deposits held ($4,800.00). Refund or settle them first: without Reservations, guests can't cancel online and the iPads can't use the deposits." It doesn't stop you. See Deposits for large groups.

Start the 15-day trial

Who can do this: the organization's owner or a venue admin. Anyone else sees "Only the organization's owner can change billing."

Until your venue has a subscription, every back-office page sends you to "One more step": "Your bar is ready. Choose a plan to open it — your card starts a 15-day trial and is not charged today."

1. Under Barra or Barra Pro, click Start 15-day trial. Under the button: "Card required. You won't be charged until the trial ends, and you can cancel anytime."
2. On Stripe's page, enter your card and confirm. Stripe's page is in your venue's Admin portal language (Settings › Venue).
3. Back in Barform, "Setting up your subscription" shows: "Stripe has your card. We're waiting for it to confirm — this usually takes a second or two." It checks again every 2 seconds.
4. When Stripe confirms, you go on to pair your first iPad in the welcome wizard, or to Today.

If the confirmation is slow, after 25 seconds the page says "This is taking longer than usual. Your payment went through; the confirmation just hasn't reached us yet. Nothing is lost — try again in a moment." Click Check again.

• The trial lasts 15 days, once per account: a bar you add later from Settings › Your bars, or an account that subscribes again, starts paying at once. A card is always needed, and it's charged when the trial ends unless the subscription is cancelled first. Every charge adds 16% IVA to the plan's price.
• If you cancel on Stripe's page, you're back at the plan choice with nothing changed.
• If checkout can't start: "Could not start checkout. Try again."

The Billing page

Who can do this: admins.

Everything about your subscription happens on Settings › Billing — "Your plan, your payment method, and your invoices.": the plan, the Reservations add-on, the card you pay with, your invoices, cancelling, and subscribing again. Only the card number itself is typed on a Stripe page.

1. In the back office, go to Settings › Billing.
2. Read the Status badge (see the table below).
3. Read the three figures: Your plan; Trial ends during the trial, otherwise Renews, with the date — or Ends while a cancellation is waiting, and Ended once the subscription has ended; and Price. A figure that isn't known yet shows a dash.
4. During the trial, a line counts the days left: "{n} days left in your free trial. We'll charge the card on file when it ends — cancel any time before then and you won't be." On the last day: "Your free trial ends today. We'll charge the card on file." Days left are whole days, rounded up.

What the page offers depends on the status:

Change plan

Who can do this: admins.

Move between Barra and Barra Pro at any time during the free trial or while the subscription is active.

1. In Settings › Billing, click Change plan.
2. Read the confirmation, "Switch to Barra Pro?" or "Switch to Barra?". It says what changes:
   • To Barra Pro: "Inventory turns on: the Inventory section (stock, costs, counts and purchase orders) and Menu › Recipes appear in the back office."
   • To Barra: "Inventory turns off: the Inventory section and Menu › Recipes leave the back office. Your stock data is kept and comes back if you return to Barra Pro."
3. It also says how billing changes. During the free trial: nothing is charged, and when the trial ends you pay the new plan's price. Otherwise, it gives the new monthly price and, moving to Barra Pro, "Stripe charges the difference for the rest of this billing period on your next invoice."; moving to Barra, "Stripe credits the unused part of Barra Pro on your next invoice."
4. Click Switch to Barra Pro or Switch to Barra. Under the buttons: "Waiting for Stripe to confirm the change — this takes a few seconds."
5. When Stripe confirms, Your plan shows the new plan, and the Inventory section appears in the back office, or leaves it.

If Stripe hasn't confirmed after 25 seconds: "Stripe has the change; it shows here as soon as Stripe confirms it. Refresh in a minute."

• If the venue is on that plan already: "You're already on that plan."
• If the subscription stopped being active or in its trial in the meantime: "The plan can be changed while the subscription is active or in its free trial."
• While a cancellation is waiting, Change plan and the Reservations add-on are greyed out: "Keep your subscription to change plans or add-ons." (see Keep your subscription).
• If the change doesn't go through: "Could not change the plan. Try again."
• On Grupo, or when you pay by transfer (SPEI), write to Barform at access@barformpos.com to change plan.

