Buy-ups — Subscriber Self-Service

A buy-up is an optional extra a subscriber can add to the tier they already pay for — a bonus episode back-catalog, an ad-free version, early access — billed on top of their subscription, on the same billing period, rather than replacing it. What it unlocks is episodes, delivered through the feed they already have rather than a second one. Buy-ups belong to a show, so a subscriber is only ever offered the ones attached to the show they subscribe to. You define them in the admin; see Buy-ups for that side.

This page is about the other side: what your subscribers see and do for themselves.

Subscribers manage their buy-ups from the Extras section of the subscriber account page. Extras is the name subscribers see for buy-ups there, and the on-screen messages quoted on this page use it too. If your theme overrides account/buyups.php, the section keeps the heading and wording from when the override was copied until you copy the current template again, which can show a free buy-up with a price of zero; see Template Overrides. That section only appears when the show has at least one active buy-up and the subscriber is on a tier eligible for it. Buy-ups you include free with a billing period also appear on your sign-up form — see At Sign-up below.

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Viewing Available Buy-ups

Each available buy-up is shown as a card with the name, description (if any), and the price for the subscriber’s own billing period, with the period beside it — USD 5.00/mo, USD 49.00/yr, USD 14.00 every 3 months. Two subscribers on different periods can see different prices for the same buy-up; each sees the one they would pay.

Cards the subscriber already holds show Active with their price. A buy-up included free with their billing period shows Included with your plan instead of a price, or Active — Included with your plan once they hold it; adding it back after removing it costs nothing. Cards they can’t add show why instead of a purchase button — see When a Buy-up Can’t Be Added below.

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Purchasing a Buy-up

The subscriber clicks Add to my plan on any card they don’t yet hold. Benecaster adds the buy-up as an additional line item to the subscriber’s existing Stripe subscription — there is no second checkout flow or separate card entry. The charge is prorated for the current billing period and appears on the subscriber’s next invoice.

Feed access updates automatically as soon as the Stripe subscription is updated. The subscriber does not need to refresh their token.

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Removing a Buy-up

On an active card, the subscriber clicks Remove and confirms. The buy-up ends at the end of their current billing period, not immediately — they keep access until then, and the card shows Ends [date] for the rest of that period.

Removing a free buy-up is remembered. The confirmation says “It will not be given back automatically, but you can add it again from this page at any time.” Benecaster doesn’t hand it back to them later; adding it again from the account page is the way back.

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At Sign-up

When you include a buy-up free with a billing period, it appears on your sign-up form under Included with this billing period, already ticked. A new subscriber can untick it to decline it; if they leave it ticked, they get it with their membership. An unticked buy-up is recorded as declined, so they aren’t given it later without asking; see Including a Buy-up Free.

The list follows the billing period they pick. Choosing a different period rebuilds it, and any box they unticked is ticked again. That is deliberate: declining a buy-up on one period says nothing about another, so every period starts with its full offer.

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When a Buy-up Can’t Be Added

A subscriber who can’t add a buy-up sees a disabled Not available on your plan button and one reason. No price is shown on these cards, because there is no price that is true for them.

The two sale-window messages are different on purpose. “Not on sale yet” is worth checking back for, and “no longer available” never will be.

The sale window is checked before the billing period. A subscriber whose billing period was never offered the buy-up still sees “no longer available” once the sale has closed, because changing their billing period wouldn’t help.

All of these take precedence over Sold out: a subscriber who can’t buy it for another reason sees that reason, rather than a cap notice that has nothing to do with them. If they try to purchase anyway (for example, through a stale page), the request is refused with the same message.

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Sold-out State

When a buy-up’s subscriber cap has been reached, new purchases are blocked. The card shows “Sold out” to subscribers who don’t yet hold the buy-up and could otherwise add it. Subscribers who already hold it are not affected and continue to have access.

If the admin raises the cap or removes it, the sold-out state clears automatically.

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Changing Billing Period With Buy-ups

A subscriber’s buy-ups move with them when they switch billing period. A free buy-up on the period they’re leaving that the new period sells for money is carried over and charged — it is named on the confirmation, inside the total they confirm, so nothing happens silently. The only buy-up a switch drops is one the new period doesn’t sell at all, and they are told by name before confirming. See Changing Your Billing Period for the full rules.

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Changing Tier With Buy-ups

A subscriber moving to another tier from their account page is treated by who paid:

• A buy-up they pay for that the new tier doesn’t offer doesn’t stop the move — it ends at the end of their current billing period, exactly as if they had removed it. They keep it until then, it isn’t charged again, and nothing is refunded. It is named before they confirm: “Not included on this plan, so it ends at the end of your current billing period and you are not charged for it again: Transcripts.” This is the same whether they are moving up or down. The usual reason a tier doesn’t offer a buy-up is that it already includes it, so the move rarely costs them anything.
• A buy-up they hold free that the new tier doesn’t include is dropped, and named before they confirm: “You will lose, at no cost to you: Transcripts. It is not included on this plan.”
• Buy-ups the new tier includes free are listed under “Included free on this plan:” as ticked checkboxes they can untick.

Paid buy-ups the new tier also offers move across with them, and their cost is part of the total they confirm.

If Your Theme Overrides the Buy-ups Template

If your theme carries its own copy of account/buyups.php made before per-period pricing, update it from the plugin’s current template. A stale copy shows every subscriber the buy-up’s default price whatever their billing period, and every purchase through it fails: the Add to my plan button sends an amount that no longer matches what the subscriber is being charged, and the purchase is refused. See Template Overrides.

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For Developers

• benecaster_buyup_purchased — fires after a successful purchase
• benecaster_buyup_cancelled — fires when a subscriber removes a buy-up (at the end of the period)
• benecaster_buyup_revoked — fires when a grant terminates (the end date passes or a webhook receives a deletion event)
• benecaster_before_account_buyups / benecaster_after_account_buyups — template action hooks that fire around the Extras section when buy-ups are available
• benecaster_buyup_soldout_display — filter to customize the sold-out label text
• The subscriber-facing REST API for buy-up purchase and cancellation is documented at Buy-ups Subscriber REST API