Questions people ask
Why are there two Stripe accounts? Our Thai account cannot accept American Express. Rather than lose those members, FMS sends AMEX to a Singapore account. The member sees one ordinary card form.
Why was I charged in Thai baht? (a member asks) Our Thai card processor, Omise, can charge dollars only to Visa and Mastercard. JCB, American Express and UnionPay cards are charged the same price in Thai baht, worked out from the dollar price at that day's exchange rate. The payment page showed the baht amount, the rate and the dollar list price before the member pressed Pay, and FMS charged exactly that amount — the amount shown is kept with the payment. The member's own bank may then convert the baht into their card's currency and add its own fee; that conversion is the bank's, not ours. A renewal is worked out again at the rate of the renewal day, which the member's billing page says. See Pricing and joining.
A member changed tier. Why has their newsletter not changed? Newsletter changes are queued and delivered in the background, usually within a minute or two. If it has been longer, check Health and then Dead letters.
Someone cancelled in Stripe but FMS still shows them active. FMS learns from Stripe's notifications. Give it a minute. If it stays wrong, the webhook freshness component on Health will usually say why.
Can I give someone access without charging them? Yes, that is a comp. See give a member free access.
Can I edit a plan's price? Not once Stripe knows that price. FMS refuses, because changing one side and not the other bills members wrongly. Create a new plan.
What is the difference between comp and external? Comp is free. External means they really paid, just not through Stripe, usually a bank transfer. Both give the same access. Only external shows up in revenue.
Why does Reports not show one combined total? Because it would have to invent an exchange rate. Each currency has its own tab.
Why does the FMS join page send people to the website for the free plan? Joining for free needs a website account first. That proves the email address belongs to the person joining. Before, anyone could type any address and add a stranger to our lists. Once they sign in on the website, the free membership starts straight away.
A donation came in. Does that person now have a membership? No. Donations buy nothing. Grant a membership separately if they should have one.
Who can read the newsletter archive? Members whose plan includes it: out of the box Fanatic and every team plan. Which plans include it is a box on each plan (Plans). Everyone else can see the archive page and the latest headlines, not the issues. Inside the archive, a member reads the newsletters their plan includes, the same ticks on Plans that send the emails. Switching the emails off does not change that. Archive managers can open a newsletter to everyone on Manage newsletters. See the newsletter archive.
Why does the archive list a person's name as a newsletter? The archive names each newsletter after its sender. A one-off send from a person becomes its own tab. Staff who manage the archive can rename or hide it. See Tidy the archive's newsletters.
A member says a whole newsletter is missing from the archive. A manager may have hidden it. Hidden newsletters are gone for members, issues included. Open Manage newsletters in the archive to check.
A newsletter went out today. Why is it not in the archive? The archive collects new issues every six hours. Give it until then.
Why did the system email a password link instead of signing someone in? They exist in FMS but had no website account. One was created for them and they need to set a password. This is normal.
A paying member is not getting the newsletter. Why did Update Mailchimp not add them? Because they are not in the Mailchimp audience, and a Mailchimp update never adds a contact. Consolidation shows them as Not in audience. If they agreed to get your newsletters, an owner or membership manager can press Add to the audience there. Otherwise point them at the newsletter signup form.
The Stripe import says Paused. Did it break? No. Stripe or FMS interrupted it, and it saved its place. Open the account from Connections. Read the reason and press Resume from page N.
What is a dead letter? A message FMS tried to deliver so many times that it gave up. It is kept, not lost, and can be replayed once the cause is fixed.
Is it safe to press things in a sandbox? Yes. That is what it is for. Check the badge at the top left first.
A team paid by bank transfer. Do I use Record a payment? Not for a team invoice. Confirm it on Team invoices so Stripe is told too. Record a payment is for memberships granted by hand.
The admin portal came up blank, or the browser console talks about MIME types. Your browser kept an old copy of the portal from before an update. Press Ctrl+Shift+R (Cmd+Shift+R on a Mac) once. If it persists, tell Thomas. Since 12 September 2026 the server tells browsers never to keep that page, so this should not recur.
Who do I tell when something looks wrong? Thomas. Send the screen you were on, the exact message, and roughly when it happened.