An A+ membership is a voluntary contribution toward Autostraddle that supports everything we do. It’s not the same thing, as say, a TV streaming subscription where you are expecting to get your “money’s worth” from the service because, truth be told, MOST of the money from A+ memberships goes toward supporting the whole site, and keeping the site majority free-to-read for everyone, not just toward A+ exclusive content and not just toward A+ perks. So, you are always welcome to cancel, because your gift is your choice. An A+ membership is like a donation in spirit, except that Autostraddle is NOT a tax-exempt nonprofit organization.
We make it very easy to cancel. You can do it yourself! We won’t make you talk to a representative, we won’t make you jump through hoops. You can just login to your member account and go to this link to cancel. If you have trouble with this, though, please submit a help ticket, and Nicole will help you cancel. They’re the only one who answers help tickets, so please give them a few days to get back to you (don’t panic if you don’t hear back right away!).
A word about perks and cancelling: When people cancel their memberships just after receiving their perks, it makes us sad! For monthly memberships, usually, the perks + shipping are worth more than two monthly contributions, not even counting the amount of time it takes to send them. So, if you cancel after receiving your perks, it actually drains our resources more than if you hadn’t signed up in the first place. And our A+ Director, Nico, sends the perks out themselves, so it definitely costs our small team time. We ask that if you sign up for a monthly membership, that you plan on staying a member at that level for at least a year. Of course, we recognize that things happen, and we won’t hold you to committing to a whole year (because, again, you can cancel anytime), but it is what we are asking, honor system-style.
Regarding refunds, we are happy to refund you if you accidentally subscribed to A+ (or the wrong level) or if your membership renewed and you weren’t expecting it. Just submit a help ticket to get the process started.
Can we transfer the funds spent on your membership, or transfer the membership itself to another person or redeem for merch or Autostraddle store credit? No, unfortunately. All of this is too complex for us to handle. The most we can do is to refund your transaction, and then, from there, if you want to buy a membership for someone else or make a purchase in the store, you are welcome to do so.
Are you experience other issues with your account? Submit a help ticket here. You can also email our A+ Director Nico at nico [at] autostraddle.com, but be advised that they’re also the one who answers help tickets!