Users can upgrade or downgrade their subscription in a self-serve fashion via Outseta's profile embed. Admin users can also make subscription changes for their customers directly from the Subscription Options menu on the customers' account record.
Upgrades
In the case of an upgrade, the user's plan changes immediately and Outseta will automatically handle any proration of subscription fees.
Whether you're upgrading the customer manually or the customer is upgrading on their own, a summary of charges showing the proration will always display prior to the change being made.
Downgrades
In the case of a downgrade, the plan change will happen immediately as long as it will not result in you owing the customer money.
If the change would result in you owing the customer money, the user will continue to have access to the higher tiered plan that they already paid for until the end of their existing subscription period. Once that period has ended, the user's subscription will change to the lower tiered plan.
Example: Consider a customer downgrading from a $1000/mo plan to a $500/mo plan. If the customer tried to make this change in the first half of the month, the money that they would be owed would be more than the $500/mo of their new plan—in this case the user would remain subscribed to the $1000/mo plan until the end of the month, at which point they'd be downgraded to the $500/mo plan.
If the user tried to downgrade in the second half of the month, the amount that they would be owed would be less than their new $500/mo plan so the change will happen immediately.
In short, Outseta will not allow a customer to put downgrade themselves in a way that would result in you owing them money.
Downgrade an account, effective immediately
If you'd like to downgrade an account but have the subscription change take affect immediately—even if this would result in you owing the customer money—you can make that change as an admin user. To do so, select the START IMMEDIATELY option when making the subscription change.
You can then refund the customer any amount that you see fit.