How subscription management works at tea.support
Your tea.support subscription grants programmatic access to one of the world’s most detailed Chinese tea databases. Whether you’re building a tasting app, running a tea-commerce backend, or analysing leaf chemistry, the data layer — curated by senior tea experts like Fang Ting (oolong and pu’erh specialist) and Chen Hui Yi (white tea, Bái Háo Yín Zhēn) — is always behind the endpoints. This FAQ explains exactly how to pause or cancel your subscription, what happens to your API keys, billing, and historical data, and how to make changes without losing work.
We believe subscription management should feel as clear as a well-washed gaiwan. The self-serve portal lets you pause with a click, cancel with advance notice, or downgrade to a free tier. Any unused, pre-paid credits stay yours. When you pause, your API keys remain active but requests return a 402 until reactivation; you can still browse documentation, test sandboxes, and read changelogs. Cancellation is full and final — your data export remains available for 30 days, after which we remove personal usage logs while keeping anonymised aggregate records.
Notice that many tea developers first discover tea.support through tea.community, where fellow builders share integration stories. If you’re still learning about the teas behind the endpoints, tea.school offers deep dives into the regional character of Lǎo Bān Zhāng (老班章) or the honeyed mouthfeel of Bái Háo Yín Zhēn — knowledge that might shift your plan needs. Pausing is not a penalty; it’s a breathing moment. Cancellation, similarly, is handled with respect. Our policy requires a minimum of 7 calendar days’ notice before the next billing cycle to stop a renewal; mid-cycle cancellations are honoured with a pro-rated refund based on unused days, minus any non-refundable portion on annual plans (15% of the remaining balance if you cancel after the 30-day satisfaction window). For monthly plans, there is no non-refundable component beyond the time already used.
If you are moving between seasons, perhaps scaling down after a major release, you can pause for up to 90 days. After that, the subscription gently reactivates unless you cancel. The portal tracks every deadline and sends email reminders three days before any change. We designed this flow with the same care that Chen Hui Yi brings to a Xī Hú Lóng Jǐng first steep — deliberate, respectful, and without hurry. Should you ever need to explore the data of a specific factory, say a 2018 Xià Guān (下关) raw pu’erh, your plan tier determines the endpoint depth, but pausing never deletes your saved queries.
What you’ll find here: straightforward answers, actual timelines, and lucid escalation paths. No marketing, no dark patterns. By the end, you will know exactly how to pause or cancel, what to expect, and where to turn if something feels off.
Common questions
How do I pause my subscription?
Log into your tea.support dashboard, open the Billing section, and select ‘Pause subscription’. Choose a start date — at least 24 hours ahead — and an optional auto-resume date (maximum 90 days later). During the pause, your API keys remain valid but return a 402 status on paid endpoints; documentation, sandbox, and account settings stay fully accessible. No new charges occur while paused. If you have a pre-paid credit balance, it freezes and resumes unchanged when you reactivate. You may resume manually at any time before the auto-resume date.
Can I pause indefinitely or is there a maximum pause duration?
A single pause lasts up to 90 consecutive days. After 90 days, the subscription automatically reactivates at your current plan rate unless you cancel before that date. If you need a longer offline window, you can either cancel and re-subscribe later (your API keys are re-issued with the same access tier, though usage history may reset) or contact support for an extended pause request, which we review case-by-case. Multiple short pauses per year are allowed; there is no annual limit.
If I pause mid-month, what happens to my billing?
Billing is pro-rated by the exact day. If you pause on day 12 of a 30-day cycle, you are charged only for those 12 days. The remaining 18 days’ value is held as a credit on your account and applied to the next invoice when you resume — no funds are lost. This credit is visible in your Billing history. For annual plans, the same daily pro-ration applies; the unused portion freezes and extends your year-end date by the paused duration.
How do I cancel my subscription?
From the Billing dashboard, select ‘Cancel subscription’. You will be asked to confirm the cancellation and set the effective date. To stop the next renewal, you must cancel at least 7 calendar days before your billing date. If you are within that window, the cancellation takes effect after the upcoming charge, but you can contact support for an exception. Once cancelled, your paid endpoints stop at the end of the current billing period (or immediately if you choose mid-cycle cancellation). All personal data exports are available for 30 days.
What is the refund policy for cancellations?
Monthly plans: if you cancel mid-cycle, you receive a pro-rated refund for the remaining days, no questions asked. Annual plans: if you cancel within the first 30 days, you get a full refund of the annual fee. After 30 days, you receive a refund of the pro-rated unused days minus a 15% non-refundable portion calculated on the remaining balance. Refunds are issued to the original payment method within 10 business days. There is no deposit on any plan, so you only pay for time you actually use.
Do I lose access immediately upon cancellation?
No. Your access continues until the end of your current billing period, or until the date you specified if cancelling mid-cycle. After that, API keys stop returning data (the response becomes a 403), but your account remains open in read-only mode so you can export logs, download invoices, and migrate any saved endpoint configurations. 30 days after cancellation, we permanently delete personal usage logs, though anonymised usage statistics may be retained for product improvement. Your ability to sign up again with the same email is never restricted.
