Subscriptions

What is the Subscriptions feature?

Subscriptions lets you collect recurring revenue (monthly or yearly) from people who use your marketplace. Today the feature covers seller subscriptions (sellers pay you to list); buyer memberships will live in the same tab in a future release.

A typical seller-subscription marketplace has plans like:

• Free - $0/mo, higher commission rate (e.g. 10%), maybe limited to a small number of listings
• Starter - $49/mo, lower commission (e.g. 5%), more listings
• Pro - $99/mo, even lower commission (e.g. 3%), unlimited listings

You choose how many tiers, the price, the commission rate, and whether each tier caps listing creation. Sellers pick a plan, enter their card, and start listing. Money lands in your Stripe account each month.

Setup in 3 steps

Subscriptions are billed via your regular Stripe account (not Stripe Connect). Three one-time setup steps before you can charge sellers:

Creating a plan

Open Store Settings → Subscriptions, flip the master toggle on, then click Add plan. The first thing you pick is the Plan type:

• Flat access - sellers get unlimited listings, you just charge them the subscription fee. The standard SaaS shape.
• Quota-based - cap listing creation by a monthly token allowance. Useful for premium listing types (real estate, vehicles, accommodation).

Each plan then has:

When you save a plan, Prometora automatically creates the matching Stripe Product and Price on your regular Stripe account - you never need to touch the Stripe dashboard for plan management.

Listing quotas (optional tokens)

Most marketplaces don't need listing caps - a flat monthly plan with unlimited listings is the standard SaaS shape. But for some marketplaces (premium rentals, real estate, vehicles), capping listing creation by tier is the right move.

When you create a Quota-based plan, the seller gets a fixed token allowance. Listings consume tokens by the per-listing-type cost you configure (default 1 token per listing). Two settings shape how the quota behaves:

• Allowance renews - Every billing period refills the full allowance at the start of each period (the classic cap: “6 listings per month”). One-time grants the allowance a single time when the seller subscribes and never refills - the “first 20 listings free, ever” model. Switching plans or resubscribing carries the remaining lifetime balance instead of re-granting it.
• Extra listings price - what happens when the allowance runs out. Leave it blank and sellers are blocked from creating more listings until the next refill or a plan upgrade. Set a price and listings keep publishing: each extra one is automatically added to the seller's next subscription invoice as its own line (“Extra listing: Silver tray - 20.00 kr”), with your VAT applied when configured. The seller is never sent to a payment page - the charge simply rides their normal billing date, and their dashboard shows a running “2 extra listings this period” total so nothing is a surprise.

A few rules around overage pricing: it requires a paid plan (free plans have no invoice to attach charges to, so they stay blocked when empty); listing fees are non-refundable - deleting a listing doesn't credit the charge (the Etsy model); and if a seller's renewal payment later fails, Stripe's normal Smart Retries handle it like any other failed subscription payment.

You can also gift extra tokens to any individual subscriber - a “+ Gift” button on the Subscribers table adds to their balance. Useful for welcoming back a long-time seller, compensating a hiccup, or campaign giveaways. For store-wide campaigns (“30 free listings this month for new sellers”), just edit the plan's allowance - new subscribers get the new number, existing balances are untouched.

Token costs per listing type are configured directly in the Subscriptions tab, in the “Token cost per listing type” section. For example, you might set a standard listing as 1 token and an accommodation listing as 3 tokens.

Free ($0) quota plans auto-renew on the same monthly cadence via a daily cron - sellers on the free tier get their tokens refilled at the start of each new period without any Stripe charge (one-time allowances stay untouched, as always).

One-time signup fee

Each paid plan can carry an optional signup fee - a one-time amount added as its own line on the seller's very first paid checkout. Common for marketplaces that charge an onboarding or setup fee alongside the recurring subscription.

• Charged once per seller, ever. Switching plans, cancelling and resubscribing - none of it re-triggers the fee. Prometora remembers who has paid it.
• Set it on every paid plan. The fee is charged on whichever plan a new seller happens to pick first, so a plan without the fee becomes a bypass - unless that's intentional (e.g. waiving the fee on the yearly plan as an incentive).
• Paid plans only. Free plans never go through checkout, which is where the fee is collected.

The seller plan picker shows the fee under the plan price (“+ one-time signup fee, charged only on your first subscription”), and it disappears for sellers who have already paid it.

Coupon codes

The Coupon codes section of the Subscriptions tab lets you create discount codes sellers can enter at checkout - a free first month, a percentage off, or a discounted signup fee. Each code sets:

• Discount - a percentage or a fixed amount off.
• What it applies to - the first payment only, a number of months, or every payment forever.
• Which plans - every paid plan (the default), or only the plans you pick.
• Limits - optional max redemptions and expiry date.
• The code itself - type your own (e.g. WELCOME2026) or leave blank to auto-generate one.

