Add a shop or courses to what I already pay for
Most website platforms make selling a reason to move you up a tier. bernard treats it as a switch: something you turn on next to the plan you already have, without disturbing anything else.
The prompt
“I want to start selling on my site. Talk me through what I’d need to switch on and what changes about the way I’m billed.”
Signed in, Get my prompt fills in your site for you. Otherwise press Copy and fill in the [bracketed] parts. First time? Connect your AI to bernard once: Use your own AI (opens in a new tab).
What you can switch on
A shop. Sell your work from your own site, on your own web address, and bernard takes nothing at all from what you sell. Setting it up is covered in Add a new product to my shop page, and getting the money into your bank in What will Stripe ask me when I set up payouts?.
Courses. Teach what you know, with lessons, students and enrolments handled for you. Where the money goes when someone enrols walks through pricing one.
Both are already included with the largest size, so if you are on it there is nothing to buy.
A community forum for your members is set up by a person at bernard when you ask for one. Can my members have a forum on my site? explains what happens next.
Teaching on more than one site
Your shop covers selling from one site. A course you do not sell does not use it up: a course with no price, or one that people join only by your invitation, can live on any of your sites. You still need courses switched on.
Selling from a second site is different. Pricing a course there, or opening it to buyers, counts as a second shop. bernard tells you so before anything changes, and says to get in touch if you want to sell from both (Run a second site on the same account).
How the billing works
The switch joins the subscription you already have rather than starting a new one. That matters more than it sounds:
- One invoice, one renewal date. You are not tracking two payments that drift apart over the year.
- You pay for the part of the year that is left, not a fresh full year on top of the one you are already in.
- Cancelling your plan takes the switch with it. There is no leftover payment quietly running on after you have gone, which is the thing that usually goes wrong when a service bills add-ons separately.
You will find the switches in Settings, under Billing. The prices are on the pricing page and shown again on the button before you agree to anything.
When we send you up a size instead
Sometimes adding a switch would cost you more than moving up a size, and give you less. Courses alongside a shop is the usual case: the larger size includes both, for the same money or less.
When that happens we say so plainly and point you at the better deal. It is a door opening, not closing.
Changing your mind
Remove a switch whenever you like. It keeps working to the end of the period you have paid for, and then quietly stops selling new things.
Nothing you have made is ever deleted. Products, courses, lessons, orders and student records all stay. People who already bought a course keep their access, because they paid you for it and losing it is not something our billing should be able to do to them. Switch it back on and everything is where you left it, exactly as Is it safe to let an AI edit my site? promises for every other change.
Questions people ask
- Do I have to change my whole plan to start selling?
- No. Selling and teaching are switches you add to the plan you already have, so nothing about your current size changes. Your site, your pages and your approval settings all stay exactly as they are - new pages still wait for your approval before anyone sees them.
- Will I get a second bill?
- No. The switch joins your existing subscription, so it stays one payment on one renewal date. Because your year is already running, you pay only the part of it that is left, and the full amount from the next renewal onwards.
- What happens if I change my mind?
- You can remove a switch whenever you like. It keeps working until the end of the period you have already paid for, and after that nothing you made is deleted - your products, courses, students and orders all stay exactly where they are, and buying the switch again brings everything straight back. Any drafts you had waiting still wait for your approval.
- I run more than one site. Do free courses on my second site count as a second shop?
- No. Your shop covers selling from one site. A course you do not sell does not count: one with no price, or one people join only by your invitation. You can run those on any of your sites. Pricing a course on a second site, or opening it to buyers, counts as selling there, and bernard tells you before it does that.
- Sometimes I’m told to move up a size instead of adding a switch. Why?
- Because it would cost you more to add the switch than to move up, and give you less. When that is true we say so and point you at the better deal rather than taking the larger payment. It is the same principle as previewing a change and waiting for your approval - you should always be able to see what you are agreeing to.