Subscriptions & Refund Policy

Understand our subscription terms, refund eligibility, cancellation process, and data retention policy.

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1Membership & Plan Types

Clever Certificates offers three ways to access templates and platform features:

  • Starter (Pay As You Go) — Purchase individual certificate templates as needed. No subscription required. Ideal for one-off orders.
  • Issuer Subscription Plan — A recurring subscription (monthly or annual) that unlocks the Issuer Dashboard, unlimited certificate re-issuance, recipient management, and QR Code Verification for every certificate issued. Suitable for individual issuers and organisations that issue certificates regularly.
  • Academy Pro Subscription Plan — A recurring subscription (monthly or annual) that includes all Issuer Plan features plus access to academy-specific certificate template categories (e.g. Martial Arts Academy). Designed for academies and training organisations.
Subscription billing is managed by Paddle, our Merchant of Record. You can view, manage, and cancel your subscription at any time directly through Paddle.

2Issuer Subscription Plan

The Issuer Plan gives you everything you need to issue and manage certificates at scale:

What's Included

  • Full access to the Issuer Dashboard
  • Unlimited certificate re-issuance and recipient management
  • QR Code Verification for every certificate issued under your account
  • Access to all standard certificate template categories
  • Priority support

Billing

  • Available on monthly or annual billing cycles.
  • Annual billing offers a saving of approximately 17% compared to monthly.
  • Your subscription renews automatically on each billing date unless cancelled beforehand.

Cancellation

You may cancel at any time. When you cancel, no further charges are made — your subscription simply does not renew on the next billing date. You retain full access to the Issuer Dashboard and all features until the end of your current paid period. No partial or pro-rata refunds are issued for the remaining days in a paid period.

Important: Cancel before your next billing date to avoid being charged for the following period. Once a renewal payment is processed, it is non-refundable under standard terms.

3Academy Pro Subscription Plan

The Academy Pro Plan is built for academies and training organisations that need to issue certificates within a specific category — such as Martial Arts — on an ongoing basis.

What's Included

  • Everything in the Issuer Plan
  • Access to academy-specific certificate template categories (e.g. Martial Arts Academy templates)
  • Bulk certificate issuance tools
  • QR Code Verification on every certificate issued
  • Dedicated support for academies
Category Access: Each Academy Pro subscription covers one designated certificate category (e.g. a Martial Arts Academy subscription covers Martial Arts templates only). Access to additional categories requires a separate plan.

Billing

  • Available on monthly or annual billing cycles.
  • Annual billing offers a saving of approximately 17% compared to monthly.
  • Your subscription renews automatically on each billing date unless cancelled beforehand.

Cancellation

You may cancel at any time. When you cancel, no further charges are made — your subscription does not renew on the next billing date. You retain full access to the Issuer Dashboard, academy templates, and QR Code Verification until the end of your current paid period. No partial or pro-rata refunds are issued for the remaining days in a paid period.

Important: Cancel before your next billing date to avoid being charged for the following period. Once a renewal payment has been processed, it is non-refundable under standard terms.

Data After Cancellation or Expiry

  • Certificates already issued remain verifiable via their QR codes even after your plan expires.
  • Your Issuer Dashboard and issued records are retained for 30 days after expiry, then permanently deleted.
  • We will send a courtesy reminder email before deletion.

4Saved Templates & Data

  • Templates and customisation data remain accessible for 30 days after cancellation or plan expiry.
  • After 30 days, all saved templates are permanently deleted.
  • We send a courtesy email reminder before deletion.

Data Responsibility

We recommend downloading and backing up all templates before your plan ends. Clever Certificates is not liable for data lost due to non-renewal.

5Verification URL & QR Code Add-ons

When you purchase a Verification URL or QR Code add-on as part of a Pay As You Go (Starter) order, your one-time purchase covers the generation and initial activation of a dynamic verification page and QR code for that certificate.

Hosting Duration

  • Verification pages are hosted for a standard period from the date of purchase.
  • Active Issuer or Academy Pro subscribers benefit from verification URL hosting included as part of their plan for all certificates issued under their account.

Expired or Deactivated Verification URLs

If a verification page expires or is deactivated, visitors will see the following message instead of a 404 error:

"This verification link is temporarily inactive. Please contact the certificate issuer to restore access."

Fair Use

Each Verification URL is subject to a fair-use limit of 2,500 verification requests per calendar year (QR scans or direct page visits). If this limit is exceeded, we may temporarily throttle access or apply reasonable usage restrictions.

Relationship to Template Downloads

Verification URL hosting is separate from certificate template downloads. Deactivation of a Verification URL does not affect your ownership or continued use of any PDF, PNG, or other certificate files previously downloaded.

6Pay As You Go (Starter) Purchases

  • Individual template purchases have a refund window of 2 days from the date of purchase.
  • No refunds for templates that have been accessed, downloaded, or customised.
  • No subscription is required — you only pay for what you use.

7Digital Products & EU Right of Withdrawal

Certificate templates sold on Clever Certificates are digital products delivered by immediate electronic download. Under the EU Consumer Rights Directive (2011/83/EU), Article 16(m), and equivalent UK and EEA consumer protection laws, consumers ordinarily have a 14-day right of withdrawal from distance contracts.

Waiver of Withdrawal Right

This right does not apply to digital content that has started to be downloaded, streamed, or otherwise accessed when the consumer has given express prior consent and acknowledged the loss of the withdrawal right before delivery begins.

