Subscriptions, Payments, & Gift Certificates FAQ

Quick Links: Subscriptions | Payments | Gift Certificates

Individual Subscriptions

Note: This section only covers individual subscriptions. For our other types of access, please see our Group Memberships FAQ.

How much does a Duotrope subscription cost?

After a one-time, 10-day free trial, subscriptions cost just USD $5.00 a month. If you commit to a full year, you get the discounted rate of $4.17 per month (USD $50.00 charged annually).
We now also offer subscriptions in the following currencies: AUD, GBP, CAD, EUR, INR, NZD. (Check the individual links for pricing details.)

What will a subscription give me?

Subscribers have access to all our features, including:

Our robust market search feature
The index of publisher and agent listings
The calendar of upcoming themes and deadlines
Interviews with editors
Full publisher and agent listings, including response statistics
Statistical reports
Your personal control panel including your submission tracker, etc.
If you have opted-in to receive our newsletter, you will receive our info-packed weekly issues via email

Why do I need to provide payment information to activate a free trial?

We need to know that you can pay for a subscription after your trial ends. Rest assured, you will not be charged until your trial ends. If you cancel before the end of your trial period, you will not be charged at all.

I just bought a subscription. When will I have full access to the site?

Subscription purchases are usually confirmed within minutes. You can check your Control Panel page to check on the current status of your subscription. If it has taken longer than 15 minutes, there may have been a problem with your payment. Check your email. If you did not receive an email and you still don't have access, please contact Customer Service as soon as possible.

When will my subscription end?

Subscriptions recur until cancelled. You can check the status of your subscription at any time to see when the next billing date is, or if you have already cancelled, to see when access will end. Read the questions below regarding checking the status of your subscription and cancelling a subscription.

Note: There is one circumstance when your subscription may be cancelled without your input. If we can no longer contact you with payment receipts or notices about your subscription, we may cancel the recurrence of your subscription at our discretion.

How can I check the status of my subscription?

You can check the status of your subscription at any time from the Subscription entry in the Account menu or from your Control Panel.

Do I have to keep my credit card information up to date?

Yes, please make sure the credit card information is up to date before it renews. Our payment processor will attempt to update the expiration date automatically, if nothing else has changed and the card hasn't been reported lost or stolen.
Note: Please don't try to cancel by updating your card information to bad information or assume it will cancel automatically if the expiration date has passed. If you don't want to continue being charged, simply cancel your subscription. Cancellation is quite painless. Simply follow the steps below at least a day before the next charge date.

How do I cancel my subscription?

Cancellation is self-service. Simply go to your Subscription page (accessible from the Account menu or your Control Panel) and push the "Cancel my Subscription" button. That's all there is to it! You won't need to contact Customer Service or jump through any hoops. Once cancelled, your subscription will expire at the end of the period you most recently paid for.

If you are on a trial and cancel your subscription before the end of the trial period, you will not be charged and will lose access at the end of the trial period.

If you plan on cancelling, don't wait until the end of the period. After cancelling, you will retain access to all features through the end of the current period, at which point the subscription will expire. If you attempt to wait until the last minute, you may be in a different time zone from the payment processor and misjudge the time (or even the date) of the next charge. Also, we cannot predict exactly when you will be charged; the time of charge can vary by as much as a few hours from pay period to pay period, due to fluctuations in the payment processor's volume. We do not issue refunds if you fail to cancel before being charged.

What is your refund policy?

We do not issue refunds. We offer a free trial to allow you to try out our services. If you find them not to your needs, you can cancel during the trial and will not be charged.

I want to buy a subscription, but I can only pay by check/money order. What should I do?

We do not accept personal checks or money orders. A credit (or debit) card is required. The best option in this case is to have someone with a credit card purchase a Gift Certificate for you.

I already have a subscription and someone bought me a Gift Certificate. What do I do?

Redeem the Gift Certificate if you haven't already done so. The "Gift" subscription will automatically take effect once your current subscription expires. (See above for information on cancelling your current subscription.)

