Paying the Martialnote subscription

Who: the owner only. An instructor can neither pay nor open "Manage my subscription": they see at most a banner saying the owner can restore access. This article covers the school's subscription to Martialnote, paid by card through Stripe. It has nothing to do with student fees, which Martialnote never collects (see Limits). Prices, categories and the active-student count are in the "Martialnote plan" article.

When you can pay

The Pay button appears on Settings > Plan > Martialnote plan (/settings/plan) once the school has received the pricing notice (after two monthly measures in a row above 25 active students) and has no subscription yet. A school under the threshold, a pilot school (free) and a school that already has a subscription do not see the button. A school whose payment failed does not see Pay either: it uses Manage my subscription to change its card.

Paying, step by step

Open Martialnote plan and tap Pay.
Choose Annual (preselected) or Monthly; both amounts for the school's category are shown, taxes included.
Continue: Stripe's secure payment page opens. Enter the card and billing address.
After payment, the app returns to Martialnote plan, which shows the updated status. If it has not changed yet, wait a minute and refresh.

Martialnote never sees the card: the number is entered at Stripe, which keeps it. Martialnote only keeps Stripe identifiers, amounts and dates.

Paying before the first payment date

The owner can pay as soon as the notice arrives. The card is then saved, but nothing is charged before the announced date: the first charge happens on the first payment date. The screen shows "First charge on {date}". Exception: if the owner pays less than 48 hours before that date, the first charge happens 48 hours after paying (never before the announced date). If the notice has already come due (payment is owed), the charge is immediate.

If, before the first charge, a monthly measure shows the school has dropped to 25 active students or fewer, the subscription is cancelled immediately, with no charge at all, and the school stays free.

Monthly or annual

Monthly: charged every month. Annual: one charge per year, about two months free. The founder rate is locked for life in both; a founder school can never move to the regular rate, nor the reverse.
Changing plan: Manage my subscription, in the Stripe portal.
- Monthly to annual: takes effect immediately; Stripe credits the unused part of the month already paid (proration) toward the new amount.
- Annual to monthly: takes effect at the end of the paid year; nothing is refunded in the meantime.

Manage my subscription (Stripe portal)

The Manage my subscription button (owner) shows when the school has a subscription, a failed payment, or has had a subscription before (to find its receipts). It opens Stripe's portal, where you can: change card, view and download receipts and invoices, change plan, cancel and resume a scheduled cancellation. You cannot change the number of students or the rate there.

Receipts and invoices

Receipts, invoices and failed-payment notices are sent by Stripe (email to the owner who paid), in the school's language. They are also always available in Manage my subscription. Martialnote does not send these documents itself. Prices are taxes included; Martialnote does not give a tax number for now (see the "taxes included" FAQ).

If a charge fails

The school keeps full access. Stripe automatically retries for about two weeks and emails the owner a link to change card. The screen shows a banner. To fix it: Manage my subscription > change card (the Pay button is not offered in this case). If every attempt fails, Stripe gives up and the school becomes read-only immediately (see below).

Cancelling

The owner cancels in Manage my subscription. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the period already paid: everything keeps working until then, with no refund of the rest of the period. The cancellation can be reversed before that date.

If the school still has more than 25 active students at the end, it becomes read-only 14 days after the end of the paid period; it can subscribe again with Pay.
If the school is at 25 or fewer, it goes back to free.

A paying school that drops to 25 active students or fewer

If two monthly measures in a row are at 25 or fewer, the subscription stops at the end of the paid period (current month or year), with no refund of that period; the owner is warned by email and the school becomes free at the end. If, before that date, two measures in a row go back above 25, the subscription continues. A single measure changes nothing.

Founder spot

The founder spot is taken at the first successful payment and kept for life: even after a cancellation, a refund or a return to free, the school gets its founder rate back if it returns. A school that had a reserved spot but went back to free without ever paying loses its reservation; its category is recalculated at the next notice.

Read-only (overdue payment)

When it starts:

14 days after the first payment date if nothing is paid, i.e. 44 days after the notice;
immediately when Stripe gives up after failed charges;
14 days after the end of the paid period when the owner cancels while the school still has more than 25 active students.

The owner gets an email 3 days before and on the day.

What stays possible: everyone can view and log in, and the owner can export all data (an instructor can never export). No data is deleted. What is refused: any change (add, edit, delete, send messages), with the message "The school is read-only: payment is overdue…" (see the paymentRequired error). Messages stop going out. A read-only school also returns to full access if a monthly measure shows 25 active students or fewer.

Who can get out of it: only the owner, with Pay (or Manage my subscription if a payment failed). Full access returns as soon as the payment is confirmed, usually within a few minutes. All members see a banner; the instructor's says the owner can restore access. Before the date, Martialnote plan and Today (owner) show "Read-only from {date}".

Refund of the first payment

On request to bonjour@martialnote.com, within 30 days of the first charge, Martialnote refunds the whole first payment (the whole year for an annual subscription) and cancels the subscription. There is no button in the app. One such refund per school. Later payments and the rest of a period are not refunded. After the cancellation, a school above 25 active students becomes read-only 14 days later, and its founder spot stays taken.

What support cannot do

Support cannot see cards and cannot change the rate or category. For special cases (paid but school still blocked, refund request), write to bonjour@martialnote.com with the school's name.