> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.slm.m1amdocs.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # External Billing Configuration External Billing is predominantly used by MarketONE when working with Subscribe. External Billing serves as a Payment Provider configuration, a routing rule configuration and also as an additional UI for credentials and other configuration settings. When using External Billing, Subscribe sends Charge and refund files to the merchant via SFTP. The Charge files contains renewal transactions for all existing customers who have an anniversary on that day. The refund files, send Refunds. When creating new merchants, a payment provider and an External Billing routing rule should be defined for the ExternalBilling configuration table to appear. * **[External Billing Merchant Setup Instructions](../topics/externalBillingConfiguration_r#)** * **[External Billing Configuration](../topics/externalBillingConfiguration_r#)** **Parent topic:**[Payment Provider Specific Configuration](../topics/PaymentProvidersSpecificConfiguration) ## External Billing Merchant Setup Instructions The following Instructions are written for Vindicia CTS and services delivery staff. To configure a merchant to use External Billing payment provider: ### Merchant Payment Providers 1. In Subscribe Portal 1.0, using you’re admin account, go to **Admin** > **Merchant Configurations**. 2. Select the relevant **Merchant** from the drop-down list. 3. Click **Edit Merchant Configurations**. 4. Enter the **Jira Ticket #** for configuring your merchant payment setup. 5. Add External Billing to **Merchant Payment Providers**: | Payment Provider Name | Account Number | PP Type | Active | | - | - | - | - | | ExternalBilling (1053) | \ | BRD(1) | 0 | 1. Select **ExternalBilling (1053)** as the payment provider and click **ADD**. 2. Leave **Account Number** blank. 3. Set **PP Type** as **BRD**. 4. Set **Active** to **0**. ### Routing Rule 1. Add a **Routing Rule** for External Billing. | Ordinal | Payment Provider | Value | Rule Method | Active | | - | - | - | - | - | | 0 | ExternalBilling (1053) | ExternalBilling | default\_method(1) | 1 | 1. Select **ExternalBilling (1053)** as the payment provider and click **ADD**. 2. Add an **Ordinal** value of **0**. 3. Enter **Value** of **ExternalBilling.**. 4. Add a **Rule Method** value of **default\_method(1)**. 5. Set **Active** to **1**. **Note:** If a merchant account is set up with several payment providers, other rule methods should be used for each. See [Configuration Method - Payment Providers Routing Rules](routingRulesAbout) for more details. **Parent topic:**[External Billing Configuration](../topics/externalBillingConfiguration_r#) ## External Billing Configuration External Billing is predominantly used by MarketONE when working with Subscribe. When creating new merchants, a payment provider and an External Billing routing rule should be defined for the ExternalBilling configuration table to appear. See Merchant Setup details above . For more details on Routing rules, see [Configuration Method - Payment Providers Routing Rules](routingRulesAbout) | Field | Description | Required and (default value) | | - | - | - | | Primary SFTP Server | The address of the SFTP site where charges and refund files will be located. It can be either an IP address or a domain | Yes (empty) | | Secondary SFTP Server | The alternative site for sftp - in case the primary one is not accessible. The system will retry both addresses in alternation until we connect | No (optional) | | SFTP Primary Port | The merchant-provided port of the SFTP site. | Yes (default is 22) | | Login Name | The login name to use to connect to the SFTP server | Yes (empty) | | Login Password | The password for server access. | No (we require either password or validation file access) | | RSA File Location | The path to the location of the RSA validation fiIe. When identification is key-based, this file will be used. When identification is based on both password and validation file, this file will be used first. | No (depends whether password or validation file access is being used) | | Charge & Refund Files Directory | The directory in which charge and refund files will be placed. Must be a writable location for the SFTP user (login). | Yes | | Error Files Directory | The directory to check for error files. Must be a readable location for the SFTP user (login). | Yes | | Time allowed for errors to be received | Number of whole days to allow before capturing payment. Must be at least one day longer than the Billing System processing interval. **Best practice for daily processing**: 3 days After this time, errors received will not be processed. | Yes (default is 3) | | Immediate Activation of Subscriptions | If set to True, Subscriptions created with an ExternalBilling PaymentMethod will be immediately set to Active/Good Standing status and billing\_state, respectively.**Note:** Creation of Subscriptions with an ExternalBilling PaymentMethod **MUST** either not define the**validate\_for\_future\_payment policy** parameter or explicitly set it to `False`. If this is not defined correctly, immediate activation defined in this field will NOT work. | No (default set to `False`) | | Exclude ZeroTransaction | Field allows merchants to choose whether the Transaction charges includes zero currency Transactions or excludes them. By default, zero transactions are included. | Default value is `0`(zero Transactions included). Use `1` to exclude zero transactions. | | **Parent topic:**[External Billing Configuration](../topics/externalBillingConfiguration_r#) | | | This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.