A Note on Chargebacks

One of the frustrations of running a Substack is that when people subscribe for $5 per month or whatever it is, they sometimes don’t recognize the charge. They instigate a chargeback. This process takes months, believe it or not and no Substack writer ever wins the “dispute.” Never. I don’t even think human beings are involved. In the end, it will cost me around $15 for a $5 charge that they say is “fraudulent,” except that it never is.

There is no “evidence” to submit because people subscribe willingly. I do not charge a fee for almost everything I post. So it is an agreement that the reader agrees to with Substack.

If you do not wish to be charged or you wish to cancel your subscription, you can do that by clicking on your “subscriber preferences,” which you can find by clicking on your profile, top right. If it is too confusing, you can always send me an email: sashastone@gmail.com, and I will cancel it for you.

I don’t receive many chargebacks, but I find them irritating because I am not trying to cheat anyone, and I don’t like having to go through that process. If you are doing it for sadistic purposes, meaning you only paid the fee so you could read something locked and now want your $5 back, then fine. I hope you enjoyed being that petty.

And, as always, thank you to all our paying subscribers (and non-paying readers) who have been so gracious and supportive. I’ve been writing here on Substack for five years now, which is surprising. The only reason I’ve kept it going this long is because of you and your encouragement. So thank you. My paying subscriber base is small because I don’t paywall my posts — at least not yet. I will have to start doing that more, I figure.

Additionally, if you’d like to subscribe or just leave a tip, you can do so in the tip jar: