Paid plans terms

1. What these terms cover

These terms apply when an author buys a paid plan (Stash or Hoard) for their Hamsterra author account. They add to our Terms of use and the acceptable use and content rules. If they conflict on a paid plan, these terms apply. They apply once you accept them at checkout; until then they do not change the terms of your account.

Readers never pay. Free stays available to authors with no time limit, under the Terms of use. A paid plan is an add-on to your author account: while it is active, it raises the limits shown on the Plans page. When it ends, your account carries on with Free, except where section 10 says otherwise.

If you are a consumer, nothing in these terms removes the mandatory protections of the law of the country where you live.

2. Plans and prices

UK consumers pay, including 20% VAT: Stash €9.60 a month or €96 a year, Hoard €18 a month or €180 a year.

The limits for each plan are on the Plans page. Prices are in euros, before tax. VAT or a similar tax is added at the rate that applies to you, so it can differ between countries and depends on whether you buy as a consumer or a business. Checkout shows the full amount, including any tax, before you pay. If your card is in another currency, your bank or card issuer may convert the amount and charge its own fees.

A plan is for one author account and cannot be transferred. There is no free trial.

3. Who sells the plan and who takes payment

We sell the plan and provide the service. Link (called Onelink in the United Kingdom), run by Sold through Link, LLC, a Stripe company, acts as merchant of record. Link takes the payment, issues your receipt, and handles payment questions and disputes. It collects and pays the tax on your purchase where its service covers your country. Link's purchase terms (for UK buyers, the Onelink purchase terms) and its refund policy apply to the payment.

Using Link does not change our responsibilities to you for the service.

4. Renewal and price

Your plan renews automatically at the end of each month or year, unless you cancel before the renewal date. Each renewal is at the current price of your plan, which stays as it was when you bought it unless we change it for a future renewal under this section. Plan and usage shows the next renewal date and amount.

At least 30 days before each yearly renewal we email you the date, the amount and how to cancel. We or Link may also send other renewal reminders.

We may change the price of a plan for future renewals only, and only to reflect changes in our costs, taxes or the features of the plan. We email you the new price and the reason for the change at least 30 days before the first renewal it affects. If you do not want it, you can cancel before that renewal. A price change never applies to a period you have already paid for.

5. What a paid period gives you

Subject to section 10, for each period you pay for, you get the limits of your plan as shown on the Plans page when the period started. We do not reduce them during that period. If we improve them, the better limits apply straight away.

6. Changing plan or billing period

• Moving down (Hoard to Stash, or yearly to monthly): takes effect at the end of the period you have already paid for. Until then you keep your current limits.
• Moving up (Stash to Hoard): takes effect straight away. Before you confirm, we show what you pay for the rest of the current period.
• Monthly to yearly: takes effect straight away. The unused part of your current month is credited against the yearly price, and we show the amount before you confirm.
• A change that combines a move down with a change of billing period always takes effect at the end of the paid period.
• While a renewal payment is overdue (section 9), you need to pay it before you can change your plan.

7. Cancelling the renewal

You can cancel the renewal at any time on Plan and usage, or through your account at link.com (onelink.com in the United Kingdom), which also works while your Hamsterra account is suspended. You can also ask us to cancel it by email to support@hamsterra.com. We confirm by email.

Cancelling stops the next renewal. Subject to section 10, you keep your paid limits until the end of the period you have already paid for, and then your account carries on with Free under section 8. Cancelling the renewal does not refund the rest of the period. It does not affect your legal rights or the refunds in sections 9 to 11.

8. When a plan ends or moves down

When a paid plan ends, your account moves to Free; when you move from Hoard to Stash, Stash limits apply. Moving to a lower plan does not delete anything: your books, campaigns, contacts, reader lists, free book pages and files stay in your account.

When this happens. Your plan moves down only: at the end of the paid period, when you chose a lower plan or cancelled; seven days after a renewal payment was not taken (section 9); when a plan ends after a full refund that follows cancellation (section 9); or when a suspension is lifted after the paid period ended (section 10). A refund or price adjustment that does not end the plan never moves it down.

