Tiers and Pricing

What Are Tiers?

Tiers are the different membership levels within a listing. They let you offer multiple options under a single wine club so members can choose the level that suits them best.

For example, your "Sunset Wine Club" listing might have three tiers:

Explorer — A lighter commitment with three bottles per shipment at a lower price
Connoisseur — The standard selection with six bottles per shipment
Collector — A curated collection of your best wines at a premium price

Each tier has its own pricing, bottle count, billing frequency, description, and rewards. Members pick the tier they want when they join your club.

Tier Fields

Every tier has the following fields:

Name (required) — The name of the tier that members see when choosing a membership level (e.g., "Explorer", "Connoisseur", "Collector")
Price (required) — The total price per billing period, in dollars. This is the full amount charged each cycle — it is not a per-bottle price. For example, if a 6-bottle tier costs $150 per quarter, the price is $150.
Bottle Count (required) — The number of bottles included in each shipment for this tier. For Membership-Only clubs, this may be zero since there is no wine fulfillment.
Description — A short explanation of what the tier includes, what kinds of wines are featured, and why a member should choose it
Billing Frequency — How often members in this tier are billed (Subscription and Membership-Only listings only — see below)
Inventory Control Mode — How wines are selected for shipments: Exact Set (winery curates the selection) or Customer Choice (members pick their own). This is set per tier.

Billing Frequency

Billing frequency determines how often members are charged. The available frequencies depend on the listing type.

Subscription and Membership-Only Listings

For Subscription and Membership-Only listings, each tier has a billing frequency. The available options are:

Frequency	How Often Members Are Charged
Monthly	Every month
Every Other Month	Every two months
Quarterly	Every three months
Semi-Annually	Every six months
Annually	Once a year

The billing frequency is set per tier, so different tiers within the same listing can have different frequencies if needed. Once a member joins, they're automatically billed at the tier's frequency until they cancel or their membership is paused.

Release Listings

Release listings do not have a billing frequency. Members are billed per release — they're only charged when you create and send out a release. There's no fixed schedule. You decide when to create a release, and members are charged at that time.

How Pricing Works

The price you set on a tier is the total amount charged per billing period. It is not calculated per bottle.

Example for Subscription tiers:

A "3-Bottle Monthly" tier priced at $75 means the member pays $75 every month and receives 3 bottles.
A "6-Bottle Quarterly" tier priced at $180 means the member pays $180 every three months and receives 6 bottles.

Example for Release tiers:

A "6-Bottle" tier priced at $120 means the member pays $120 each time a release is created.

Example for Membership-Only tiers:

A "Gold" tier priced at $25/month means the member pays $25 every month for rewards and benefits — no wine fulfillment.

Inventory Control Mode

Each tier has an inventory control mode that determines how wines are selected for shipments:

Mode	How It Works
Exact Set	The winery pre-selects the exact wines and quantities in each shipment. All members receive the same curated selection. Members have no choice.
Customer Choice	The winery defines a pool of available wines. Members choose which ones they want up to their tier's bottle count. A choice cutoff deadline limits when members can change selections.

The inventory control mode is set at the tier level and applies to all templates created for that tier. See the Templates guide for details on setting up Exact Set and Customer Choice templates.

Rewards Per Tier

Rewards are attached at the tier level, not the listing level. This means different tiers within the same listing can offer different rewards. For example:

Your Explorer tier might include a 10% discount on additional wine purchases
Your Connoisseur tier might include a 15% discount plus "Free tasting for 4"
Your Collector tier might include a 20% discount, free tastings, and "Early access to new releases"

Reward types include:

Percentage discounts — A percentage off purchases (e.g., 10% off, 15% off)
Fixed discounts — A dollar amount off purchases (e.g., $10 off, $25 off)
Text-based benefits — Freeform perks you describe in your own words (e.g., "Free tasting for 4", "Complimentary shipping on reorders", "Invite to annual harvest dinner")

This lets you create clear value differences between tiers and give members a reason to choose a higher level. See the Rewards and Discounts guide for configuration details.

Loyalty Program Participation

Each tier has a Participates in Rewards Program toggle (default on). When your business has an active Rewards Program, members of participating tiers also accrue points and can redeem points-priced rewards at the POS in addition to their tier rewards. Turn this off if a tier already includes everything the program would offer and you don't want overlap.

When a new member joins your listing, they see all available tiers and choose the one they want. The listing's public signup page displays each tier's name, price, bottle count, description, billing frequency, and rewards so members can compare and decide.

