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Duosuma® Duotrope's Submission Manager

Duosuma Billing, Credits, and Charging Fees

Billing Summary

The Manage Billing, Credits, and Fee Settings page is where you can see the current status of your subscription and Submission Credit balance, and also where you can manage the billing and fee settings for your Duosuma Account. To access this page, you must be the Account Owner or have "Manage Billing" privileges. The top of the page offers a summary of the following:

Subscription Status: Shows the current status of the Duosuma account's subscription and allows you to Cancel or Reactivate the subscription, if applicable.
If you choose to Cancel the subscription, your team will no longer be able to receive or read submissions, and any public Duosuma project pages and calls for submission will be deactivated. (This does not affect your Duotrope listing(s), which will continue to be listed as long as they meet our criteria.)

Card: Indicates whether there is a credit card on file for the subscription.
If so, you can Request Details or Update the credit card. Requesting details will request information on the type of card, the last 4 digits, and the expiration date of the credit card from the payment processor.
If there is not a credit card on file for the subscription, you can Add one.

We do not keep any of your credit card information on our servers. For your security and privacy, sensitive financial details are stored and processed entirely by Stripe, which is a "PCI Service Provider Level 1" payment processor. All communications between our servers and the payment processor's servers are secured.

Credits/Usage: This shows the account's current Submission Credit balance, accurate within 15 minutes. If it's a positive balance, it will tell you the number of Credits remaining. If it's a negative balance, it will also indicate the current accrued cost for this billing period.
If you automatically qualify for any of our discounts, that will be stated as well.
Also, you can buy blocks of credits using the Buy Credits button. (More info below.)

Pricing: This is a reminder of the pricing terms that are in effect for this account.

Discounts: This is a reminder of the automatic discounts we offer (Volume discount and Gold Star Program) and how to qualify for those.

Next: This gives your next billing date, if applicable. Also, you'll have the option of changing your billing date to either the 1st or the 15th of each month. Keep in mind that if you use submission caps, they will reset on your billing date, so it makes sense to set your billing date to the 1st if you use submission caps.

Buying Blocks of Credits Optional

On the Manage Billing, Credits, and Fee Settings page, you also have the option of pre-purchasing credits using the Buy Credits button. These are sold in blocks of 100, from 1 block (100 credits) to 500 blocks (50,000 credits). Purchased credits do not expire, but they are non-transferable and non-refundable. Each Block of 100 Submission Credits costs at most USD $6.00.

Discounts: Volume pricing applies: If you purchase 10 or more blocks (1,000+ credits), the cost per block will be USD $3.00 If you purchase 100 or more blocks (10,000+ credits), the cost per block will be USD $1.50.
If the account currently qualifies for the Gold Star Program, you will automatically get a 25% discount on the total amount!

Collecting Submission Fees and Tip Jar Payments Optional

Prerequisites

First, you'll need to make sure you're in a country supported by Stripe, our payment processor. Also, before you can start setting up to charge fees/tips, you must provide a credit card for your Duosuma account. (If, for administrative reasons, you can't provide a credit card, then you'll need to purchase at least one Block of credits.)

Onboarding to Charge Submission Fees/Tip Jar Payments

Before you can charge Submission Fees or request Tip Jar payments, first you must onboard with our trusted payment processor, Stripe. The onboarding process begins when you click the Connect with Stripe button.

  • If you already have a Stripe account, you will need to log in to that account and complete the process to connect it to the Duosuma platform.
  • If you don't already have a Stripe account, you will be directed to create one, and then you'll connect it to the Duosuma platform.

Connecting the accounts allows us to process charges directly on your account. Funds from your Submission Fees and Tip Jar will go to your Stripe account. For required submission fees, we will take a tiny commission of USD $0.05-$0.10, depending on Gold Star program qualification (we do not take a commission on tips). Stripe will take a processing fee (see their fee schedule). The rest gets deposited immediately in your Stripe account.

You are responsible for any refunds, chargebacks, complaints, or disputes related to the fees and tips you collect.

Stripe Compliance Requirements: Stripe is a financial organization, and it has to comply with governmental reporting requirements. It is very important that you fill in your application accurately and completely and provide all requested materials to Stripe in a timely manner. Failure to do so can result in your Stripe account being cancelled, which will mean you can no longer accept fees or tips. You do not have to have an official business to use Stripe; you can use Stripe as a sole proprietor. In either case, you are still obligated to provide accurate and complete information.
Accounting and Tax Reporting: Stripe handles your financial records and tax forms related to the submission fees and tips that you collect. Please log into your Stripe account for that information.
What else can you do with a Stripe account? With the right technical skills, Stripe can be integrated into anything (take Duotrope, for example, which has been using Stripe since 2012).
However, if you don't have the time or skills to integrate it yourself, it's also widely supported on a number of e-commerce platforms, including Shopify, Squarespace, and WooCommerce. A single Stripe account can be used for both your Duosuma submissions and your online storefront.

Submission Fee and Tip Jar Settings

Once you've successfully onboarded with Stripe, you'll be able to start charging Submission Fees and accepting Tip Jar payments for publishing projects (fees and tips are not permitted for literary agents). Before you do that, make sure your Fee and Tip Jar settings are to your liking:

Default Fee Currency: This sets the default currency (USD, CAD, GBP, EUR, AUD, NZD) that Submission Fees/Tip Jar payments will be charged in. This can be overridden on individual Calls for Submission.

Tip Jar Settings: With Tip Jar payments, the submitter selects how much money they want to give you. You can set the pre-selected amount, as well as the minimum and maximum values. The minimum value can't be less than $1, and the maximum value can't be more than $100, although we recommend setting it to the maximum "tip" you're comfortable receiving. Note: Tips will always be charged in your default fee currency.

We Tip Jars! See how successful Tip Jars have been for publishers using Duosuma on our Tip Jar Report.

Statement Descriptor: This is the business name that will show up on customers' bank or credit card statements. Choose something that will help your customers recognize your charges; otherwise, you will have more disputes and chargebacks due to unrecognized charges. Since you are the one initiating the charge, the charge must identify your company or project. It cannot include the words "Duotrope" or "Duosuma." It must be between 5 and 22 characters in length. "UBER PUBLISHING" is good; "UBPUB2020" is not.

Refund Policy: You can set a short refund policy, which will appear on the Submission Fee/Tip Jar section of the submission form. You can also include your Refund Policy in certain Response Templates. This is optional but highly recommended. Having a clear refund policy can help protect you in case of chargebacks, disputes, and complaints.


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