Quick Note About Premium Subscriptions
I still can’t believe some people pay to subscribe to this site. It’s not much, but it is surprising, considering I’ve not been good at offering anything behind the paywall. I keep meaning to, but then the regular work takes up time, and time gets away from me. Excuses, excuses, I know.
I just wanted to say that the disputed and fraud charges continue slowly. Stripe charges me a $15 fee every time the charge is disrupted. It’s great that so many of you are diligent in watching your credit, but just know that when you subscribe with either $5 per month or $50 or $70 per year, that charge is going to show up on your credit, and it won’t say my name. I think it just says Stripe. There is nothing I can do about this.
Somehow as the disputes are fought, I always lose them. Always. Probably because it’s all automated. The only way out is if I personally write anyone disputing a charge, which I have done and probably should do more of.
At any rate, if you see a charge on there with $5 or $50 or $70, then that’s for this site. If you no longer wish to subscribe as a premium member, you can undo that in your settings. Just scroll all the way to the bottom and it should be there.
I have searched Stripe for the answer to this and have come up empty, so if anyone else know how to change it so people can recognize the charge, let me know!
Thank you! And have a great weekend.
Sasha
Don’t feel bad about not having special “premium” content for paid subscribers. I’m pretty sure your days don’t have any more hours in them than mine do. I’m a paid subscriber, but not with the expectation of having access to special content. I like to subscribe to intelligent writers who make me think. A subscription to the New York Times is a long way from free. Your posts are massively more informative and thought-provoking, without any advertising. They are also true. That makes them deserving of payment. Prior to retirement my wife and I ran a retail store for 25 years. Customers don’t know that the merchant does not get the full amount of a sale, due to fees for processing. Substack also gets a piece of every paid subscription. In return for that they should really post something explaining how payments appear on credit card statements, as well as how to manage cancellations without hurting the author.
I’m paying monthly cause I appreciate your free content! No pressure to do paid content at least from me. Thanks Sasha!