Before any certificate file can be downloaded from our fulfilment page, you are required to actively tick a consent checkbox confirming the following:

"I request immediate delivery of this digital product and expressly consent to waiving my 14-day right of withdrawal. I acknowledge that once I download or otherwise access this digital content, my right of withdrawal is forfeited and this purchase is non-refundable."

This checkbox is unchecked by default and must be ticked before the download button activates. The act of ticking the box constitutes express consent for the purposes of Article 16(m). A timestamped record of your consent — including the date, time, and your IP address — is stored securely on our servers and is linked to your Paddle transaction reference.

Effect on Refunds

Once you have ticked the consent checkbox and downloaded your certificate file, your statutory withdrawal right is waived. No refund will be issued on the basis of the 14-day withdrawal right after this point, in accordance with our Merchant of Record (Paddle) policy and applicable consumer law.

If you believe a technical fault prevented access to your file, please contact support@clevercertificates.com before requesting a refund through Paddle. We will make every effort to resolve technical issues promptly.

8Cancelling Your Subscription

This section applies to all recurring subscription plans: Issuer Plan, Academy Pro Plan, and Martial Arts Academy Plan.

What Happens When You Cancel

  • Your subscription is cancelled and will not renew on the next billing date.
  • You retain full access to all plan features until the end of your current paid billing period.
  • No charge is made on the next billing date after cancellation.
Cancel before your next billing date. If you cancel after a renewal payment has already been processed, that payment is non-refundable under standard terms. To avoid an unwanted charge, cancel at least 24 hours before your next scheduled renewal date.

How to Cancel — Option 1: Via Paddle (Self-Service)

Paddle is our Merchant of Record and manages all subscription billing. You can cancel your subscription directly through Paddle at any time — no need to contact us:

  • Click the cancellation link in any Paddle subscription confirmation or receipt email.
  • Log in to your Paddle account and manage your subscription from there.

Cancellation through Paddle takes effect immediately — you will receive a confirmation email from Paddle.

How to Cancel — Option 2: Email Support

You may also request cancellation by emailing support@clevercertificates.com. Use the template below to ensure we can locate your account quickly:

To: support@clevercertificates.com

Subject: Subscription Cancellation Request – [Your Name or Academy Name]

Hi Clever Certificates Support,


I would like to cancel my subscription. Please find my details below:


  • Account email: [Email address used to register]
  • Subscription plan: [Issuer Plan / Academy Pro Plan / Martial Arts Academy Plan]
  • Paddle subscription or order reference: [Reference number from your Paddle email, if available]
  • Reason for cancellation (optional): [Brief reason]

Please confirm once the cancellation has been processed and let me know my subscription expiry date.


Thank you,
[Your Name]

We aim to respond to cancellation requests within 1–2 business days.

9Refund Policy

The following payments are non-refundable:

  • Subscription renewals (Issuer Plan, Academy Pro Plan, Martial Arts Academy Plan) that have already been processed — cancel before the renewal date to avoid the charge.
  • Subscription payments where the Issuer Dashboard or QR Verification features have already been actively used.
  • Partial or pro-rata refunds for unused days remaining in a current paid period.
  • Pay As You Go template purchases once the template has been accessed, customised, or downloaded.
  • Past billing periods.
  • Professional Customisation Add-on once work has commenced.
  • Verification URL & QR Code Add-on fees once the add-on has been activated.

Refund Window — New Subscriptions Only

For first-time Issuer Plan or Academy Pro Plan subscriptions, a full refund is available within 7 days of the initial purchase, provided the service has not been used in any way. Use includes, but is not limited to:

  • Downloading, printing, or sharing even a single certificate
  • Using the Issuer Dashboard to issue or manage certificates
  • Activating QR Code Verification for any certificate

If any of the above actions have taken place, the refund window does not apply regardless of when the request is made. This refund window applies to the initial purchase only and does not apply to subsequent renewals.

10Exceptions

Defective or materially misrepresented templates or platform features may be eligible for a replacement or refund at our discretion. Please contact support@clevercertificates.com with full details and evidence of the issue.

11Requesting a Refund

Email support@clevercertificates.com with:

  • Your account email address
  • Order or Paddle subscription reference number
  • Brief reason for the refund request
  • For subscription refunds: confirmation that the Issuer Dashboard and QR Verification have not been used

12Processing Time

Approved refunds are processed by Paddle within 5–10 business days. Funds typically appear in your account within the same timeframe, depending on your payment method and bank.

13Access Restrictions

Accounts are for a single registered user or organisation. Sharing, reselling, or redistributing templates, the Issuer Dashboard, or subscription access is prohibited. Academy Pro Plans may not be shared across multiple academy locations, franchises, or branches under a single subscription — each location requires its own plan.

14Payment Failures

If a subscription renewal payment fails, Paddle will retry the charge automatically. Access may be paused until the payment is resolved. For monthly and annual subscriptions, a failed renewal will result in suspension of Issuer Dashboard and QR Code Verification access until the payment is successfully completed or the subscription is cancelled.

15Policy Updates

We will notify active subscribers of any material changes to this policy via email at least 14 days before they take effect. Continued use of the service after that date constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

FAQs Have More Questions?

Find detailed answers to frequently asked questions about templates, customisation, orders, and policies on our FAQ page.

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