Hiya Samuel (I assume :D),
My ask is that you enable pre-renewal notifications alerting users of an upcoming charge, at least for annual subscriptions. This was requested once before over 10 years ago, but I wanted to bring this up again because both legal regulations and card acceptance rules have changed.
W.r.t. the rules around this, AIUI (from providing SaSS services myself) there is are card requirements that subscriptions on a 6-month or longer cadence (such as yearly) must have a pre-charge notification sent (usually 7-30 days prior to the charge). The UK has a law (not yet enforced afaict) with similar requirements. I think the EEA has similar requirements either already in force or pending.
Youâve mentioned in the old thread on this that youâre generous at giving refunds - which is awesome, and a sign that I think you have no ill intentions with this setup. Iâm not going to complain (well, outside this post I guess) or try to cause havoc. And there have been threads here where you show youâre being honest (I think in at least one you even let the person keep the year of service). Which is awesome! But IMO itâs just considerate to notify folks when the cadence is so infrequent. I think it also helps you not get lumped unfairly into subscription scams that use this type of behavior to prey on their âcustomersâ.
Anyway, I love Newsblur and thank you for both creating and providing it - and constantly improving the service. I hope this didnât come off too complain-y or negative. I really think the world would be better if more people used RSS and thank you for your service lol
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Great idea, and thanks for the thoughtful write-up. Youâre right that this has been a request made over the years, and Iâve historically optimized for keeping email to a minimum, emailing just a receipt after youâre charged. My thinking was always that since itâs a relatively small annual charge, most people just want to know when theyâve paid, not be reminded beforehand. And for anyone who changed their mind, Iâve always been happy to give an immediate refund.
That said, I hear you, and Iâve gone ahead and added this. Thereâs now an opt-in checkbox in your Account settings under the Payments tab, right below âChange your credit card.â If you check âEmail me 3 days before my subscription renews,â youâll get a courtesy heads-up three days before the charge goes through. Itâs off by default, so nothing changes for anyone who doesnât want it.
Deploying momentarily.
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So I am assuming this feature has been deployed already. When I went to check the box. First of all itâs missing. Also see screen shot. If my premuim is never going to expire like what I think itâs saying. How is it going to renew and charge me? Not accepting a free ride. Your service is very good.
Hah, likely a disconnect on your account that I gave up on and just gifted you a never expiring premium. The checkbox is hidden if it doesnât apply to you, which is why you donât see it.
Whatâs your username, Iâd love to set you up with payments again, esp. as Iâve recently fixed a bunch of payment related issues, which is maybe what caused this in the first place. (I suspect you changed email addresses, either here or on Paypal)
Thanks!
Also⌠you know youâre running a company well when people insist on paying you. 
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Ok, I found your account and set your premium expiration for a month from now. You should see the checkbox and can set yourself up for receiving the extra email. And now would be a good time to upgrade to Premium Archive, itâs got all the new features and Iâm juuuust about to launch story clustering and the daily briefing this week.
So I see the renewal date. Awesome. However the check box is still not there. Iâve been debating whether to upgrade or to self host it. I do remember a while back you said my account could be a problem if I moved over to premuim archive due to how active the account is. Screen shot attached.
Yeah, that checkbox wonât appear until you actually have a renewal coming up. As for how many feeds you have, Iâve made a lot of improvements and can handle up to 4,000 feeds for premium archive users. Thatâs actually one of the new restrictions: if you have over 1,000 feeds, you have to upgrade to premium archive. Otherwise, you get handed a feed chooser and you have to pare it down to 1,000 feeds.
Okay that makes sense. I honestly can not imagine having 1000 or more feeds running at any time. I currently have roughly 125 feeds and I already probably spend too much time keeping up with it. In the past when I have tried AI to help me organize other services or tasks it has just made a mess of my work flow. That being said I might upgrade and give it a try.
