Billing & subscription

The Billing screen shows the status of your ZweiHost subscription and lets you manage it yourself. It has two tabs: Subscription (your plan, usage, and upgrades) and Card Payments (how your shop accepts cards).

Free trial

Every new site starts on a 30-day free trial, no card and no contract. It starts the moment you first see your shop - for a shop created from zweihost.com/en/start that is your first sign-in; for a migrated shop, the delivery of the demo. While it runs your site is fully active and sells for real (cash on delivery, pickup from the shop, and the couriers once connected). If you picked a plan on the site it is remembered as your reference; if not, the shop runs on the default plan until you choose one. A banner at the top of the admin shows how many days are left.

While we are moving your shop

If we are migrating your existing shop, your trial has not started yet - it begins on the day we deliver your catalogue. Until then Home and Subscription show the Migration card instead of a countdown and instead of a plan chooser, and it tells you where we are:

• looking at your shop - we have not asked you for anything yet; we will email you if we need to;
• waiting for a file - we need your catalogue export. The Upload the file button uploads it right here. The 3-5 working days start when it arrives;
• working on it - we have everything, and we will email you as soon as your catalogue and design are in.

Meanwhile the shop you see is loaded with our sample products so you can try the system out. They are not your catalogue and they go when yours arrives. Anything you set up in the meantime (name, logo, colours, delivery) stays - your products land in this same shop.

We will not ask you for a card before we have delivered. Your 30 free days start at delivery, so waiting costs you nothing.

What you see while it runs

Home carries a Free trial card: how many days are left, a «day X of 30 · until <date>» track, and three lines answering the three questions - is my shop online, when will I be charged, do I keep my work. Beside them are Choose a plan and a link to ask for a call. A strip above every page names the day and the consequence; from three days out it becomes more insistent.

The readiness card switches to its trial form too - five rows: first order, first product, courier, domain and choosing a plan, plus a sixth, «Describe your product with ZwAI», if your shop has ZwAI. The courier row follows your answer to «How do you deliver?» - with pickup only it becomes «Pickup from the shop». Sample products do not count. More in Getting started.

We also write to you by email throughout - from «Your shop is ready» on day 0 to the reminders in the final days. We only write to your verified address, and we stop the moment you choose a plan. If you started a new shop but never reached Done in «Make it yours», you get one reminder about an hour after the shop was created (never between 22:00 and 08:00), and on day 1 a mail to finish the shop instead of the first-order one. The button in both takes you straight back into «Make it yours». If you reached Done, you get neither.

What happens on day 30

With no plan chosen, the shop stops taking orders and customers see a message that it is temporarily unavailable. Nothing is deleted: the products, design, customers and orders stay for another 30 days, and the export in Data › Export works the whole time. Choose a plan and the shop is back online immediately. After those 30 days the shop and its data are deleted - we warn you by email beforehand.

The trial cannot be extended. If you need more time, call us and a person will help.

Choosing a plan during the trial

While you are on a trial, the Subscription tab is a plan chooser: the four plans side by side with the annual price and the struck-through monthly one, the plan you picked on the site pre-selected and chipped «Picked on the site», and a «What changes» box underneath.

That box matters and is deliberately honest: it lists what your shop uses today that the selected plan does not include, with a ✗ on each line. Nothing is deleted; the features are simply locked, and unlock again if you change plan. Read it before you pay.

If you agreed an individual price, you see only that price - «Your individual price» - and an Add a card button (or Take the shop live for a migrated shop) instead of the four plans. It is billed monthly once your trial ends. If you have the -50% first-month discount, it is shown under the price and applies to the individual price too.

Then click Choose <plan> and add a card (or Take the shop live with <plan> for a migrated shop). The secure Stripe page opens. Nothing is charged before the trial ends, and the first 14 days after your first payment carry a money-back guarantee.

Once you have added a card

Once your card is added, the chooser no longer offers a new subscription. Your current plan is marked «Current plan», its billing period (monthly or annual) is pre-selected, and your card sits above the plans - for example Visa •••• 4242 · expires 08/29 - with a Change card button. The bottom button reads «This is your current plan» until you pick another plan; it then becomes Switch to <plan> and changes the same subscription. Your trial does not change and nothing is charged before it ends. The bar at the top asking you to choose a plan disappears.

A shop has one subscription: a second one cannot be opened, not even from an old browser tab.

Going live (for a migrated shop)

If we are moving your shop to us, it runs in demo mode until you take it live: every page says "demo", card payments are simulated, and courier labels are demo ones that cannot be shipped. That is deliberate - it lets you try everything without touching your existing shop.

In Settings › Subscription you will find the «Take your shop live» card. It unlocks once two things are true:

1. You have chosen a plan and paid by card.
2. We have moved your catalogue across (you received the "Your shop demo is ready" email).

The second condition matters: until your catalogue is delivered, the shop still holds the sample products - going live then would publish those on your own domain.

Once you press the button: the "demo" notice disappears, card payments start taking real money, courier labels become real, and your own domain unlocks in Settings › Domain. Moving the domain is the last step of going live.

Subscribing

When you're ready, choose Monthly or Annual (annual costs less per month) and click Subscribe. A secure Stripe page opens where you enter your card. Your first payment is only taken when the trial ends - the card is saved in advance so your site keeps running without interruption. Founding partners enter their founding code on that page for the first-year discount.

