Payments about 45 minutes

Make subscriptions easy to understand and cancel

Clear renewal terms before payment, explicit consent to renew, a confirmation email and online cancellation.

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Who needs this

You sell subscriptions, memberships or free trials that turn into paid plans, to consumers.
You sell in California, other US states with automatic renewal laws, the EU or the UK.

Why it matters

California's Automatic Renewal Law (Bus. & Prof. Code §17600 and following) requires clear renewal terms before purchase, the customer's affirmative consent, an acknowledgment that includes how to cancel, and, for subscriptions bought online, a way to cancel online. Many other US states have similar laws.
In the EU, the order button must make clear that ordering means paying (for example 'Order with obligation to pay'), consumers usually have 14 days to withdraw, and Germany requires a visible cancellation button for online contracts (§312k BGB).
Unclear renewals and hard cancellation are a top cause of chargebacks and payment-provider reviews.

Before you paste

Your plans, prices, billing periods and trial lengths.
Your payment provider (Stripe, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, app stores) and whether you use its hosted customer portal.

The prompt

Copy it into your AI builder. Fill in anything in [brackets] first, and review every change before you ship it.

Prompt · paste into Lovable, Cursor, Claude Code or any AI builder

Review the subscription checkout and cancellation in this app and fix them for consumer protection rules.

1. BEFORE PAYMENT (next to the pay button, not hidden in the terms)
Show clearly:
- the price and currency, and how often it's charged
- that it renews automatically until cancelled
- any free trial or introductory price: how long it lasts, the price afterwards and the date the first charge happens
- how to cancel, in one line
Label the pay button with what happens, for example "Subscribe: $19 per month" or "Start free trial, then $19/month". For EU customers, the button must make clear that ordering means paying.

2. CONSENT
- The customer must actively agree to the renewal terms (the clearly labelled button, or an unticked checkbox next to the terms). Record the consent with a timestamp and the terms shown.

3. CONFIRMATION
- Send a confirmation email after purchase with the plan, price, renewal frequency, trial end date if any, and how to cancel (with a direct link).
- For free trials, send a reminder a few days before the first charge.

4. CANCELLATION
- Add "Cancel subscription" in account settings, reachable in a few clicks, with no phone call or chat required. If you use Stripe's customer portal or Paddle's, link it clearly.
- You may show one retention offer, but the cancel option must stay visible and work in one click from there.
- Confirm on screen and by email, with the date access ends.
- For Germany, add a "Cancel contracts here" button (Verträge hier kündigen) that's always reachable.

5. PRICE CHANGES
- Before increasing a subscriber's price, email them in advance with the new price, the date and how to cancel.

6. EU WITHDRAWAL
- For EU consumers, explain the 14-day right of withdrawal at checkout. If the service starts immediately, ask for their express request to start now and their acknowledgment of how that affects the right to withdraw, and record it.

When you're done: list every file you changed, explain each change in one line, and give me a step-by-step test for each numbered item above. Don't change anything unrelated.

Builder tips

Lovable

If you use Stripe, ask Lovable to link the Stripe customer portal for cancellation instead of building a custom flow.

Claude Code

Ask it to show you the checkout screen text exactly as a customer sees it, so you can read it as a customer would.

Cursor

Use Agent mode and @-mention the files that matter (your layout, auth and database files), so it reads them before editing.

Common mistakes

Renewal terms only in the terms of service.
Cancellation only by email, chat or phone.
Several retention screens before the cancel button works.
No reminder before a free trial converts.

Check it worked

1Start checkout as a new customer: before paying, you can see the price, frequency, auto-renewal, trial end and how to cancel.
2Complete a test purchase: the confirmation email has the same terms and a working cancel link.
3Cancel from account settings: count the clicks. It should be no harder than signing up.
4The cancellation email states when access ends.

What a SafeLaunch scan adds

SafeLaunch checks checkout and cancellation wording against the subscription rules of each of your markets.

One free fix in your inbox each week

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Questions

Partly. Their hosted checkout and portal help, but the terms shown before payment, your emails and how easy cancellation is in your app are still your responsibility.

Apple and Google handle billing and cancellation for in-app purchases, but your app must still show clear subscription terms before purchase under their own guidelines.

Sources

General guidance for common problems, not legal advice. Whether a rule applies depends on where you operate, who your users are and the size of your business.

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