Selling

On FlockStack Cloud, each account connects its own Stripe account from the Payments page (connect_payments): Stripe's page takes you through its details, and the account stays yours, with its own dashboard for payouts, refunds and disputes. get_payments_status says when it can take charges. On a self-hosted server, set STRIPE_SECRET_KEY and sales go to that Stripe account.

Stripe sends what happens to sales to https://flockstack.io/api/webhooks/payments. Add that endpoint in Stripe with the events below and put its signing secret in STRIPE_PAYMENTS_WEBHOOK_SECRET. On FlockStack Cloud, choose to listen to events on connected accounts.

• checkout.session.completed
• checkout.session.async_payment_succeeded
• charge.refunded
• charge.dispute.created
• customer.subscription.created
• customer.subscription.updated
• customer.subscription.deleted
• invoice.paid
• invoice.payment_failed
• account.updated
• account.application.deauthorized

create_product makes a draft, set_product_file stores its file (up to 15 MB), and update_product with status active puts it on sale at /shop/<slug> on the newsletter's site. The reader pays with Stripe Checkout; when Stripe confirms the payment, FlockStack makes the order and emails them a download link from the newsletter's address.

The file lives in a private bucket and is never served from a public address. The link is signed, works for 7 days and 20 downloads, and stops when the order is refunded in full or disputed. resend_order_email sends a new link and ends the old one. A buyer can tick a box to join the newsletter's list; the newsletter's own signup rules, a confirmation email included, apply.

curl https://flockstack.io/api/v1/products \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FLOCKSTACK_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title":"Launch checklist","priceCents":1900}'

set_paid_tier turns on a newsletter's paid tier with a monthly price, a yearly price and an optional free trial. Readers subscribe on its /subscribe page. Stripe tells FlockStack when a subscription starts, renews, is cancelled or fails to pay, and each contact is paid or free accordingly, with paidUntil as the end of the period they paid for. A failed renewal makes the reader free at once; the next successful payment brings them back.

A campaign has an audience: all, free or paid. A paid issue goes to paid readers only, shows a teaser on its web page and has the whole text in the email. Everything that protects a send applies to it as to any other: plan limits, pacing, the list cleanup (a paid reader is never set aside) and the suppression lists. Paid readers get a manage-subscription link in every email, which opens their Stripe billing page.