Choosing what stays active. If you have more than the lower plan allows, you choose what stays active:

• which pen names stay active, up to the new limit; the others go offline: their author, book, campaign and free book pages are not shown and you cannot work under them until you move up again. Nothing under them is deleted, and taking a pen name offline does not by itself end readers' access; the pauses below still apply;
• which free book pages (reader magnets) stay open, up to the new limit;
• which book and promo files stay available for download, within the new storage limit;
• when moving to Free, which group giveaways you stay in, up to the Free limit.

When you choose a lower plan, we show you which limits get lower and ask what stays active; you can change that choice until the move. Cancelling the renewal never depends on making this choice. If your plan moves down and you have more than the new plan allows, and you have not chosen, we email you and ask you to choose the next time you sign in. Until you have chosen, the rest of your author workspace waits for that choice. You can still manage or cancel your plan, buy a plan again, contact us, ask for a refund, ask for a review of a decision, change your account settings and delete your account. Meanwhile:

• your free book pages are paused: they stay visible, but readers cannot download from them;
• your share in group giveaways is paused: the giveaway carries on for the other authors and readers can pick a book from them, but not from you;
• downloads of your book and promo files are paused, including for readers of your campaigns; your book pages stay visible.

Readers keep the copies they already downloaded. Once you have chosen, what you chose works again straight away; what you did not choose stays in your account, paused, and you can switch it back on later within your plan's limits. If you move up again, you can switch it all back on.

Group giveaways. A giveaway you stay in, even while your share is paused, still counts you as one of its authors. If leaving group giveaways leaves one with fewer authors than it needs to run (three), it closes and we email the other authors that you have left.

Apart from these pauses and a giveaway closing as above, campaigns that are running carry on and readers keep the access they already have, subject to the usual campaign end dates and the Terms of use. You cannot start something new, or add to something, beyond a limit of your new plan.

Deleting your account, closing it, suspending it, or our stopping the service are covered by the Terms of use and section 10, not by this section.

9. Payments, refunds and disputes

Each of these has a different result.

• Failed first payment. The plan does not start.
• Renewal payment not taken (for example, your card has expired or was declined). We email you and you have 7 days after the renewal date to pay or update your payment details; your paid limits stay during those days. If you pay within the 7 days, your new period runs from the renewal date. If not, the plan ends, your account moves to Free under section 8, and we do not try to charge you for it again; you can buy a new plan at any time.
• Duplicate or wrong charge. Tell us or Link. The extra or wrong amount is refunded; your plan carries on as before. If a whole purchase was made by mistake and you do not want the plan, it ends when the refund is made.
• Price adjustment (a partial refund, for example after a problem with the service). Your plan carries on as before.
• Full refund after cancellation. If you cancel under your legal rights, or Link refunds the current period in full under its policy, the paid limits for that period end when the refund is made, the plan does not renew, and your account moves to Free under section 8. A price reduction for a problem with the service, even of the full amount, does not by itself cancel the plan or remove any other legal right.
• Earlier periods. A refund for an earlier period never affects the period you are in now.
• Unused time. Cancelling the renewal does not refund the current period. Refunds required by law, refunds under Link's policy, and the refunds in sections 10, 11 and 12 still apply.
• How we work out a refund for unused time. Where these terms give a refund for unused time, we work it out by days, from the price you paid for that monthly or yearly period, tax included. We do not recalculate a yearly plan at the monthly price. A different calculation applies where the law sets one or Link gives a refund under its own policy.

Your legal rights

If you are a consumer, you keep your statutory rights, including a repeat performance or a price reduction if the service is not provided with reasonable care and skill. You can cancel your purchase without giving a reason within 14 days after the day you bought it. Because you asked at checkout for your plan to start straight away, if you cancel within those 14 days we may charge a proportionate amount for the service up to the time you tell us you are cancelling, worked out from the price of your plan, and we refund the rest.

To cancel, email support@hamsterra.com, write to Cat and box LLP, 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ, United Kingdom, or contact Link. Any clear statement that you want to cancel is enough. You may use the form below, but you do not have to.

We make any refund due through Link, without undue delay and within 14 days after you tell us you are cancelling, to the payment method you used, unless you expressly agree otherwise. We do not charge a fee for the refund. These rights are not limited by Link's 60-day period.

Link's refund policy

Link considers refund requests made within 60 days of a purchase, for example where the service was not provided, was significantly different from its description, or the payment was unauthorised or duplicated. Its policy does not generally cover a change of mind or unused subscription time. Link may give a refund even where these terms would not, and we cannot stop or reverse it. This is not a money-back guarantee, and your statutory rights are separate.

