Review the disclosures for a recurring-order offer
Review the amount or amount basis, who initiates each payment, billing timing and frequency, the buyer’s agreement, the route that stops future charges and the separate shipment promise. Match the offer page and enrollment flow to records your system can retain and actions your team can perform. For covered Internet negative-option consumer transactions, 15 USC 8403 requires material terms before billing information, express informed consent before charging and simple mechanisms to stop recurring charges. That is a conditional federal consumer baseline, not a conclusion for every business-to-business research-only offer. Hold publication of an offer whose material terms, consent mechanism or cancellation operation remain unresolved.
For: A research-only merchant preparing a recurring-order or standing-supply offer and comparing its public terms with the billing and fulfillment arrangement it actually plans to use.
Describe the actual arrangement before choosing its wording
Write whether the buyer actively places each repeat order or whether the business initiates future payments under an ongoing agreement. Identify what continues automatically, the products or supply commitment involved, any stated duration and what ends the arrangement. A recurring-supply label does not, on its own, establish how billing works or which obligations apply.
Keep the proposed offer page, the enrollment flow, payment configuration and operating instructions together. Compare the first charge with later charges: amount or calculation basis, currency, timing, frequency and any difference in shipping or other stated components. Use the plan the business has actually approved; an undecided amount or cancellation process is a missing term, not an opportunity to fill in familiar subscription language.
For an existing offer, retain the terms version and genuine consent records associated with current participants. A revised page does not establish what someone agreed to previously. For a new offer with no enrollments, identify how the chosen system will retain the agreement without fabricating completed customer consent.
Apply the documented consent baseline only within its scope
Section 8403 of Title 15 addresses charges or attempted charges to consumers for Internet transactions through a negative-option feature. It conditions those charges on clear disclosure of all material transaction terms before obtaining billing information, express informed consent before charging and simple mechanisms to stop recurring charges. Check the sequence of the proposed flow, not just whether the terms can eventually be found somewhere on the site.
This provision does not establish its applicability to every business-to-business research-only purchase, resolve every state or country requirement, or determine the sufficiency of a particular control. Record the actual buyer and transaction context for qualified counsel to assess. Do not infer that a research-only label creates an exemption, or that following these three points completes every legal obligation.
Where Stripe is the payment setup actually used, its save-and-reuse guide separates saving a method from making a charge. It limits reuse to the agreed purpose and calls for explicit consent to the intended future use and retention of the written agreement. For payments initiated while the customer is absent, the terms should describe the customer’s agreement to the merchant initiating specified payments, anticipated timing and frequency, how amounts are determined and cancellation terms for subscriptions. These are Stripe’s documented consent and technical requirements; they do not approve a merchant category or replace another provider’s instructions.
Make cancellation a usable operation and a separate record
Trace the route the offer tells a buyer to use: where it begins, what the buyer must do, which system or person receives it and how future charges are stopped. Compare the advertised effect with the action available in the actual arrangement. Distinguish stopping later renewals, cancelling an order already in progress and requesting money back for a completed charge. The offer should not promise that one action necessarily performs all three.
Record the terms version shown, the acceptance mechanism, the stored agreement location and the cancellation event or authorized workflow. A proposed checkbox is not evidence of a retained agreement until the actual integration establishes what it stores. Keep customer-specific records in their authorized systems; this worksheet needs the record type and location, not card data, identity documents or copies of private customer agreements.
If a charge has already happened, its refund is a separate payment process. Stripe’s refund documentation says refunds use available balance and that insufficient available funds leave card refunds pending while refunds for other method types fail. That supports checking the actual method and status before describing money as returned. It does not supply a recurring-offer disclosure rule, determine whether a refund is owed or justify a promised refund-arrival date.
Keep shipment promises, notices and payment failures explicit
Write the billing schedule and the shipment timing basis separately. A recurring payment date is not evidence that goods are available or that a carrier will receive them on that date. Compare the offer’s shipment wording with the inventory and fulfillment commitment the business can support, and state what the arrangement actually provides if those schedules diverge.
The limited-applicability provision of 16 CFR 435 contains exclusions for specified transactions. Do not assume that a one-time-order shipment rule answers the full disclosure question for a recurring offer, and do not treat an exclusion as permission to make an unsupported shipment promise. The particular arrangement and applicable law still need their own assessment.
List renewal notices and failed-payment messages the business actually promises or its configured process actually sends. Identify the basis for any required notice, deadline, retry or stopping rule in the applicable legal advice, provider terms or documented setup. This page supplies no universal notice period or failed-payment rule. Where the owner has not decided what happens, leave that process unresolved and settle it before publishing an offer that implies a definite outcome.
Use the review to make a publication decision
The offer is ready for a content decision when its material billing terms are settled, the enrollment presentation matches them, agreement retention is established, the cancellation route has an assigned operation and shipment promises have a basis. A missing core term or unsupported cancellation promise is a reason to hold the recurring offer while the owner resolves it. A completed worksheet is evidence of preparation, not legal clearance or payment-provider permission.
