Why am I listed as a free reader when I paid for a subscription?

Seeing your subscription status as "free subscriber" on the manage subscription page of a publication when you've paid for a monthly, annual, or founding subscription?

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The likely culprit may be your email address– whether it's a typo in the email address used to sign up for a subscription plan or a completely different email address.

We recommend signing out of your Substack account and signing in with any other email address you may have used.

If you're still not seeing a paid subscription, contact our Support team with the following information so they can locate your paid subscription:

  • Any other email addresses you might have used on Substack. If you received a receipt, the billing email address is listed in the body of the email. It says: "Subscription for [EMAIL ADDRESS]"
  • The last four digits of the card used for the payment
  • The date and amount of the charge
  • The zip/postal code linked to the credit card
Tip: As a refresher, steps on how to sign into Substack can be found here.
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