Line items

Line items are the individual charges listed on a Recurly invoice — each one representing a product, service, or adjustment applied to a transaction. Understanding how to structure and name them keeps your billing transparent, your subscribers informed, and your data compliant.

Available on all Recurly plans

1Definition 2Key benefits 3Key details

Prerequisites

Line items can be named freely but should avoid special characters unless confirmed with your payment gateway.

Limitations

Invoices display only the first 500 line items in the Admin Console, Hosted Invoice, and PDF views. Subtotals, taxes, and totals always reflect the full set. To access all line items beyond the first 500, use the Adjustments Export.

Definition

Line items are individual charges or components listed on an invoice, each representing a product, service, or adjustment applied to a transaction. They can be associated with subscriptions or exist as stand-alone charges — and they appear across the Admin Console, PDF invoices, Hosted Invoice pages, and Hosted Account Management.

Key benefits

Clear billing breakdown Itemizes every charge on an invoice so subscribers always know exactly what they're paying for.

Stand-alone charge support Line items don't need to be tied to a subscription — they can be invoiced independently for one-off charges.

Displayed across channels Visible in the Admin Console, PDF invoices, Hosted Invoice pages, and Hosted Account Management — no matter how your subscribers view their bills.

Payments compliance Accurate, descriptive line items support lower interchange rates through L2/L3 data programs and are sent to gateways in cases like Klarna usage.

Key details

Invoice line items

Every invoice line item displays the following columns:

Date
Description
Quantity
Price
Discount (when applied)
Subtotal
Tax (including rate, when applicable)
Total (only shown if tax is applied)

Note Invoices in the Admin Console, Hosted Invoice page, and PDF format show only the first 500 line items. However, Subtotal, Tax, and Total always reflect all line items — including those beyond the first 500. To download the full set, use the Adjustments Export.

Description and naming guidelines

Well-named line items matter beyond readability. They're required for Commercial Enhanced Data Program (CEDP) compliance — a Visa program (updated in 2025) that validates L2/L3 transaction data and rewards compliant merchants with reduced interchange rates. Line items are also sent to gateways in certain cases, such as Klarna transactions.

If your gateway is not HIPAA-compliant, do not include protected health information (PHI) in invoice descriptions, product codes, plan names, or line item data.

Be specific

Use clear, descriptive names rather than generic labels like "Item 1" or "Charge."

Match the product

If you sell fruit, list "Apple," "Orange," and "Banana" rather than "Fruits."

Avoid business names

Don't repeat your company name in item names or descriptions — for example, "Fruit Shop Items."

Skip single-character names

Avoid names that are a single character or all symbols — they confuse customers and fail compliance checks.

Where descriptions appear

Subscriber invoices, Hosted Account Management pages, and Hosted Invoice PDFs.

Character limit

Descriptions must be 255 characters or fewer.

Special character tip

Check with your payment gateway about any restrictions on special characters before using them in names or descriptions.

Updated 1 day ago