Paid email seat
Sep 23, 2026. Closed software. The buyer pays once for one email. That email may then sign up. No charge, no account.
This is the EE pattern for AI tools. Copy the block at the bottom onto the next app. Do not invent a second checkout.
What is sold
One named email on that app's allow list. Not a feature bundle. Not a free trial. Not a shared inbox.
Signup (Google or the app's existing login) runs only if the email is already on the list. The success page is not proof. A verified payment writes the row.
Price
Default $99 once per email (9900 cents). Card floor is $0.50. Do not sell a seat under $49.
| Seat | Charge | Net after 2.9% + $0.30 | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Founding email | $49 once | about $47.28 | Early list, small count, then stop |
| Standard email | $99 once | about $96.83 | Default. This is the product. |
| Operator email | $249 once | about $241.48 | Apps that burn paid model calls |
| Five emails | $399 once | about $387.13 | Same app, five named inboxes |
$99 is the pioneer price. The row costs nothing, so almost all of the net is margin. A $1 or $5 gate looks like spam, barely clears the card fee, and does not keep bots out.
The seat does not include unlimited model use. Admission opens the door. Usage stays capped, or billed later. Otherwise one buyer can spend the fee on API calls.
Flow
- Catalog SKU on Holdings (
ee_products). Price in cents. App code does not open its own Stripe charge. - Buyer pays through
POST /api/payments/init.phpand the payment hub. - Verified success writes that email onto the allow list. Same email paid twice stays one row.
- Buyer signs in. Unknown email is refused.
- A referral is another paid email. The referrer can pay for it, or the new person pays. There is no free invite.
Refund removes the email and ends that session. The owner email stays allowed without a charge.
Marvis AI
CURRENT: $99 one-time seat on the Marvis AI Backout venture. Buyer pays at /buy/. A verified Backout payment writes the email. Google sign-in still checks that list. The owner address stays allowed without a charge. Model calls stay outside the seat.
Clone
model: paid-email-seat
unit: one_email
charge_usd: 99
price_cents: 9900
billing: one_time
rail: holdings_onpage
proof: verified_payment
entitlement: allow_list_row
signup: refuse_until_listed
referral: another_paid_email
refund: remove_row
usage: not_included
floor_usd: 49