Update your card

Who can do this: admins.

1. Under Payment method, read the card your subscription is charged to, for example "Visa ending in 4242" and "Expires 12/2034". A card past its expiry month adds Expired and "This card has expired. Update it so the next payment goes through."
2. Click Update card. Under the button: "You type the new card on Stripe's secure page; Barform never sees its number."
3. On Stripe's page, which is in your Admin portal language, enter the new card and save it. Nothing is charged there. Going back without saving changes nothing.
4. Back on Billing, you see "Saving your new card…", then "Card updated." The card line shows the new card.

• During the trial or while the subscription is active, nothing is charged: the new card is used from the next payment. The old card stays saved with Stripe, unused.
• With no card saved, the card says "No card on file."
• If Stripe can't be reached: "Couldn't load your card from Stripe. Refresh the page to try again." Your plan and status still show.
• Other messages: "Could not open Stripe's card page. Try again." and "Could not save your card. Try again."

Pay an unpaid invoice

When a payment didn't go through, the status reads Payment past due and the Payment method card says "Your last payment didn't go through. Update your card and we'll charge it right away." Update card is then the main button.

1. Click Update card and enter a card on Stripe's page, as above.
2. Back on Billing, the unpaid invoice is charged to the new card at once: "Card updated, and the unpaid invoice is paid." Under the buttons, "Waiting for Stripe to confirm the change — this takes a few seconds." shows until Stripe reports the invoice paid.
3. The status returns to Active, and the past-due banner goes away.

If the new card is declined too: "Your new card is saved, but the unpaid invoice couldn't be charged to it. Try another card, or open the invoice below to pay it." Stripe keeps trying the invoice on its own schedule, now with the new card. You can also pay it from its own page: View in the invoice list (below).

See your invoices

1. Under Invoices — "Your subscription's invoices, newest first. Amounts include IVA." — each row shows Date, Number, Amount and Status: Paid, Unpaid or Void.
2. Click View to open Stripe's page for the invoice, where an unpaid invoice can also be paid. Click Download for its PDF. Both open in a new tab.
3. Click Show more for the next ten. With none yet: "No invoices yet."

• Amount is the invoice's total, IVA included. Dates are in your venue's time zone and your back-office language.
• Your invoices stay on this page after a subscription ends, until the venue is deleted.
• If Stripe can't be reached: "Couldn't load your invoices from Stripe. Refresh the page to try again." or "Could not load more invoices. Try again."
• These are Stripe's invoices for your subscription. For a CFDI, see Ask for a CFDI.

Cancel your subscription

Who can do this: admins.

A cancellation takes effect at the end of the billing period you're in — during the free trial, when the trial ends, so nothing is charged. Until then everything keeps working, and you can change your mind.

1. Click Cancel subscription, beside Change plan.
2. Read "Cancel your subscription?":
   • When it ends: "Your subscription ends on {date}. Until then everything keeps working." During the free trial: "Your free trial ends on {date} and your subscription won't start. Until then everything keeps working. Nothing is charged."
   • What ending means: "Then {venue} turns read-only: the iPads don't take orders and nothing can be changed here. Reports and exports keep working until {deletion date}, when the venue and all its data are deleted."
   • "Until then you can change your mind: Keep my subscription, on this page, undoes it."
3. If you like, choose a reason under "Why are you cancelling? (optional)" and write under "Anything else we should know? (optional)".
4. Click Cancel subscription — or Go back to leave it. You see "Cancelling your subscription." and, under the buttons, "Waiting for Stripe to confirm the change — this takes a few seconds."
5. A few seconds later the date reads Ends, and Cancel subscription gives way to Keep my subscription.

• The status keeps reading Free trial or Active until the day the subscription ends. On that day the venue turns read-only (see When a subscription ends); you can subscribe again any time before it's deleted.
• While a payment is past due, the question says only "Your subscription ends on {date}."
• If it doesn't go through: "Could not cancel your subscription. Try again."

Keep your subscription

While a cancellation is waiting, the page shows it: the date reads Ends instead of Renews, with "Your subscription ends on {date}. Until then everything keeps working." (during the free trial: "Your free trial ends on {date} and your subscription won't start. Until then everything keeps working."). Change plan and the Reservations add-on are paused — "Keep your subscription to change plans or add-ons." — while Update card and your invoices work as usual.

