Preliminary Remarks
Misuse rules serve to prevent abuse by preventing customers from gaining new access to an offer by canceling their subscription and are a building block for offers within the Merchant Backend.
A misuse rule can be added to offers.
Misuse rules are widely used for free or reduced offer levels.
Example: If a customer purchases an offer with a free trial period but cancels the offer before this period expires, the customer should be prevented from purchasing the free trial period again.
Note: If the same misuse rule has been assigned to several offers, the rule applies across all offers. If this behavior is not desired, a separate misuse rule must be created for each offer.
Create misuse rules
Click on +Add rule.
Add internal title* and short internal description if necessary.
Use the drop-down menu to select an alternative offer to which customers should be redirected if the misuse rule applies.
Determine duration : a misuse rule can either apply indefinitely (by default) or only for a certain period of time (e. g. 12 months after purchase of the product).
Enter the title* and description* that should be displayed to the customer in the checkout if the misuse rule takes effect.
Note: The misuse rule is only effective if a customer has purchased the product with this rule. Not retroactively! If the misuse rule is only added to an offer at a later date, existing customer purchases remain unaffected. The misuse rule only applies to new contracts.
Application example
A misuse rule has been created in the Merchant Backend and assigned to an offer in edit mode. If the offer is purchased by the customer, canceled and then selected for purchase again, the misuse rule applies in two ways:
The information text for the customer defined in the misuse rule is displayed in the checkout and informs the customer of the change to their selection.
It is not the offer selected by the customer that is offered for purchase in the checkout, but the alternative offer defined in the misuse rule.