Free first month = 100% off + “First payment only”. Note that the discount applies to the whole first invoice - including any signup fee on it.

Plan-specific codes let you steer sellers toward a particular plan - for example a discount code that is only valid on your yearly plan. If a seller enters the code while subscribing to any other plan, the checkout page rejects it with a message that the code doesn't apply. Pick the plans when you create the code; the restriction can't be changed afterwards (create a new code instead), and it works with plans you already have - no need to recreate them.

Deactivating a code stops new redemptions; sellers who already redeemed it keep their discount. These codes are separate from the Coupons feature, which discounts buyers on product orders.

VAT / Tax on seller billing

If you need to charge tax on what you bill sellers (e.g. 25% Danish moms, 19% German VAT), enable the VAT / Tax section in the Subscriptions tab: set the rate, the label that appears on invoices (“VAT”, “Moms”, …), and how your prices are entered:

• Tax added on top - plan prices are entered excluding tax (the B2B convention). A 195 plan at 25% charges 243.75, shown as price + tax at checkout and on invoices.
• Tax included in prices - plan prices already contain the tax. A 195 plan charges exactly 195, and the invoice breaks out the contained tax amount.

One rate applies store-wide to everything you bill sellers through Subscriptions - the plan price and the signup fee land on the same invoice and both carry the tax line. The seller plan picker automatically shows a “prices exclude/include tax” note so there are no surprises at checkout.

• Applies to new subscriptions from when you enable it; existing subscriptions keep the rates they were created with.
• Buyer product checkout is not affected - product prices stay tax-inclusive, and sellers remain responsible for their own product VAT.
• Tip: fill in your company details (VAT/registration number, address) under Invoice settings in your Stripe Dashboard so they appear on the invoices sellers receive.

How sellers subscribe

1. Seller signs up on your marketplace (or is invited as a managed seller).
2. Before they can create their first listing, they're prompted to pick a plan from your published tiers.
3. For paid plans, they're redirected to a Stripe-hosted checkout (rendered in your storefront's language) to enter their card. For free plans, they pick it instantly.
4. After they subscribe, they can manage everything (update card, cancel, view invoices) via the Stripe Customer Portal, opened from their seller dashboard.

Self-serve billing (Stripe Customer Portal)

Sellers on paid plans get a Manage billing button on their dashboard that opens the Stripe Customer Portal. From there they can update their card, view invoices, cancel their subscription, and (if enabled) switch plans - all without contacting you.

One-time setup: the Customer Portal has to be activated in your Stripe Dashboard before it works. Open Stripe → Settings → Billing → Customer portal and activate the default configuration. The Subscriptions tab in your dashboard has a one-time hint with this link.

Free-plan sellers don't see the button - there's no Stripe customer object for $0 plans, so there's nothing for the portal to manage.

Past-due handling

When a seller's renewal payment fails (expired card, declined transaction), Stripe automatically retries via its built-in Smart Retries - typically 4 attempts over ~3-4 days. During this window:

• Their subscription status moves to past_due
• They keep their listing privileges (can still create new listings, tokens still decrement normally) - Smart Retries IS the grace period
• Their seller dashboard shows a prominent red “Payment failed” banner with an “Update billing” button (opens Customer Portal)
• Stripe emails them automatically at each retry step

If all retries fail, Stripe marks the subscription cancelled. At that point the seller is blocked from creating new listings until they pick a plan again. Existing listings are never affected regardless of subscription status - they stay published, bookable, and payable.

Per-seller commission overrides

You can override a specific seller's commission rate independently of their plan's commission. This is set in Store Settings → Managed Sellers by clicking on the commission column for a given seller.

Commission resolution order at checkout (most specific wins, left to right):

Sellers with a per-seller override see a “Custom commission rate” tag on their plan picker so it's clear their rate doesn't change with plan switches.

Switching plans & price changes

Sellers switching plans: they go through the plan picker again, the old subscription is cancelled, and a new one starts. Token balances do not carry over - the new plan grants its full allowance immediately.

You changing the price of an existing plan: Stripe prices are immutable. When you update a plan's price, Prometora automatically archives the old Stripe Price and creates a new one. Existing subscribers continue at their original price until they cancel or switch - the new price only applies to new subscribers.

Archiving a plan: Existing subscribers keep their plan and continue receiving allowance resets. New sellers can't pick an archived plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

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