Who can do this: admins.

1. Click Keep my subscription. You see "Keeping your subscription." and "Waiting for Stripe to confirm the change — this takes a few seconds."
2. When Stripe confirms, the page reads Renews again — in the trial, the days-left line is back — and Change plan, the add-on and Cancel subscription work again.

• Keeping charges nothing: the subscription renews, or the trial turns into a paid subscription, on the date it would have.
• If Stripe hasn't confirmed after 25 seconds: "Stripe has the change; it shows here as soon as Stripe confirms it. Refresh in a minute." If it fails: "Could not keep your subscription. Try again."
• Once the subscription has ended, it can't be kept: "This subscription has already ended. Choose a plan to subscribe again." Subscribe again instead (below).

Subscribe again

Who can do this: admins.

When a subscription has ended, you subscribe again from this page, any time before the venue is deleted. The free trial is only for a first subscription, so billing starts on the day you subscribe again.

1. In Settings › Billing — or from the banner's Go to Billing — read "Your subscription has ended. Choose a plan to subscribe again — the free trial is for a first subscription, so billing starts today." above the two plan cards.
2. Under Barra or Barra Pro, click Subscribe. Under the button: "Card required. You're charged today and then monthly; cancel anytime."
3. On Stripe's page, confirm your card. Stripe offers the card you last had on file.
4. Back on Billing, "Setting up your subscription" shows and checks every 2 seconds until Stripe confirms; after 25 seconds it offers Check again. Then the status is Active, and the venue can be changed again: everything is as it was. The iPads take orders again within five minutes, or at once when someone taps Check again on them.

The new subscription starts with the plan only. If you had Reservations, add it again (see Add or remove Reservations).

• Clicking Subscribe twice opens the same Stripe page, so you can't subscribe twice by mistake.
• Each time you come back after a subscription has ended, you get a checkout of your own — even if it's the second time that day.
• Update card, Cancel subscription and Keep my subscription answer "There's no subscription to manage yet." when there's no subscription at all.

Ask for a CFDI

Barform doesn't send a CFDI (factura) for your subscription by itself. The note at the bottom of the Billing page says "Need a CFDI (factura) for your subscription? Write to access@barformpos.com with your RFC and we'll send it." Click the address, or write to it, with your RFC.

Pay by bank transfer

The page says: "Prefer a bank transfer (SPEI)? Write to us at access@barformpos.com and we'll set it up by hand." Once Barform has set it up, the status reads Paid by transfer (SPEI).

If a payment fails

When a payment fails, the back office says so right away, and says exactly when Barform will pause. If the subscription is still unpaid 15 days after the first failed payment, Barform pauses your venue at the start of its next service day: the iPads stop taking orders and the back office saves no changes, while every report and export, your check history and the Billing page keep working. It stays paused until the subscription is paid: update your card and the unpaid invoice is charged at once, and everything comes back the moment the payment goes through.

If it's still unpaid 30 days after the first failed payment, Stripe cancels the subscription. Paying the old invoice then no longer brings your venue back: you subscribe again instead (see Subscribe again). Until you do, the venue is read-only and its data is kept for three months (see When a subscription ends).

Days are counted from the first failed payment; later retries don't restart the count. The pause never lands in the middle of a night: it waits for the start of your service day, the hour set in Settings › Hours & scheduling › Service time (see Venue settings, hours and targets). Founder accounts are never paused.

What you see, step by step

For example, your service day starts at 6:00 AM and a payment fails on Thursday, October 1 at 10:00 AM:

The 15 days end on October 16 at 10:00 AM, so that night's service runs as usual; the pause comes the next morning, at the start of the service day. Each email also says that the subscription is cancelled if it's still unpaid 30 days after the payment failed.