What happens to the information in my account if my subscription lapses?

All of your non-financial information will remain on file, ready for your return. This includes submission reports, tracked deadlines, favorites, etc.

Payments

What payment methods do you accept?

For individual subscriptions and gift certificates, we accept credit/debit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, JCB, and Diners Club), as well as Apple Pay and Google Pay.

For group memberships and bulk gift certificates, we accept credit/debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and business/institutional checks (drawn in US funds).

Can I trust you with my payment information?

We do not keep credit card numbers or other sensitive financial information in our records at any time. Only our payment processor has access to that (and our staff cannot see the full credit card number). Our payment processor is "PCI Service Provider Level 1," which is the highest level and held to the most stringent standards. All communications between our servers and our payment processors' servers are secured.

How long do you keep payment information?

Only as long as needed. If you have an active Duotrope recurring subscription or Duosuma account, credit card information stays in our payment processor's system for the lifetime of the subscription. When a subscription expires, we instruct our payment processor to remove the credit card from their customer record. Likewise, with one-time purchases (such as gift certificates), the credit card information is not saved to their customer record and is only used to process the single transaction.

I live outside the USA. Can I still buy a Subscription or a Gift Certificate?

If you can pay by credit card, you can still use our payment system. We offer subscriptions, group memberships, and gift certificates in the following currencies: US Dollars, Australian Dollars, British Pounds Sterling, Canadian Dollars, Euro, Indian Rupee, New Zealand Dollars.
If you use live in a country that uses a different currency, we recommend that you select US Dollars. The amount will be converted to your currency at a rate determined by the bank that issued your credit card.

What if I have a dispute?

If you have a dispute, please be courteous enough to contact us before lodging a dispute or chargeback request with your credit card company or bank. If you have concerns about a payment, please contact us. If we have made a mistake, we will do our best to remedy the situation, but you must contact us before filing a dispute or chargeback.

Gift Certificates

How do Gift Certificates work?

Gift Certificates are delivered in the form of a code that can be redeemed on our site. The Gift Certificate code can be emailed to you to present to the lucky recipient in the manner of your choosing, or we can email it to the recipient on your behalf.

When a Gift Certificate is redeemed, it will be converted into a Gift membership valid for a certain amount of time. For example, a USD $50 Gift Certificate results in a Gift membership that's valid for one year.

Do Gift Certificates start with a free trial?

Since gift certificates are pre-paid, they cannot start with a trial period. Only recurring subscriptions start with a free trial. However, if you have not yet used a free trial, you will still receive one when you begin your first recurring subscription. That's the primary difference between recurring subscriptions and Gift subscriptions: recurring subscriptions start with a free trial and recur until cancelled, while gift memberships don't recur but also don't start with a free trial.

Do Gift Certificates expire?

The Gift Certificates themselves do not expire. The Gift Certificate codes will remain valid until redeemed.

I want to buy someone a Gift Certificate. What happens if they already have a subscription?

If you buy a Gift Certificate for a lucky someone who currently has a subscription, they still need to redeem their code. The Gift Certificate will automatically be applied to their account once their current subscription expires.

Do you offer a discount for Gift Certificates purchased in bulk?

Yes! We offer a 25% discount when you buy 10 or more Gift Certificates. Be sure to use our bulk gift order page. (Note that bulk Gift Certificates are meant to be given to multiple people. Do not use that option if you plan on using all the certificates for yourself.)

Can I buy a Gift Certificate for myself?

Of course! Use the "I'm buying this Gift Certificate for myself" option. (If you have not yet tried out our services, we recommend you start a trial subscription first. Gift Certificates do not start with a trial period.)

Are Gift Certificates refundable or transferable?

Once a Gift Certificate code has been successfully delivered, we cannot refund that certificate or transfer it to a different person.

Have a question about our policies for subscriptions, gift certificates, or payments that's not answered here? Contact Customer Service.