Recurring Revenue Custody

Recurring Revenue Custody is the question of who holds the payment relationship, the tax liability, and the renewal trigger inside a client's subscription business. Three custody models exist. The agency can hold custody directly, running invoicing and dunning on infrastructure such as WHMCS or Blesta. A merchant-of-record can hold it, with Paddle absorbing global tax compliance across 300+ markets while the agency loses direct customer contact. Or the client retains custody and the agency operates the tooling, as with MemberPress or Memberful deployments on client-owned WordPress installs. Custody determines what happens when the engagement ends: an agency holding the billing relationship keeps leverage and data, while one operating inside a client's account walks away with nothing. Custody also carries liability. A class action filed in September 2026 accuses Anthropic of overselling Claude subscription capacity through deceptive usage multipliers, a reminder that whoever sells the subscription absorbs the dispute. Map custody before signing, not after.