💼 Billing & Plans
Understand the Africa Conglomerate plan tiers, manage your subscription, upgrade to unlock advanced features, and — if you are on a commission-based plan — set up payouts so the platform can pay you. Depending on your company country that means a Stripe Connect Express account or Flutterwave payout details (bank or mobile money).
- Your company account must be approved (see Account Setup)
- Only users with an Admin or Owner role can manage billing
- A valid payment method (credit/debit card) is required for paid plan upgrades
- Commission-model sellers must have their company country set in Company Profile — it decides which payout rail you are onboarded onto
Part 1 — Understanding Your Plan
Africa Conglomerate offers three plan tiers designed for businesses at different stages of growth. Your plan controls which features are visible in your navigation and which usage limits apply.
View Your Current Plan
Go to Billing → My Plan. The overview page shows:
- Current plan name, its description and price (a green Free badge for Starter)
- Subscription Status — Free Access Period (new organisations still choosing a plan), Access Expired, Active, Trial, Past Due, or Cancelled
- Renewal date — "Renews <date>" (or "Cancels on <date>") for paid subscription plans
- Billing Interval — Monthly or Annual, or Free
- Usage meters — live counters for companies, users, products, and monthly orders against your plan limits
Compare Plans
Click Billing → Upgrade Plan to open the Choose a Plan comparison page. The three tiers are:
- Starter (Free) — commission model. No monthly fee; the platform collects your customers' payments and keeps a commission (5% by default) on each sale. Core ordering and catalog features included. Analytics, carrier integrations, report exports, and API access are not available.
- Growth — subscription model. A flat monthly or annual fee, no per-transaction commission. Unlocks Analytics, Shipments/Carriers, Report Exports, MFA and higher usage limits. You collect payments yourself through the methods you enable under Finance → Payment Methods.
- Enterprise — subscription model. All features including REST API access, unlimited usage, and priority support.
Part 2 — Upgrade Your Plan
Start the Upgrade
On the Choose a Plan page, pick Monthly or Annual with the toggle at the top, then click Get Started — $49/mo on Growth (or the Enterprise card). You will be redirected to a Stripe-hosted checkout page where you can enter your card details securely.
Confirm and Return
After payment completes, Stripe redirects you back to Africa Conglomerate with the message "Payment successful! Your plan will be updated within a few moments." The plan change is applied when Stripe's webhook arrives — usually within seconds — after which the additional navigation items (Analytics, Shipments, Reports) appear in the sidebar.
Manage Billing in the Stripe Portal
To update your payment method, view invoice history, or cancel your subscription, click Manage Billing at the top of Billing → My Plan (the button only appears once you have a paid Stripe subscription). You will be redirected to the Stripe Customer Portal where you can:
- Add or remove payment methods
- Download past invoices (PDF)
- Change billing email
- Cancel or pause your subscription
Part 3 — Payout Onboarding (Commission-Model Sellers)
If your organisation is on a Starter plan or any commission-based tier, you sell through Africa Conglomerate's marketplace and the platform collects payments on your behalf. To receive your earnings you must tell the platform where to pay you. The payout rail is chosen from your company country, never assumed:
- Stripe-supported countries (US, UK, EU, Canada, Australia and others) — Stripe Connect Express onboarding (Steps 6–9).
- Supported African countries (Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, Rwanda, Zambia, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Egypt, Malawi, Ethiopia) — Flutterwave payout details (Step 10).
- No country set — you are sent to Company Profile with "Please set your company country in Company Profile before starting payment onboarding."
Check Your Payout Status
Go to Billing → My Plan. If your plan uses the commission model, a payout banner appears beneath the plan cards. It always names your rail — a Flutterwave seller is never asked for Stripe — and has two states:
- Set up Stripe Connect (amber) with a Start Onboarding button — onboarding not yet verified by Stripe
- Stripe Connect active (green) with a Stripe Dashboard button — Stripe has verified you; the banner also states the commission deducted per transaction
Flutterwave-routed sellers see Set up Flutterwave payouts / Flutterwave payouts active with a Payout details button instead. If your country has no payout rail, no banner is shown — contact support.
Start Onboarding
Click Start Onboarding (/billing/connect/onboard/).
The platform creates your Stripe Express account for your company country
and redirects you to Stripe's hosted onboarding form. Stripe will ask for:
- Your business type (individual or company)
- Legal business name and registered address
- Tax identification number (TIN / company registration number)
- Bank account details for payouts (account number and routing/sort code)
- Identity verification — a government-issued ID for the account representative
Complete and Return
After submitting all required information, Stripe redirects you back to
Africa Conglomerate (/billing/connect/return/). If your details
were submitted you see You're connected! with an
Open Stripe Dashboard button; if you left the form early you
see Almost there with a Continue Onboarding
button — your progress is saved.
The banner on Billing → My Plan stays on Set up Stripe Connect until Stripe's account.updated webhook confirms both that your details were submitted and that charges are enabled (typically minutes for automated review, up to 2 business days for manual review). It then switches to Stripe Connect active and buyers can pay for your products.
Access Your Stripe Express Dashboard
Once the banner shows Stripe Connect active, click
Stripe Dashboard on Billing → My Plan
(/billing/connect/dashboard/) to open your Stripe Express
Dashboard. From there you can:
- View your payout history and upcoming payouts
- Update your bank account details
- Review individual transactions and fees
- Download tax documents (1099/W-9 for US accounts)
Flutterwave Payout Setup (African Sellers)
If your company country is one Stripe cannot onboard, Start
Onboarding takes you to Set up Flutterwave payouts
(/billing/flutterwave/onboard/) instead. Choose a payout method
and tell the platform where to send your earnings:
- Bank account — pick your bank from the list (shown by name, e.g. "STANBIC BANK LIMITED (UG16000)"); if the bank publishes branches a Branch field appears and is required; enter the account number
- Mobile money — pick the network from the list for your country and enter the mobile-money number
- Contact mobile number — always required
Click Connect payout account. You return to the same page, which now reads You're set up to get paid and shows the bank or network name, the account masked to its last four digits, the payout country and when it was last updated. Use Change payout details to correct a mistake — the form reopens pre-filled and Save changes applies to future payouts only.