Billing Basics for Creators
Creator billingPayBru handles billing through Paystack in ZAR. You set the price; the platform fee, gateway fee, and creator earnings split happens automatically.
Use this page to read receipts, support members during the 6-day grace period, and understand how revenue flows from a charge to your payable balance.
Understand how billing works so you can support members confidently and read your revenue numbers correctly.
Recurring Billing
- Members are billed on the anniversary of their sign-up date.
- Renewals follow the cadence of the prepaid block: monthly, every 3 months, every 6 months, or every 12 months.
- All payments run through Paystack in ZAR.
- Free tiers renew without payment.
Only cards can be saved for automatic renewals. Pay-by-Bank options (Ozow, Capitec Pay) work for the first payment but can't auto-renew — members need to save a card before the next billing date.
Payment Collection
When a payment is due:
- PayBru charges the member through Paystack.
- A receipt is issued to the member.
- Member access updates immediately.
- The net amount (after platform and gateway fees) is added to your community's pending balance.
Fees
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| PayBru platform fee | 5% by default on subscriptions, tips, store purchases, gifts, and crowdfunding/support flows. |
| Paystack gateway fee | Currently 2.9% + R1.00 per South African local card transaction, excluding VAT. Pay-by-Bank methods such as Ozow EFT and Capitec Pay can use different Paystack pricing. |
| VAT on gateway fee | Paystack charges VAT on its processing fee. PayBru does not add VAT on top of its 5% platform fee. |
Refer 10 paid signups through your referral link and your platform fee drops to 2.5% for 6 months on subscriptions.
See South African Rand Pricing for a worked example.
What Members See
- A payment confirmation and downloadable receipt for each successful charge.
- Their billing history and renewal dates in My Activity > My Payments.
- Reminders if a renewal fails — see "Failed Payments" below.
Failed Payments and Grace Period
- A failed renewal moves the member's membership to Past Due.
- They keep access for a 6-day grace period while reminders go out (typically day 1, day 3, and day 5).
- There are no automatic retries — the member needs to update their card and retry the payment.
- After 6 days, the membership moves to Ended and access (including linked Discord roles) is removed.
See Failed Payments and Access Changes.
Gift Memberships
- Gifts can run from 1 to 12 months.
- Senders can choose to remain anonymous (the recipient sees them as Anonymous Bru).
- Recipients have 30 days to accept a gift. Unclaimed gifts are automatically refunded.
- Gifts do not auto-renew — when the gifted period ends, access ends unless the member subscribes themselves.
Creator Revenue and Payouts
- Revenue from successful payments appears as Pending balance for the standard hold period.
- Once cleared, it becomes Available balance in Revenue > Payments.
- Request a payout from View Payouts once your KYC is approved and your South African bank account is saved.
- Payouts go to your linked South African bank account through Paystack.
Refunds
- Refunds can be full or partial.
- Approved refunds reduce your creator balance accordingly.
- The member's access is revoked at the same time the refund is processed.
- If the refunded funds were already paid out, the next payout makes up the difference.
Key Things to Know
- PayBru manages billing and payment records — you don't need separate invoicing tooling.
- Existing members keep the price they signed up at until they change tier or resubscribe.
- Members must recover failed payments within the 6-day grace window or access is removed.
- PayBru doesn't withhold income tax on your payouts — you're responsible for declaring earnings to SARS.