Disputes with your bank

You can dispute a payment with your bank or card issuer. While a dispute is open, your plan carries on. If the dispute ends with the payment returned to you, that is treated as a full refund of that payment under this section. If it ends in our favour, nothing changes. We do not reimburse the same amount twice: any further refund takes account of amounts already returned for that payment, including through a dispute.

Asking for a refund, getting one, or disputing a payment is not a breach of our terms. We do not charge a fee or penalty for it, and it does not on its own lead to any restriction of your account. Knowingly giving false or materially misleading information to get a refund, or using several accounts together or deliberately abusing refunds to get paid limits without paying, is a breach of these terms and is dealt with under section 9 of the Terms of use. We look at the evidence and let you explain before we decide that a refund was abused.

10. Restrictions, suspension and ending author services

None of the events in this section removes a refund required by law or given under Link's refund policy; section 9 continues to apply.

Restricting single features under section 9 of the Terms of use does not change a paid plan.

Suspension. If we suspend your account under section 9 of the Terms of use, we stop your plan from renewing at the same time, so no further payments are taken, and your account uses Free limits while it is suspended; the choice in section 8 is not asked for while you are suspended. The suspension email tells you this.

If we lift the suspension before the end of the period you have paid for, your paid limits and everything that was active come back. Your plan renews as before only if the suspension was the only reason it had stopped: if you had cancelled the renewal or chosen a lower plan, that stays as you set it. When the renewal resumes, we email you its date, and you can cancel it at any time before then. If we lift the suspension after the paid period ended, your account moves down to Free under section 8 and you can buy a plan again.

The suspended days are not added to your paid period. Instead, we refund the price of the days of your paid period that fell within the suspension, worked out as in section 9. If we find that a serious breach, or repeated breaches, by you caused the suspension, we may deduct the reasonable losses that the breach directly caused us, allowing for costs we saved. We explain any deduction and do not recover the same loss twice.

Ending author services for a breach. If we end author services for your account because of a serious breach of the Terms of use, the acceptable use rules or these terms, or repeated breaches that together justify it, including deliberately getting round a restriction, your paid plan ends at the same time. No further payments are taken and your account does not move to Free. We refund the unused time of your paid period, worked out as in section 9, but may deduct the reasonable losses that your breach directly caused us, allowing for costs we saved. We explain any deduction and do not recover the same loss twice. The process, notice and review in section 9 of the Terms of use apply.

Ending author services for another reason. If we close your account or end author services for a reason that is not your breach, for example because the law or a court or regulator requires it, your paid plan ends at the same time, no further payments are taken, and we refund the unused time of your paid period, worked out as in section 9.

Deleting your account. If you choose to delete your author account, your plan and its limits end at once and we will not charge you again. We do not refund the unused time, except where the law or Link's refund policy requires. To keep using your plan until the paid period ends, cancel the renewal instead and delete your account afterwards. We tell you this and ask you to confirm before the deletion. Deleting your account does not remove a refund right you already have.

11. If we stop offering a plan or the service

If we stop offering a paid plan, or paid plans altogether, we tell you at least 30 days before your plan is affected. Your plan runs to the end of the period you have paid for; if we end it earlier, we refund the unused time, worked out as in section 9. If we stop using Link for payments, we tell you before any change to who charges you.

12. Changes to these terms

We may change these terms to reflect a change in law, a regulator's guidance, a change of payment provider, or a change to our plans that is not to your disadvantage during a paid period. We email you at least 30 days before a change that is not in your favour applies, and you can cancel before then. A change does not reduce what you get for a period you have already paid for. If a change must apply during a paid period and is to your disadvantage, you can end your plan before it applies and we refund the unused time, worked out as in section 9.

13. Cancellation form

You do not have to use this form. If you want to, copy it into an email to support@hamsterra.com or a letter to the address in section 9.

To Cat and box LLP, 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ, United Kingdom, support@hamsterra.com:
I hereby give notice that I cancel my contract for the following service: Hamsterra Stash / Hoard* plan, monthly / yearly*.
Ordered on: ____________
Name: ____________
Email address of your Hamsterra account: ____________
Date: ____________

* Delete as appropriate.