Billing via Payment Provider — User Guide

This guide covers subscription management when the site bills through a merchant-of-record (MoR) provider such as Creem. Most things work the same as before — the differences are where checkout and receipts happen.

What's different in provider billing mode

• Checkout is hosted by the provider. When you subscribe or change plans

you are redirected to the provider's secure checkout page and returned to the site afterwards.

• Receipts and invoices come from the provider. The provider emails your

receipt and hosts your invoice documents. The site's invoice list mirrors them for your records, but the authoritative copy is the provider's.

• Sales tax / VAT is handled by the provider. As merchant of record they

collect and remit tax; amounts on your receipt are final.

• Changes confirm via webhook. After checkout or a plan change, your

subscription shows as pending for a few seconds until the provider notifies the site. If a change doesn't appear, refresh after a minute — the hourly reconciliation also repairs anything missed.

Subscribing

1. Go to ?page=billing → Plans tab and choose a plan.
2. You'll be redirected to the provider's hosted checkout. Pay there.
3. Return to the site — your subscription activates automatically once the

provider confirms (usually seconds).

Changing plans

• Upgrades apply immediately. The provider prorates the remaining time

and charges the difference at once.

• Downgrades also apply immediately with prorated credit — the provider

refunds or credits the unused part of your current plan. This differs from in-house billing, where downgrades take effect at period end.

• After the provider confirms, the site updates your plan and entitlements.

Add-ons

• Add-ons are separate line items on your provider subscription.
• Cancelling or reducing an add-on sends the change to the provider

immediately — billing stops right away, while your access to the feature runs until its paid-through date.

• Included-in-plan warning: if your plan already includes an add-on's

capability, the subscription card warns you so you can cancel the add-on and stop paying for it. Nothing is cancelled automatically.

Pausing and resuming

On an active provider subscription you can Pause billing from the subscription card. The provider stops charging; your access is suspended while paused. Resume restarts billing and restores access.

Cancelling

• Cancel at period end keeps access until your paid-through date, then

ends the subscription — the provider stops auto-renewal.

• Your payment history and invoices remain visible after cancellation.

Payment problems

• If a renewal payment fails, the subscription enters the usual grace

period — you keep access while the provider retries. Update your card in the provider's billing portal (link on the subscription card).

• If a payment is refunded or disputed, the subscription is suspended and

you receive a notification. A successful re-payment restores access.

Credits

• Account credits apply automatically at provider checkout as a discount.

Credits are only consumed once the payment actually completes.

The provider billing portal

The subscription card links to the provider's hosted billing portal, where you can update your payment method and download provider-issued invoices.