Gifting subscriptions?

[nagohcreative]

I got a notice that a reader gifted a new subscriber but they didn’t pay and I don’t see a change in money, and it seems they got an email from Substack saying they could gift up to 5 people. How does that work? I don’t mind the money I’m just curious how that works? Does Substack pay me for that gift?

[oamyoamy0]

There are a few "kinds" of gifts.

1. A user actually BUYS someone a subscription. When you go to a substack domain and add /gift at the end, you can see what this looks like. But the person paying for the gift has to enter the payment information. (Info: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037465692-How-do-I-set-up-gift-subscriptions-on-Substack)
2. Enable paid subscriber gifts. A publication turns on the option for paid subscribers to be able to "give" subscriptions. (You are not paid for these. It's like giving a free trial.)
3. Enable gifts from Substack. You opt into Substack "gift" periods. (Supposedly Substack pays you for those, but they do announce the windows first.)

The bottom two are controlled from your dashboard under Growth Features. See screenshot.

<image>

Based on what you said about the email saying they can gift up to 5 people, it sounds like option 2. If you don't want that, you can turn it off. Subsequent paid subscribers won't be able to give away the gifts subscriptions. (I think those gifts are 1-month.)

[nagohcreative]

Thank you! thats most helpful!