For writers with paid newsletters
Recover failed paid newsletter payments automatically
Whether you publish on Ghost, Substack, or your own site, paid newsletter renewals are charged through your Stripe account. Creator Dunning watches it and emails readers from you when a card fails, then follows up until they pay.
Founding offer: connect by December 31, 2026 and it's free until June 30, 2027, however many subscribers you have. No card needed.
FromJane's Field Notes Billing
Reply-tojane@example.com
SubjectYour $8.00 payment to Jane's Field Notes didn't go through
Hi Sam,
We couldn't process the $8.00 payment for your Jane's Field Notes subscription. Your subscription stays active for now, but we'll need an updated payment method to keep it that way.
Update your payment method and pay now
If you've already resolved this, you can ignore this email. Reply to this message if you have any questions.
Jane
$8.00 recovered
Sam updated their card · 2 days later
paid newsletter platforms today
Newsletter platforms hand recovery to Stripe's automatic retries. Readers whose card expired or hit a limit get no personal note, and after two weeks of silent retries the subscription lapses without anyone deciding to leave.
How Creator Dunning connects
Connect the Stripe account your newsletter bills through. Creator Dunning reads subscription and invoice events, imports your current subscribers, and starts on any reader who is already past due.
Common questions
Before you connect.
My readers pay annually. Does that change anything?
No. An annual renewal that fails is worth twelve months of revenue, which makes a personal reminder even more worthwhile. Reminders run for 30 days after the failure.
Will this feel like spam to my readers?
It is one plain email with the amount and a link to fix the card, from your name, with replies going to you. Follow-ups are three days apart and stop the moment the invoice is paid.
What if a reader wants to cancel instead?
They can ignore the emails; after 30 days we stop. Nothing we send changes their subscription or charges them.
Roughly one in ten renewals fails
Most of them are fixable.
Involuntary churn is 20–40% of all subscription churn, and Stripe's default retries recover only 25–35% of failed consumer payments. A timely, personal email closes most of that gap. See the numbers and sources.