Tier Template Assignments

Every tier in a Subscription or Release club has two template "slots" that determine what members receive:

Enrollment Template — Used for the initial purchase when a new member joins. The Templates page shows an In Use pill next to whichever template is assigned here.
Default Fulfillment Template — Prefills each new release (Release clubs) or each new cycle (Subscription clubs). The Templates page shows a Default pill next to the template assigned here.

You manage these assignments from the Templates page using Set as Enrollment Template and Set as Default Fulfillment Template in the template sidebar footer.

Required vs optional assignments:

Club Type	Enrollment Template	Default Fulfillment Template
Subscription	Optional (welcome package)	Required
Release with Requires Initial Purchase	Required	Required
Release without Requires Initial Purchase	Optional	Required
Membership-Only	Optional (welcome gift)	Not used

If a tier has Requires Initial Purchase enabled, you cannot clear its enrollment template — you must assign a different one first or disable the initial purchase requirement. This safeguard prevents members from enrolling on a tier that expects an initial wine selection without a template to fulfill it.

For per-release or per-member overrides, see Templates.

Changing a Member's Tier

Members can be moved between tiers after they've joined. You can change a member's tier from the member sidebar on the Members page (Dashboard → Members), and members can change their own tier from their member portal.

The behavior depends on the club type:

Subscription Clubs

For subscription clubs you choose when the new tier takes effect:

Apply at next billing cycle (default for members and the recommended choice for merchants) — The new tier takes effect when the current period ends. The member finishes the current cycle on their original tier; their next invoice and next reservation are on the new tier. No proration. No reservation changes during the current cycle.
Apply immediately (prorate) (staff only) — Stripe prorates the difference between the old and new tier and the current cycle's reservation is updated to the new tier on the spot. The reservation's template, bottle count, and estimated subtotal change immediately.

Release Clubs

For release clubs, the tier change is always immediate — there's no recurring billing schedule to defer to. When you change a release member's tier:

The membership flips to the new tier right away.
Any open release that has not yet charged checks whether the new tier has a template configured. If so, the member's current reservation is updated to the new tier's template, bottle count, and estimated subtotal. If not, the change applies to future releases only.

The Change Tier dialog shows a preview banner before you confirm, telling you exactly what will happen to the current open release.

Tier Change Impact Preview

For release-club members with an open release, the dialog displays one of these banners:

Situation	Banner Color	Message
Current reservation will be updated	Blue	Shows the release name, new template name, new bottle count, and estimated subtotal so you can sanity-check the change
Reservation has been customized	Amber	Customized reservations are protected — the items you (or the member) hand-picked will not be overwritten. The membership still moves to the new tier; future releases use the new tier
Charge run is in progress	Gray	A bulk charge job is running for this release; tier changes for the current release are locked until the job finishes
Already charged	Gray	The reservation is past the charge phase; tier change applies to future releases only
No open release	Gray	The membership moves to the new tier; the next release will use the new tier
New tier has no template on this release	Gray	The release's template map has no entry for the new tier; future releases use the new tier

After you confirm, a toast confirms what happened — whether the open reservation was updated, kept customized, locked by a charge job, or moved forward to future releases only.

What Always Changes

Regardless of club type or timing:

The member's price, bottle count, and billing frequency match the new tier going forward.
Any rewards associated with the old tier are replaced by the rewards on the new tier.
The change is recorded in the membership's history with the staff member (or member) who made the change.

Pending Tier Changes

For subscription clubs, when you (or a member) chose "Apply at next billing cycle," the membership carries a Pending Tier Change until the current period ends. You can cancel a pending tier change from the member sidebar — the membership stays on its original tier and the pending change is removed.

Shipping Cost Configuration

Shipping costs can be configured at the tier level or at the business group level. The system resolves which shipping option to use based on configuration priority — if a tier has its own shipping cost settings, those are used. If not, the business group's default shipping settings apply.

Cost Types

For each shipping speed, you choose one of these cost types:

Cost Type	How It Works
Free	Shipping is free for members. Your business covers the full shipping cost.
Flat Rate	Members pay a fixed shipping fee that you set, regardless of the actual carrier cost.
Cover Up To	Your business covers shipping costs up to a dollar amount you set. If the actual cost exceeds that amount, the member pays the difference.
Customer Pays	The member pays the entire actual carrier shipping cost on top of their membership price.

This flexibility lets you offer free or subsidized shipping on premium tiers as a perk while keeping costs manageable on lower tiers.

At Least One Tier Required

Every listing must have at least one tier before it can be published. You can add as many tiers as you need, but a listing with zero tiers cannot go live.