While Barform is paused

• On the iPads: "Barform is paused" replaces the PIN pad and the floor: "Barform is paused at this bar, so this iPad can't open tabs, ring up drinks or take payments." and "Please contact the bar's owner: an admin can sort it out in the office, and this iPad comes back by itself." A tab that was still open can't be paid in Barform until the subscription is paid. An iPad whose app is out of date shows "Barform service has ended" instead; it stops and comes back the same way.
• In the back office: saving anything — a product, a table, a shift, a setting — changes nothing: you're sent back to the same page, and the banner starts with "Nothing was saved." Every report and export, the Billing page and switching to another bar keep working.
• On the Billing page: "{venue} is paused until the subscription is paid. Update your card below: the unpaid invoice is charged at once, and Barform comes back the moment it goes through. If it's still unpaid 30 days after the first failed payment, the subscription is cancelled: you'd have to subscribe again, and your data is kept read-only for three months."
• If it's still unpaid 30 days after the first failed payment, Stripe cancels the subscription. The venue then stays read-only, as described in When a subscription ends: the iPads show "Barform service has ended" instead of "Barform is paused", and you subscribe again instead of only updating the card.

Clear a past-due banner or a pause

Who can do this: admins. A manager who clicks Go to Billing is sent back to Settings.

1. Click Go to Billing on the banner, or Update card on the paused one.
2. Under Payment method, click Update card and enter a card on Stripe's page. Back on Billing, the unpaid invoice is charged to it at once (see Pay an unpaid invoice). If the card is the problem, you can also write to Barform at access@barformpos.com, as the banner says.
3. When Stripe reports the invoice paid, the status returns to Active, the banner goes away, and a paused venue works again at once. The iPads come back within five minutes, or right away with Check again.

Once Stripe has cancelled the subscription — 30 days after the first failed payment — updating the card is no longer enough: subscribe again (see Subscribe again).

When a subscription ends

A subscription ends when it's cancelled, or when payments keep failing and Stripe ends it. From that moment the venue is read-only: the iPads stop taking orders, and the back office keeps every report and export but saves no changes. Three months after the end, the venue is deleted with all its data. Subscribing again before then brings everything back as it was.

What changes

• On the iPads: "Barform service has ended" replaces the PIN pad and the floor: "This bar's Barform service has ended, so this iPad can't open tabs, ring up drinks or take payments." and "Please contact the bar's owner." Staff can't open a tab, ring up a drink or take a payment. A tab that was still open when the subscription ended can't be paid in Barform any more.
• In the back office: a red banner on every page: "Your subscription ended on {date}. {venue} is read-only: the iPads don't take orders and nothing can be changed here. Reports and exports keep working until {deletion date}, when the venue and all its data are deleted. Subscribe again in Billing to continue.", with Go to Billing.
• Saving anything — a product, a table, a shift, a setting — changes nothing: you're sent back to the same page, and the banner starts with "Nothing was saved."
• What keeps working: every report and export, subscribing again on the Billing page, your old invoices on the Billing page, and switching to another bar.
• On the Billing page: "{venue} is read-only until you subscribe again. On {deletion date} it is deleted with all its data — export what you want to keep before then."

On the iPad, Check again looks for a new subscription; the screen also checks by itself every five minutes and when the iPad comes back to the front. Once the venue has subscribed again, the PIN pad comes back.

The emails

Barform emails every active admin of the venue who has an email address, in your back-office language:

• when the subscription ends: "Your Barform subscription for {venue} has ended" — the venue is read-only, the date it will be deleted, and a reminder to export what you want to keep;
• two weeks before the deletion: "{venue} will be deleted on {deletion date}".

Each email goes once. Reply to either one to reach Barform.

Three months later: deletion

The venue is deleted three months after the day the subscription ended, on the same day of the month (or the last day of a shorter month: a subscription that ended on November 30 is deleted on February 28). The banner, the Billing page and the emails give the date.

The deletion takes the venue and all its data: sales, reports, the menu, staff and time records, bookings, the files you uploaded such as your logo, and the iPads' pairing. Your own sign-in isn't deleted: you can still sign in, for example to another bar.

Keep the venue

Who can do this: admins — the organization's owner or a venue admin.

Subscribe again on Settings › Billing before the deletion date (see Subscribe again). The venue can be changed again the moment Stripe confirms, and the iPads take orders again within five minutes, or at once with Check again.

Related

• First steps
• Pair and manage iPads
• Items and stock
• Reservations
• Guest messages