Standalone selling pricesPrivate preview
Learn how to set up standalone selling prices and create bundles in Stripe Revenue Recognition.
The standalone selling price (SSP) feature enables businesses to accurately allocate revenue for bundled products. It allows for customizable bundle allocations based on either absolute values or percentages, and facilitates setting up different revenue schedules for individual bundle components. Additionally, you can audit journal entries at the bundle item level.
Set up standalone selling prices 
You can manage standalone selling prices from the Stripe Dashboard. To create a standalone selling price for a bundle, go to the Standalone selling price page and click Add SSP.
An SSP set up consists of the following key components:
- Product
- Effective period
- Allocation method
- Bundle components
Product
Choose a product that you’re selling as a bundle. The allocation method applies to this product.
Effective period
An effective period specifies the time period that a SSP applies to.
For an invoice line item, if the finalization time for the invoice falls within the specified effective period, the invoice line item fulfills the effective period requirement.
Caution
For an SSP to apply to a transaction, the transaction must fulfill both the effective period and product requirements. When you update the effective period, the SSP retroactively applies to previous accounting periods. If the previous periods are closed, changes are reflected in the first open accounting period. You can avoid corrections by re-opening previous periods.
Allocation method
When a transaction fulfills both the effective period and product requirement, we apply a set of defined standalone selling prices.
The allocation can be either an absolute value (recommended when each product has its own price) or a percentage (recommended when individual prices aren’t available).
Bundle components
You can set up the product and standalone price for each bundle component. You can either calculate the allocation percentage based on the absolute value or specify it directly as a percentage. By default, we amortize the amount over the service period for each individual bundle component, which we determine using the recurring components of a price and its associated billing period.
Examples
Absolute method
For a desktop bundle product, you can set up the bundle as:
| Components | Value |
|---|---|
| Product | Desktop bundle |
| Effective period | Start: All past dates-End: Indefinite |
| Allocation method | Absolute |
Bundle components:
| Product | Product Billing Period | Standalone Price | Allocation % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Desktop (one-off) | One-off | 400 USD | 80% |
| 3-month warranty | Recurring: 3 months | 100 USD | 20% |
On January 1, at 00:00:00 UTC, an invoice containing the desktop bundle product finalizes and it costs 450 USD. The customer pays 450 USD in Feb.
We recognize the 360 USD for the desktop immediately. We recognize the 90 USD for the one-year warranty through the end of March. If you looked at the summary after March ends, you might see something like:
Product desktop:
| Account | Jan 2019 | Feb 2019 | Mar 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | +360.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Deferred Revenue | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Accounts Receivable | +360.00 | -360.00 | 0.00 |
| Cash | 0.00 | +360.00 | 0.00 |
Product 3-month warranty:
| Account | Jan 2019 | Feb 2019 | Mar 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | +31.00 | +28.00 | +31.00 |
| Deferred Revenue | +59.00 | -28.00 | -31.00 |
| Accounts Receivable | +90.00 | -90.00 | 0.00 |
| Cash | 0.00 | +90.00 | 0.00 |
If you audited the invoice, you’d see:
| Account | Jan 2019 | Feb 2019 | Mar 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | +391.00 | +28.00 | +31.00 |
| Deferred Revenue | +59.00 | -28.00 | -31.00 |
| Accounts Receivable | +450.00 | -45.00 | 0.00 |
| Cash | 0.00 | +450.00 | 0.00 |
Percentage
You can also apply the percentage method regardless of the original amounts on the bundle components.
Allocation details:
| Product | Product Billing Period | Allocation % |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop (one-off) | One-off | 80% |
| 3-month warranty | Recurring: 3 months | 20% |
The journal entries remain consistent with the absolute method.
Audit journal entries
The bundle is reported at the bundle component level. When you download reports, we break down journal entries by each bundle component, which provides a detailed view.
Best practices for maintaining your bundles
The following are some best practices to keep your standalone selling prices correct for your Revenue Recognition reports.
Know when to create standalone selling prices
Create standalone selling prices you need to bundle products and need defined standalone prices and revenue schedules for finance teams.
How bundles interact with other configurations
- Applying a rule to a product precludes it from being set as a bundle.
- You can’t apply bundles alongside data imports.
- We recommend setting up a chart of accounts for bundle components for accurate account mapping.
How we treat bundle components
Default treatments for bundle items include amortization for recurring periods over their service period. We recognize one-off products entirely upon invoice finalization.
Check the accounting period when applying new SSPs
If the effective period for a new SSP overlaps with a closed accounting period, it generates corrections if you retroactively apply the SSPs to transactions from past (closed) accounting periods. If you want to avoid this, reopen your books by opening your accounting period prior to adding the SSP.