Get paid: subscriptions and tickets

Once you connect a payment provider, you can charge for access to your community with a subscription, or sell one-time tickets to an event, course, quest or add-on. Payments go through your own payment account, so you stay in control of your payouts.

Who can do this: the owner and admins of a community on Honey Bee or higher. Moderators cannot open Monetize. If your account is on Worker Bee, you can keep managing what you already sell, but connecting a provider, creating plans and switching plans or tickets back on come with Honey Bee.

#Connect a payment provider

Open your dashboard (or the dashboard of the community you manage) and select Monetize. The page is titled Monetize and begins with Choose how you get paid.

If you want to sell subscriptions, connect Stripe. If you only sell one-time tickets, either provider works.

#Connect Stripe

1. Start onboarding

   Under Stripe Connect, select Connect with Stripe. Hive3 takes you to Stripe's own onboarding.

2. Finish Stripe's questions

   Stripe asks for the business and payout details it needs to pay you.

3. Return to Hive3

   When you come back, the badge next to Stripe Connect shows where you stand:

   • Payments active: you can sell.
   • Requirements pending or Onboarding incomplete: Stripe still needs something from you. Select Continue Stripe onboarding, or Complete identity verification if Stripe asks for identity documents.

After payments are active, Open Stripe dashboard takes you to your Stripe account to see payouts and balances.

#Connect PayPal

1. Start onboarding

   On the PayPal card, select Connect PayPal Account and sign in to PayPal in the window or panel that opens.

2. Confirm the connection

   When the card shows Connected, PayPal is ready for ticket sales.

3. Fix anything PayPal flags

   If PayPal reports a problem, such as payments not yet receivable or an unconfirmed email address, the card shows a notice you can select to see what to do.

#Disconnect a provider

Select Disconnect Stripe or Disconnect PayPal and confirm. Disconnecting Stripe turns off your Stripe subscription plans and stops new Stripe sales. People who already subscribe keep access until their current period ends, then their subscriptions end. Your Stripe account itself stays open at Stripe.

#Create a subscription

A subscription is a recurring plan that unlocks your community or paid items. It is available once Stripe shows Payments active.

1. Open the form

   In the Subscriptions section of Monetize, select Create Subscription.

2. Describe the plan

   Enter a Title and a Description that explain what subscribers get.

3. Set the price

   Enter an Amount and pick a Currency: USD, EUR or GBP.

4. Choose the billing interval

   Pick Monthly or Yearly under Billing Interval.

5. Create it

   Select Create Subscription. The plan appears in your list with an Active badge.

Each plan in the list has these buttons:

#Gate your community or content with a plan

A plan on its own does not lock anything. You choose what it unlocks:

• Your whole community. In the Account Builder, open Community settings, choose Open + Subscription or Private + Subscription, then pick the plan under Required subscription plan. See Members and applications.
• A single item. In the item's Access step, set Visibility to Subscription / ticket (just Subscription for content), then pick the plan under Select subscription. If Stripe is not connected yet, the step shows Connect Stripe to enable paid access with an Open Payments button.

A person needs an active subscription to your plan to get in. Having a Hive3 membership of their own does not unlock your paywall.

#Sell tickets

A ticket is a one-time purchase for a single event, course, quest or add-on. You set it up on the item itself, not on the Monetize page. Content and jobs do not use tickets.

1. Open the item's Access step

   Create or edit the event, course, quest or add-on and go to its Access step (for example Event Access).

2. Choose paid access

   Under Visibility, select Subscription / ticket.

3. Turn on ticket pricing

   Select Enable one-time ticket pricing, then enter a Price and pick a Currency (USD, EUR or GBP). You can offer a subscription, a ticket, or both.

4. Publish

   Publish or update the item. Buyers see the ticket option on its page.

Back in Monetize, the Tickets section lists every ticket you have created, with its price, status and the item it belongs to. For each ticket you can:

• Edit on Event page (or Course or Quest): jump to the item's editor.
• Edit: change the price, currency or status.
• Deactivate or Activate: pause or resume sales.
• Delete: remove the ticket.

#Handle refunds

Buyers can ask for a refund on an active ticket. You decide whether to grant it.

1. Find the request

   You receive a Ticket refund requested notification. Open Notifications to see who asked, which item, the amount, and the reason they gave.

2. Approve or reject

   Select Approve or Reject. In the window that opens, you can add an optional review note for the buyer.

3. Confirm

   Type refund to confirm, then select Approve refund or Reject refund.

Approving a refund sends the money back through the provider the buyer paid with, marks the ticket as refunded, and removes the buyer's access to the item. The buyer is notified either way. You can use the message button in the window to talk to the buyer first.

Subscribers manage or cancel their own subscriptions under Settings and Subscriptions, with Manage billing in Stripe. See Tickets and subscriptions for what buyers see.

#What happens next

• Your plans and tickets appear on your community page and on the items they unlock.
• Keep Stripe's status on Payments active. If Stripe asks for more information, the Monetize page shows a notice with a button to continue.
• Questions about a payout belong in your Stripe dashboard: Open Stripe dashboard.

#Related

• Members and applications
• Roles and permissions
• Create an event
• Tickets and subscriptions