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Members

Stripe

Setting up Payments in Roe

Global Payment Settings

This document will explain global settings for Members & Payments:
Settings → Features → Members

Setting up Stripe

Integrations → Stripe

Payment Models

The system is flexible and supports different business models:

1. Free Newsletter Only

  • Don’t enable payments
  • Use signups to build your email list
  • All content is free
  • Send newsletters to all members
  • Enable payments
  • Mark premium posts with audience: paid
  • Use paywall forms to show previews
  • Only paid members access full content

3. Support/Donation Model

  • Enable payments
  • Don’t mark any posts as paid
  • All content remains free
  • Members pay to support your work
  • Edit upgrade page to say “Support” instead of “Unlock Premium”

4. Hybrid Model

  • Some posts are free (public)
  • Some posts are paid-only
  • Some posts show previews to everyone
  • Maximum flexibility

The Payment Flow (Memberships)

Here’s what happens when someone upgrades to paid:

  1. Member clicks “Upgrade” (on their account page or the upgrade page)
  2. Redirected to Stripe Checkout (secure payment form)
  3. Enters payment details (credit card, Apple Pay, etc.)
  4. Payment processes and Stripe sends webhook to Roe
  5. Member upgraded automatically to paid tier
  6. They can now access paid content

The entire process is handled automatically - no manual intervention needed.

Donations (One-Time Support Payments)

Donations are a separate flow from paid memberships. Donors don’t need an account, no membership tier is granted — they just send money to support your work.

Enabling Donations

  1. Go to Admin → Settings → members.yml
  2. In the payments: section, set mode: donations (donations only) or mode: both (donations alongside memberships)
  3. Set donation_amounts: to the preset buttons you want to offer (default: [5, 10, 20, 50])
  4. Save

A donate page is auto-generated at /donate (in site/pages/members/donate.md). You can edit the copy like any other page.

How the Donation Form Works

The donate page renders a small form with preset amount buttons and a free-form input for a custom amount:

```form
for: donate
button-text: Continue to Stripe →
```

On click of a preset button:

  • The amount fills the input (formatted to the currency’s natural decimals — $5.00, €5.00, ¥5, BHD 5.000)
  • The button labels are auto-localized using the currency from your Stripe account (USD shows $5, EUR shows €5, etc.)
  • Nothing submits yet — the donor reviews the amount, edits if they want, then clicks the main “Continue to Stripe →” button

On submit:

  • Roe creates a Stripe Checkout Session for the donation amount
  • Donor is redirected to Stripe to complete the payment
  • After payment, Roe records a Donation row (email, amount, payment intent) for the dashboard

Donation Limits

  • Minimum: $2 (200 cents) — Stripe’s minimum for most currencies
  • Maximum: $1,500 (150,000 cents) — anti-abuse cap