Click-charge billing from start to finish

In click-charge billing, the customer pays for use rather than buying the printer: a fixed monthly fee for availability, plus a fee for every printed page. The provider gains predictable recurring revenue, while the customer avoids a large upfront payment and leaves servicing and toner to the provider.

Complete billing typically includes a monthly fee (fixed, for the printer), page price (separate black-and-white and color rates), minimum page count (an included allowance paid for even if unused), and excess usage charge (for pages above the minimum, often at a higher rate).

The underlying costs differ substantially. A color page uses four toners: black, cyan, magenta and yellow; a black-and-white page uses one. Printers therefore keep separate counters, and providers set separate prices. Color typically costs several times as much. Combining the two can leave the provider losing its color margin or the customer overpaying for black-and-white pages. Accurate billing keeps them separate.

The minimum is an included allowance, for example 2,000 black-and-white pages per month within the monthly fee. If the customer prints less, they still pay the minimum. If they print more, the excess pages attract an additional charge, often at a higher rate because the allowance has covered the base cost.

The challenge is keeping records: track the minimum for each printer every month and distinguish included pages from excess usage. Doing this manually for hundreds of printers is slow and error-prone, which is why the process is automated.

In PrinterMS, printers report readings by email. The system calculates the difference between opening and closing values, separates black-and-white and color pages, applies contract prices and handles minimums and excess usage. You issue the prepared line items through Billingo or Számlázz.hu with one click, after checking them.

To estimate a page price that covers a printer's costs, use the click-charge calculator.