Your plan and its price are shown on the Subscription tab: your tier, the amount, any founding discount, the payment date, and usage meters (products, newsletter, BackOffice users, languages) against your plan's limits. The users meter counts every account regardless of role - add new ones from Users & access. VAT is added automatically.

During the free trial the date tile reads First payment and shows the day your trial ends - that is when you are first charged. After that it reads Next billing and shows your next renewal date.

If you agreed an individual price with ZweiHost, the tab shows that price - it is what Stripe charges from your next invoice. When we change it, the new price also applies from the next invoice - nothing extra is charged mid-month. An individual price does not move when the plan changes, which is why plan changes go through us.

Managing billing

Once subscribed, the button becomes Manage billing. It takes you to the Stripe portal, where you can:

• change your card;
• download invoices;
• cancel the subscription.

Your card also shows on the Subscription tab - brand, last four digits and expiry - with a Change card button that opens the same portal.

Changing your plan

To move between tiers, or between monthly and annual billing, click Change plan (or See full tier comparison) on the Subscription tab. This opens the tier comparison table - every plan side by side with its price and features, your current plan highlighted. Pick a cadence (monthly/annual) and click Upgrade or Downgrade under the plan you want, then confirm.

Before you confirm, the dialog shows the amount from Stripe, VAT included: what you pay today, and when and how much the next payment is. Moving from monthly to annual, you pay the annual price minus the unused days of the current month. For example: Pro annual €489.60 minus 15 unused days of Pro monthly (€23.40) = €466.20 today, and the next payment is a year later. During the free trial you pay nothing today - only the amount of the first payment changes.

From Business up, plans also include Purchase orders to suppliers and the Expenses and Profit reports. If you move below Business, those screens are hidden but your records are kept, and they come back when you choose Business or Enterprise again. If your plan has an individual price agreed with ZweiHost, the Change plan button is not shown and the comparison table is for reference only - write to us and we will change the plan for you.

Overdue payment

If a payment fails, you get a few days of grace period during which the site stays online and you see a warning.

Card payments (add-on)

If you have the Card Payments add-on, the Card Payments tab of the Billing screen lets you connect your own Stripe account so your shop can accept card payments.

Click Connect with Stripe - Stripe's secure form opens, where you add a bank account and ID. It takes a few minutes.

Outside the alternative regime, a card payment owes a касов бон from your own device. That is why Connect with Stripe and the Borica setup wait for a "Yes" to the own-fiscal-device question in Fiscal receipts - or the regime switched on. Until then, card is not offered at checkout.

The status shows as:

• Not connected - you haven't started yet;
• Setup incomplete - you started but didn't finish the form (resume it);
• Verification in progress - Stripe is checking your details (from a few minutes to a few days); click Refresh status to check;
• Active - your shop accepts card payments.

The Disconnect button stops card payments; your Stripe account itself is not deleted.

VAT on Stripe's fees (Art. 97a, Bulgarian VAT Act)

If your shop is not VAT-registered, the Stripe card shows a note about this. Stripe is an Irish company. So the fees it keeps usually require you to register for VAT under Art. 97a of the VAT Act. You apply before the first fee.

This is not the usual VAT registration. You owe VAT only on Stripe's fees, never on your sales or stock. You do not charge your customers VAT, and you cannot reclaim VAT. An example month:

• €2,000 of card sales;
• ≈ €40 of Stripe fees;
• ≈ €8 of VAT (20% of the fees).

The real cost is the monthly VAT return your accountant files. A Bulgarian bank's virtual POS (Borica) does not trigger Art. 97a. Ask your accountant before you connect Stripe.

Until Stripe is connected, the note is expanded. After that it stays as one row that opens with a tap. If your shop is VAT-registered, switch on Registered under VAT (ЗДДС) in Settings › General › Invoicing and the note goes away.

Who processes card payments: Stripe or Borica

Card payments run through Stripe by default. When your plan also includes Borica, a switch at the top of the section lets you pick one provider:

• Stripe - good for foreign merchants; described above.
• Borica (Bulgarian bank) - the card gateway of Bulgarian banks. Best for Bulgarian shops: settlement runs through your own bank, in BGN/EUR, and your customers recognise the checkout.

Your customer only ever sees a single "Pay by card" option - whichever provider you chose.

Connecting a Borica virtual POS

Setup goes through your bank in three steps:

1. Create your keys. Click Generate keys - the system creates a secure key pair. The private key stays encrypted inside ZweiHost; you only download the request file (CSR).
2. At your bank. Ask your bank to open an e-commerce (интернет магазин) virtual POS via Borica. Give them the CSR file and register the response address (BACKREF) shown on screen. The bank gives you back a Terminal ID (TID) and a signed certificate.
3. Enter your terminal. Fill in the Terminal ID, Merchant ID, merchant name, and paste the signed certificate. Save.

AI allowance (separate from your subscription)

If you use the AI Assistant add-on, it isn't paid for by your monthly subscription. It has its own prepaid allowance that you top up separately and that never expires. It's managed from the assistant's own screen, not here.

Next step

One tool remains, and you may need it at any point: moving a whole site between accounts, or loading your catalogue from a spreadsheet. See Import & export.