Assign one owner to reconcile the public offer, checkout text, linked policy and ongoing messages. Keep the publication version and decision date so later changes can be assessed against what buyers actually agreed to. Record any legal applicability or provider restriction that still needs an answer instead of marking it resolved from a working saved-payment feature.
Prism’s website-review service provides an informational review within an agreed scope. A consultation can start with the offer URL, the proposed billing and cancellation explanation and the specific inconsistencies in this sheet. Confirm the pages and deliverables to be examined. Legal conclusions, provider eligibility and any implementation responsibilities remain separate decisions.
Recurring-offer disclosure checklist
Use the real offer and actual or approved configuration. In the last column record the public wording, its supporting record, owner and ready or unresolved decision. For a new offer, describe the genuine retention mechanism; never invent a customer agreement. Private agreements and payment data stay in authorized systems.
Worksheet entries are not submitted by Prism’s worksheet and are not saved by the site. Use record types, availability, anonymized observations, or match/mismatch results. Do not enter government identifiers, customer names or addresses, customer messages, receipt-access links, card or bank details, passwords, or keys. Send sensitive documents only through the provider’s verified secure channel.
Recurring-offer disclosure checklist. The last column is for temporary notes.
Offer decision
Evidence to compare
What must be resolved
Your finding and owner
Billing frequency and amount
Evidence to compareFirst and later charges, currency, amount or determination basis, timing and who initiates the payments.
What must be resolvedDoes the offer explain the same series of payments the actual arrangement would initiate?
Terms before billing information
Evidence to compareThe offer and enrollment sequence, including where material terms appear.
What must be resolvedFor covered Internet negative-option consumer transactions, assess the required sequence; record other applicability questions separately.
Consent and retained agreement
Evidence to compareExact terms version, acceptance mechanism and authorized location of the stored agreement.
What must be resolvedSaving a payment method is not a charge or consent to every future use; verify the intended use is agreed and retained.
How to cancel
Evidence to compareThe buyer’s starting route, required steps, responsible system or team and effect on future billing.
What must be resolvedSeparate stopping recurring charges from handling an existing order or refund; resolve a route that cannot deliver its promised effect.
Shipment timing basis
Evidence to comparePublic dispatch or supply promise compared with the actual inventory and fulfillment commitment.
What must be resolvedKeep the shipment basis distinct from the payment schedule; do not infer one from the other.
Renewal notice
Evidence to compareAny promised or applicable notice, its documented basis, timing and actual sending owner.
What must be resolvedNo universal notice period is supplied here. Determine the applicable requirement and whether the promised notice can be delivered.
Failed-payment handling
Evidence to compareConfigured and documented retry, notice, order and shipment behavior, plus the public explanation.
What must be resolvedDo not invent a grace period or retry rule; settle the operational decision before promising it.
Completed-charge refund
Evidence to compareThe refund procedure and actual method/status where a completed charge exists.
What must be resolvedCancellation of future charges does not establish that prior money was returned; a pending refund is still pending.
Wording owner and release decision
Evidence to compareThe owner of the offer, checkout, linked policy and recurring messages, with the version proposed for publication.
What must be resolvedHold unresolved material terms; retain the final decision and any separate legal or provider dependencies.
These are temporary notes. Leaving or reloading this page may clear them. Worksheet entries are not sent automatically. If you copy notes into the consultation message and submit the form, Prism receives them as part of your request.
Limits
15 USC 8403 is used only as a conditional baseline for covered Internet negative-option consumer transactions. This page does not determine applicability to a particular business-to-business offer or satisfy every jurisdiction’s rules.
No universal renewal-notice deadline, failed-payment rule or refund entitlement is supplied. Shipment duties and billing authorization require separate assessment.
Stripe saving and refund mechanics do not establish research-only merchant eligibility. A website review is informational and does not provide legal clearance or guarantee processing.
Do not put payment credentials, card numbers, identity documents or private customer agreements into the worksheet or public consultation form.
15 USC Ch. 110: ONLINE SHOPPER PROTECTION — checked 2026-09-29. Section 8403 addresses Internet negative-option consumer transactions: material terms before billing information, express informed consent before charging and simple mechanisms to stop recurring charges. It does not establish applicability to every business-to-business offer.
Stripe save and reuse payment methods — checked 2026-09-29. Saving without payment is separate from charging; future use requires specific agreed scope and a retained agreement. Offline-payment terms include initiation, timing/frequency, amount basis and subscription cancellation. This is not merchant eligibility approval.
FTC Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order rule, limited applicability — checked 2026-09-21. Lists exclusions from the merchandise rule for specified transactions. It does not supply a complete recurring-billing disclosure framework or clear a merchant’s shipment promises.
Stripe refunds — checked 2026-09-29. Refund mechanics depend on payment method and state. Insufficient available balance leaves card refunds pending while refunds for other method types fail; this does not establish recurring disclosure duties or a refund entitlement.
Prism features — checked 2026-09-21. Website review covers product descriptions, marketing claims, store policies and business disclosures within an informational scope, without legal certification or a guarantee of approval.