Keep my paying members when I move platform
Some course platforms, Podia among them, bill your members through your own Stripe account. That means the subscriptions are already yours. When you move, they can keep billing exactly as they do today, with no new checkout and no card to re-enter.
The prompt
“I’m moving my membership from [platform]. My members pay on my own Stripe. Show me who you can bring across before you do anything.”
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How it works
- Connect the Stripe account your old platform bills on. It must be that same account, not a new one (Can I take card payments on my bernard website?).
- Ask Bernard who he can bring across. He reads every subscription on the account and tells you, in counts, what each one is: a monthly member, a yearly member, a member who has cancelled and is running out their paid time, someone in a free period that came with a course, a payment plan for a course, or something he cannot place. He matches by what people pay and how often, not by product names, so a hidden plan at the club price still counts as the club.
- Check the counts. Bernard also says which members are already students on your site, and whether the old platform takes a fee from each renewal. Nothing has changed at this point. If someone’s card is in a different email from the one they use with you, tell Bernard the right address.
- Say yes, and they come across. Bernard shows you the plan for each subscription, then, after your approval, makes each person a member of your membership: the courses and rooms it gives, until the end of the period they have paid for. Someone in a free period is a member until it ends. Someone who has cancelled keeps what they paid for. Nobody is emailed, and nobody re-enters a card. It is safe to ask again: anyone already brought across is left as they are.
- Check your members list. Each person shows where they came from and who takes their money, so you can check before anyone is told.
What carries on, and what bernard cannot do
Your members keep paying where they pay today: the same card, the same date, the same price. Renewals, failed cards and cancellations happen in Stripe as before.
Bernard cannot change or cancel a subscription another platform made. That is Stripe’s rule, not ours. If a member wants to cancel or change price, you do it in your Stripe dashboard.
When a renewal is paid, access moves on to the next period by itself. When a card fails, the member has the usual grace days. When someone cancels, they keep what they paid for and their access then runs out. Bernard follows what Stripe reports.
Telling them
Coming across sends nothing. When you are ready, usually when the old platform’s links stop working, ask Bernard to send each person one email listing their courses. Students who are not members move across separately (Move my students from Podia, Teachable or Kajabi).
People who pay another way
Some people pay you some other way: a bank transfer, or a checkout on another site such as Squarespace. Others were given the club as a gift. They have no subscription in your Stripe account, so Bernard does not find them there. They can still come across:
- Give Bernard the list. For each person: their email, the date their access should run to, and why (they pay you another way, it was a gift, or it is an old plan you are keeping). The date can be up to two years away.
- Check the plan. Bernard says how many he would add, how many are members already (someone who pays by subscription is never added twice) and any date he cannot use. Nothing has changed yet.
- Say yes. Each person becomes a member until their date: the same courses and rooms as everyone else. Nobody is charged, nobody is emailed, and nothing is set up in Stripe.
When the date comes, their access ends by itself after the usual grace days. To keep someone on, ask Bernard to record them again with a later date. To end someone’s access now, ask Bernard to remove them. Your members list shows each one with their end date. How they pay you from now on is your call: Bernard does not ask them to pay.
Running the club itself: Run a membership or paid community - people pay monthly for my courses.
Questions people ask
- Do my members have to re-subscribe?
- Not if your old platform billed them through your own Stripe account. Those subscriptions belong to you, they keep billing where they are, and nobody re-enters a card. Members who paid through the old platform’s own payment account are different: they do have to join again.
- Does looking change anything?
- No. Bernard only reads your Stripe account and gives you counts. Nobody is charged, nobody is emailed and nothing on your site changes. Any next step waits for your approval.
- Will my members get an email when they come across?
- No. Bringing them across is quiet: no welcome, no course emails and no forum invitation. Bernard shows you the plan first and nothing happens until you approve it. When you are ready to tell everyone about the new site, ask Bernard to send each person one email with their courses.
- Can bernard change the price or cancel one of those subscriptions?
- No. Stripe lets only the platform that made a subscription change or cancel it. You can still do it yourself in your Stripe dashboard, and bernard follows what Stripe reports.
- What about people in a free period that came with a course?
- Bernard shows them as members in a free period, with the date it ends and the price that starts then, so they are never counted twice or mistaken for a second membership.
- What happens to the old platform’s fee?
- Platforms such as Podia take a small fee from each renewal. Bernard tells you when that is set. The fee carries on after you close the old platform until you clear it in your own Stripe account.
- Some of my members pay me another way. Can they come across too?
- Yes. Give Bernard the list, the date each person’s access should run to and why (they pay you another way, it was a gift, or an old plan you are keeping). He records them as members until that date, with no subscription and no card. Nobody is charged and nobody is emailed. The date can be up to two years away.
- What happens when a recorded member’s date comes?
- Their access ends by itself after the usual grace days. To keep someone on, ask Bernard to record them again with a later date. To end someone’s access now, ask Bernard to remove them.