Invoicing and Automatic Billing
As of April 1, 2019, HostGator's invoicing and automatic billing policy will change. Among the benefits this new policy gives are more extended time frames for payment for our customers with longer billing cycles.
This article addresses the following information:
- Invoicing and Automatic Payment Dates↴
- Grace periods and payment windows↴
- Notification policy↴
- Automatic Payment Methods↴
Invoicing and Automatic Payment Dates
HostGator will generate invoices and process automatic payments based on the information below. Depending on your billing cycle and the product in question, your automatic payment date may change.
| Item(s) Renewing | Renewal Cycle | Invoice Generation Time | Automatic Charge of Invoice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting Packages/ Addon Services: | 1 Month | 6 days before Renewal | 5 days before Renewal |
| Hosting Packages/ Addon Services: | 3 Months 6 Months 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years | 45 days before Renewal | 15 days before Renewal |
| Domain renewals | 1 Year | 45 days before Renewal | 15 days before Renewal |
Grace Periods and Payment Windows
Though there is a 6 or 45-day window between invoice generation and the beginning of the next billing cycle for hosting and added services, we also provide an additional grace period to make payment. If the invoice is still unpaid on the 10th day after the due date, hosting services will be suspended. Domain names expire on the due date of the invoice. This leaves a payment window of the following:
- Hosting and Services renewing less than annually: 16 days
- Hosting and Services renewing annually or greater: 55 days
- Domain names renewals: 45 days
Notification Policy
For hosting renewals, we will send email notifications to you via the following schedule:
- Once the renewal invoice is generated, a notice is sent 45 days before the invoice due date.
- If you have a credit card on file for automatic billing, another notice is sent 15 days before the invoice due date.
- Another email notice is sent informing you of the recent renewal on the invoice renewal date.
If we cannot successfully charge your card(s) on file, we will notify you to help you avoid account suspension and data loss. We will attempt to contact you via the following methods:
- We will attempt to contact you via email the day your invoice payment fails.
- 5 days after a due invoice, we will send a follow-up email, and an automated call will attempt to notify you by phone.
- 9 days after a due invoice, we will attempt to contact you via email and phone as a final notice before the suspension.
- 10 days after a due invoice, we will provide an email notification of service suspension.
- 18 days after a due invoice, we will attempt to provide final notice via phone before removing your data from the server.
If you choose to disable automatic billing by removing all card(s) from your account, you will receive notifications any time an invoice is created. Please see our article Customer Portal - Make a Payment for more information about manual payments.
If the account got suspended and remains suspended after you paid all the invoices, please visit our article I Paid All the Invoices That Were Due on My Account, Why Am I Still Suspended? to know more about re-activating your account.
Automatic Payment Methods
Credit/Debit Card Automatic Payments
You can enable automatic billing by placing one or more credit/debit cards on file. When it is time for any open invoices to be paid, we will attempt to charge your card(s) on file in priority order.
PayPal Automatic Payments
Please see our article on setting up a PayPal Billing Agreement to set up automatic payments.