paid during service

subscription agent payment agreement whereby the subscriber is billed in installments as the subscription is serviced, and periodic payments are made by the agent to the publisher over the same time period; abbreviated pds. Pds agents generally sell several magazines as a package, with long terms of three to five years' duration. The average order can be as much as $300 to $400. Cancellations of PDS-sold orders are relatively high and renewal rates are low, since every bill is an opportunity to cancel and the sale is frequently made with a high-pressure telephone sales pitch. See also paid in advance.