Paid swaps: charge for promoting other authors

A paid swap is a swap where one side pays instead of promoting in return: another author pays you to feature their book in your newsletter on a date they choose. You set prices per swap type in your list's swap settings, buyers pay by card, and the money goes to your own Stripe account. This article covers both sides. The basics of requests, accepting and confirming are in how book swaps work.

How the money moves

Payments run through Stripe on an account in your name; BookSparker never holds your money. The buyer pays the price you set, in US dollars, and BookSparker keeps a fee of 10 percent of that price, plus VAT on the fee where it applies to you, which means sellers in the EU without a VAT ID. On a 20 dollar swap you receive 18 dollars, or 17.62 dollars as a German seller without a VAT ID. Stripe pays you out on its usual schedule to the bank account you register; there is no balance to withdraw on BookSparker and no invoice from BookSparker, since the receipt comes from Stripe.

Set your prices

Booking Options sits at the foot of a list's swap settings, with one card per swap type: Solo, Feature and Mentions. Each starts on Swap Only, meaning free exchange. Paid Only sells that type and takes no swaps for it; the third option takes either. Choosing a paid mode reveals a Price (USD) field; switching a type back to Swap Only clears its price. A paid type only shows as paid to other authors once it has a price above zero. You can price one type and keep swapping the others.

Connect Stripe to get paid

Prices can be set before Stripe is connected, but a paid request cannot be accepted until it is. Open Earnings from your avatar menu or under Settings, choose the country of your bank account and press Connect Stripe. The country is fixed once the account exists, since it decides the bank details Stripe asks for and the currency you are paid in; 22 countries are supported, covering the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and most of Western and Northern Europe. Stripe's form opens in a new tab. You are ready when the status reads that you can accept paid swaps, which needs both card payments and payouts switched on at Stripe; that can take a few minutes after the form is done. If you sell as a VAT-registered EU business, enter your VAT ID on the same page so the fee is charged without VAT. Only the account owner sees Earnings; an assistant with access to your account does not.

What buyers see and pay

In Find authors each list shows one cell per swap type. A grey Swap pill means free exchange, a green price means paid, and both together mean the slot takes either. A dash means the list has no slot of that type. Prices there are rounded to whole dollars; the request and accept screens show cents. The Booking mode filter narrows to Swap Only or Paid Only, and Max Price hides lists whose cheapest paid slot is above your limit; a Paid Only list disappears from a Swap Only search.

Booking a paid slot asks the buyer for a card, saved securely with Stripe. Nothing is charged at that point: the card is charged only if you accept, and declined or expired requests cost the buyer nothing. Saved cards are reused on later requests and can be managed under Settings in Payment Methods. A paid request offers nothing in return, so the buyer needs no availability of their own.

Accept a paid request

A paid request shows a Paid Booking chip with the amount instead of an offer. Accept opens Confirm Paid Promotion, which lists the buyer, book, type, date and price and states the terms. Confirming charges the buyer's card on your Stripe account at once and books both calendars. If the card is declined, nothing is booked: the request returns to your Received tab marked Card declined, the buyer is asked to save a new card, and you accept again once they have. If no new card arrives within 48 hours the request is cancelled and both of you are told. Paid swaps count toward your monthly swap limit and your response rate exactly like free ones; if the buyer is over their own limit, the swap is held as pending an upgrade for 48 hours after the charge, as with any swap.

Getting paid after the swap

Cancellations and refunds

If a charged swap is cancelled before it completes, by either side, the buyer is refunded in full from your Stripe balance and BookSparker returns its fee too. Because the refund comes from your balance, Stripe may debit your bank account if the money was already paid out. Once a swap has completed there is no refund, and partial refunds are not offered. The usual fairness rule still applies: nobody can cancel after the other side's share date has passed while their own is still ahead.

Common questions

Why can I not accept a paid request?

Your Stripe account is missing or not finished. Confirm Paid Promotion shows the Stripe setup in that case and keeps Accept off until Stripe has enabled both payments and payouts for you; the request waits meanwhile. Finish the setup and accept again.

When exactly is the buyer charged?

The moment you confirm acceptance, never when the request is sent. A card is only saved at request time.

Where is my payout?

With Stripe. Released on the Earnings page means the swap completed and the money is in your Stripe balance; Stripe transfers it to your bank on its own schedule, which you can see in your Stripe dashboard.

Can I charge in euros?

Not yet. Prices and charges are in US dollars; Stripe converts the payout into your bank account's currency.