Payment Issues

What Happens When a Payment Fails

If Jellypod can't charge your card, what happens next depends on whether the subscription was already active:

• Renewal payment fails. An active subscription's payment is paused, not cancelled right away. We email the account admin a link to pay the open invoice directly, and the next time an admin signs in to Studio, they land on a Payment Issue screen instead of the normal dashboard. If the payment is never fixed, Stripe keeps retrying on its own schedule; once those retries are exhausted, the subscription is cancelled outright, the same terminal state as a failed trial conversion below.
• Trial-to-paid conversion fails. If your free trial ends and Stripe can't charge your card for the first paid invoice, Stripe cancels the subscription outright instead of leaving it paused. The next admin sign-in lands on a Payment Issue screen too, but it offers a restart instead of a card update, since there's no active subscription left to revive.

When either path ends in cancellation, the account admin gets a "Your subscription has ended, restart it in one click" email instead of the standard cancellation email, with a button that goes straight to the Payment Issue screen's restart flow below.

Either way, your podcasts and episodes stay online and any unused plan credits are held, they aren't lost while the payment issue is open.

Fixing a Paused Payment

1. Sign in to Studio. If your subscription has an open payment issue, you're redirected automatically to the Payment Issue screen.
2. Click Update payment method. This opens Stripe's secure billing page, either the open invoice or a card-update form, where you can pay the outstanding invoice or add a new card.
3. Once your payment method is updated, you're returned to Studio and full access resumes right away.

You can also use the Pay Now link in the payment-failed email instead of waiting to sign in.

While a renewal payment is paused, a warning banner also appears at the top of every Studio page, not just the Payment Issue screen, with a one-click Update payment button, so the fix is reachable no matter where you are in the app. This banner doesn't appear once the subscription has actually been cancelled (a failed trial conversion, or a renewal payment that exhausted Stripe's retries); use the Payment Issue screen's Restart subscription button for those cases instead.

Restarting After a Cancellation

If Stripe already cancelled the subscription, whether that's a failed trial-to-paid charge or a renewal payment that stayed unresolved through Stripe's retry schedule, the Payment Issue screen shows Your subscription was cancelled with a Restart subscription button instead of a card-update option. You can also use the Restart My Subscription link in the win-back email instead of waiting to sign in.

1. Click Restart subscription to start a new checkout on the plan you were last on.
2. This checkout charges your card immediately; if you've already used a free trial on this account, restarting doesn't grant a second one.
3. Once checkout completes, you're returned to Studio with access to your existing podcasts, episodes, and credits restored.

If you'd rather switch plans instead of restarting the same one, click Choose a different plan to go to the plan picker.

Canceling Instead

If you'd rather not restore your subscription, click Cancel subscription instead on the Payment Issue screen. This option only appears when there's an active, paused subscription to cancel, not once Stripe has already cancelled it (a failed trial conversion, or a renewal payment that exhausted Stripe's retries).

Frequently Asked Questions

Will my podcasts go offline if a payment fails?

No. Your podcasts and episodes stay online while your subscription has an open payment issue. They're only removed from third-party platforms if you cancel instead of restoring your subscription.

Will I lose my credits?

No, unused plan credits are held while the payment issue is open. They're only forfeited if you choose to cancel instead of fixing the payment.

Why was I redirected to a payment issue screen instead of my dashboard?

Your most recent subscription charge failed, so access has fallen back to the free tier until the payment method is updated or the subscription is restarted.

Why do I see a payment warning banner on pages other than the Payment Issue screen?

While a renewal payment is paused, a warning banner stays visible at the top of every Studio page so you can update your payment method from wherever you're working, not just from the Payment Issue screen. It disappears once payment succeeds and doesn't appear once the subscription has actually been cancelled.

Why does my Payment Issue screen say my subscription was cancelled instead of offering to update my card?

This happens when a free trial's first paid charge fails, or when a renewal payment stays unresolved long enough for Stripe's own retry schedule to exhaust. Either way Stripe cancels the subscription rather than leaving it past due, so there's nothing to revive with a card update. Restarting starts a fresh, immediately-charged subscription on the same plan instead.

If I restart after a cancellation, do I get another free trial?

No. Restarting charges your card immediately for the plan you select. Free trials are only offered once per account.

My renewal payment failed. Will my subscription eventually be cancelled if I don't fix it?

Yes. A failed renewal payment pauses your subscription, it isn't cancelled right away, but if you never update your payment method, Stripe keeps retrying on its own schedule and cancels the subscription once those retries are exhausted. At that point you'll get an email with a one-click restart link instead of the usual payment-failed reminder, and the Payment Issue screen switches from a card-update option to a Restart subscription button.

How is canceling here different from canceling in Settings?

Canceling from Settings > Usage & Billing keeps your access until the end of the billing period. Canceling from the Payment Issue screen is immediate because the subscription is already past due.