Subscribing to Payments

The Payments feature allows site owners to sell subscriptions for a number of things including products or services, memberships, access to premium content, or even recurring donations and contributions. As a site visitor, Payments allows you to purchase and manage subscriptions across all WordPress.com sites.

If you are a site owner and want to start collecting Payments from your site’s visitors, you can use this step-by-step guide.

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How Do Payments Work?

When you start a recurring payment, you’re automatically charged at regularly recurring intervals — once a year or once a month, for example –until you cancel the subscription.

The interval, whether it’s a month or a year, is called a renewal period. Your subscription automatically renews for the same amount at the end of each renewal period. If you buy a $5/month Longreads.com subscription on January 17, you’ll be charged $5 every month on the 17th until you cancel.

The renewal period is determined by the site owner, so different sites will offer subscriptions of various lengths and frequencies. Both the amount you are paying and the renewal period are displayed prominently during the subscription process, so you know what you’re spending and how frequently you’ll be charged.

Once someone makes a purchase using Payments, the renewal period and amount will not change. Unless she cancels her membership, our hypothetical Longreads subscriber will always be charged $5, and always charged monthly.

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Why Does It Require a WordPress.com Account?

The Payments feature makes it easy to purchase a subscription or become a subscriber on any WordPress.com site — you’ll be able to use the same payment information and manage all your subscriptions in one place. For that, you need a WordPress.com account.

During the checkout process, you’ll enter your email address. If you already have a WordPress.com account associated with that address, we will associate the purchase with that account. If you don’t, we’ll create an account for you as part of the checkout. When you complete the purchase, you’ll receive an email with more info and login instructions for your new account.

Learn more about WordPress.com accounts.

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Who Am I Paying?

If you just bought something (or are about to) from Longreads (or another WordPress.com site offering recurring payments), the transaction is between you and the site owner. WordPress.com only facilitates the processing and management of the subscription.

We don’t save your credit card information, either — it’s stored by Stripe (the payment processor) so that the charge can renew, and you can purchase other subscriptions with your WordPress.com account.

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Where Can I See and Manage My Payments?

You can see the Payment plans you signed up for by logging into your WordPress.com account. Then, go to Me → Manage Purchases → Other Sites.

These are the subscriptions you signed up for that are using WordPress.com Payments.

Click on any of the purchases to see:

• The site you bought it from
• The length of the renewal period
• Your next renewal date

You’ll also find a “Cancel” link with the purchase details.

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How Do I Cancel a Payment?

Go to your Other Site Payments page and click “Cancel” next to the Payment that you’d like to cancel. Your subscription will be canceled immediately so you will no longer have access to the product or service you subscribed to, and you won’t be charged again.

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Can I Get a Refund?

The transaction is between you and the site owner, so you’ll need to refer to their refund policies or contact them directly.