So if I buy the membership for free shipping. 2 weeks later decide to cancel the membership. The cancellation is affective that day, even though I paid for an entire month?
Billing & Cancellation
Your initial payment activates your membership and begins your enrollment. Your membership will renew automatically month-to-month unless and until you cancel your membership or we terminate it. Subsequent payments are at the end of each month of enrollment. You may deactivate your membership at any time prior to your monthly renewal date. Your benefits will end immediately and we will waive all charges for your partial month of enrollment. Previous monthly charges are non-refundable, including those in which no use of services occurred.
You understand and acknowledge that your membership will renew automatically without any notice to you, and you authorize us to charge you a monthly membership fee (plus sales tax where appropriate) at the then current rate using any credit card we have on record for you. If all credit cards we have on file for you are declined for payment of your membership fee, your membership will be deactivated. If you provide us with a new card and are successfully charged within 10 business days, your new membership period will be based on the original renewal date and not the date of the successful charge.
While you could have waited until day 30 to cancel, ditching the membership as soon as you realized that you didn’t really want to continue it was actually the smart move. I’ve been trapped by those 30-day free membership things that are handed out with the assumption that you’re going to forget to cancel before they ding you for the first full year. At least this one is entirely month to month, and you really can cancel it anytime. That said, I’ve found that there is just enough stuff that I want to buy among the things that they have had on the various sites that I was ahead of the game with the membership. I really wish I wasn’t quite so much of a shopping junkie.
Instead of going with the regular subscription model that pretty much everyone uses, where it last for 30 days from purchase, you took a different route with front-loading the fee and then charging in arrears the following month.
You built a new wheel. Being the same as everyone else is boring…
You also created a possibility where a user could conceivably purchase a membership multiple times in a single month. They would have to be pretty dumb, but it is still possible in your method while completely impossible in the regular method.
Also, your way, ending the benefits immediately and then waive all charges for a partial month, creates a different problem. In your system, a person could pay the first month and then cancel on day 29 of the second month and enjoy 2 months of MVP for the price of one. It’s a hack, but pretty easy. The normal subscription model would get 2 months pay, no way to hack that.
Lastly, subverting the expectations of your customers is often a quick way to piss them off…
@rickray But that’s not what happens I don’t think. You get charged 28-31 days after your first charge. There is no delayed second month charge iirc.
I’ve never understood the refund if you don’t use it stuff.
And I still think it’s to your advantage to sign up when you buy and then cancel at the end of that month, restarting the next day you buy something after that cancellation. Then you get the dead space “between purchases” for free.
But I’ve asked similar questions and gotten the same “let me paste what our policy says” answers without anyone actually confirming the hypotheticals I set up and/or telling me how the charges I’ve seen match the policy, so it remains a mystery for me.
If you legit figure it out and have receipts to match, let me know .
Hi!
When you join the membership, you’re paying an enrollment fee. Each following month is paid in arrears.
Here’s what our Membership Agreement says:
Billing & Cancellation
Your initial payment activates your membership and begins your enrollment. Your membership will renew automatically month-to-month unless and until you cancel your membership or we terminate it. Subsequent payments are at the end of each month of enrollment. You may deactivate your membership at any time prior to your monthly renewal date. Your benefits will end immediately and we will waive all charges for your partial month of enrollment. Previous monthly charges are non-refundable, including those in which no use of services occurred.
You understand and acknowledge that your membership will renew automatically without any notice to you, and you authorize us to charge you a monthly membership fee (plus sales tax where appropriate) at the then current rate using any credit card we have on record for you. If all credit cards we have on file for you are declined for payment of your membership fee, your membership will be deactivated. If you provide us with a new card and are successfully charged within 10 business days, your new membership period will be based on the original renewal date and not the date of the successful charge.
While you could have waited until day 30 to cancel, ditching the membership as soon as you realized that you didn’t really want to continue it was actually the smart move. I’ve been trapped by those 30-day free membership things that are handed out with the assumption that you’re going to forget to cancel before they ding you for the first full year. At least this one is entirely month to month, and you really can cancel it anytime. That said, I’ve found that there is just enough stuff that I want to buy among the things that they have had on the various sites that I was ahead of the game with the membership. I really wish I wasn’t quite so much of a shopping junkie.
I see…
Instead of going with the regular subscription model that pretty much everyone uses, where it last for 30 days from purchase, you took a different route with front-loading the fee and then charging in arrears the following month.
You built a new wheel. Being the same as everyone else is boring…
You also created a possibility where a user could conceivably purchase a membership multiple times in a single month. They would have to be pretty dumb, but it is still possible in your method while completely impossible in the regular method.
Also, your way, ending the benefits immediately and then waive all charges for a partial month, creates a different problem. In your system, a person could pay the first month and then cancel on day 29 of the second month and enjoy 2 months of MVP for the price of one. It’s a hack, but pretty easy. The normal subscription model would get 2 months pay, no way to hack that.
Lastly, subverting the expectations of your customers is often a quick way to piss them off…
@rickray Just jump in your time machine and go back a couple of years. The terms were different then.
@rickray But that’s not what happens I don’t think. You get charged 28-31 days after your first charge. There is no delayed second month charge iirc.
I’ve never understood the refund if you don’t use it stuff.
And I still think it’s to your advantage to sign up when you buy and then cancel at the end of that month, restarting the next day you buy something after that cancellation. Then you get the dead space “between purchases” for free.
But I’ve asked similar questions and gotten the same “let me paste what our policy says” answers without anyone actually confirming the hypotheticals I set up and/or telling me how the charges I’ve seen match the policy, so it remains a mystery for me.
If you legit figure it out and have receipts to match, let me know
.