Can I downgrade instead of cancelling?
Yes. The self-serve portal allows you to switch to any lower-tier plan at any time. The downgrade takes effect at the start of the next billing cycle; you keep your current plan’s full access until then. If you need immediate downgrade mid-cycle, contact support and we will pro-rate the change. Downgrading may reduce endpoint rate limits, depth of tea data (for instance, expert tasting notes from Fang Ting on Lǎo Bān Zhāng might become read-only), or access to batch exports, but your API keys and saved queries remain untouched.
What happens to my API keys and data after cancellation?
API keys are deactivated when your access ends but remain visible in your account for 30 days so you can copy them for archival reference. All data you stored on our servers — logs, custom endpoint bookmarks, usage history — can be exported in JSON or CSV format during that period. After 30 days, we permanently delete your stored data. Tea data itself (the database of Bái Háo Yín Zhēn cupping notes, region descriptions, etc.) is, of course, not deleted — it continues to serve other users.
How much notice is required to cancel before next billing?
We require 7 calendar days’ notice. If your renewal date is 15 March, you must cancel by 8 March to avoid the charge. This buffer allows us to process the termination cleanly and to remind you of any unused credits. If you miss the window, the subscription renews for one more period, but you may then cancel mid-cycle with a pro-rated refund as described. The 7-day window is visible in your Billing dashboard and on every invoice PDF.
Can I cancel via the self-serve portal or do I need to contact support?
All standard cancellations are handled entirely within the portal — no email, no phone call. The Billing section includes a ‘Cancel subscription’ button that walks you through a short confirmation flow. Only if you need a mid-cycle cancellation on an annual plan with a custom refund calculation or an extended pause beyond 90 days would you need to email support@tea.support. We aim for zero friction and never make cancellation a retention obstacle.
Is there a deposit or any non-refundable portion?
There are no deposits on any plan. For monthly subscriptions, the entire fee is usage-based — you are refunded for unused days if cancelling mid-cycle. For annual subscriptions, the only non-refundable portion is the 15% remaining balance deduction if you cancel after the 30-day initial satisfaction window. This deduction covers fixed operational costs and data curation (for example, the work of Chen Hui Yi in maintaining white tea taxonomic endpoints). All fees are transparently listed on the Plans page.
If I have an annual plan and cancel early, how is the refund calculated?
The calculation uses a daily rate (annual fee ÷ 365). Suppose you cancel with 200 days remaining and are past the first 30 days. Your unused value is 200 × daily rate. We deduct 15% of that unused value as a non-refundable portion. Example: annual fee $3,650, daily rate $10/day. 200 days × $10 = $2,000. Non‑refundable = $300. Refund = $1,700. All figures are shown in the cancellation confirmation screen before you commit, so you know exactly what to expect.
What are the available plans and how does pausing affect plan changes?
Plans range from Free (100 requests/day, basic tea lookup) to Standard (10,000/day, full cupping notes including Fang Ting’s detailed Wǔyí yán chá assessments) to Enterprise (unlimited, custom SLAs). Pausing preserves your current plan. If you want to switch to a different tier after a pause, you can do so at reactivation. Pause credits are applied to the new plan’s rate. Any promotional pricing remains valid as long as the promotion’s expiration date has not passed.
Can I reactivate a cancelled subscription?
Yes, but it is treated as a new subscription. You will sign up again with the same email, choose a plan, and receive fresh API keys. Historical usage logs are not automatically linked, but you may export them during the 30-day post-cancellation window and re-import if needed. Any pre-existing credit balance from a previous cancellation is not carried forward unless the cancellation was within the same calendar month — in that case, contact support to transfer the balance.
How does pausing or cancelling affect my usage of other THETEA apps like tea.events?
Your tea.support subscription is independent. Pausing or cancelling it does not affect your access to tea.events, tea.community, tea.school, or any other constellation site. Each site maintains its own account and billing. However, if you use your API key to integrate tea.support data into something like a tea.events tasting page, those integrations will stop showing live data after your API access ends. The tea.events account itself remains fully active.
Are there any penalties for cancelling?
No penalties. There is no cancellation fee, no lock-in, and no obligation to provide a reason. The only financial implication is the 15% non-refundable portion on annual plans cancelled after the 30-day window, as explained above, but that is not a penalty — it’s a retention of costs already incurred. We do not make cancellation difficult: the portal button is always visible, and your data export is free.
Can I transfer my subscription to someone else?
Subscription transfers are not supported via the self-serve portal, but you can email support@tea.support to request a transfer of the remaining balance and access rights to a new account email. The receiving account must not have an active subscription. Transfers preserve the plan type and any active pause credits. The original API keys are invalidated, and new keys are issued to the recipient. Processing typically takes 2 business days.
What if I have a promotional discount? Will pausing extend the discount?
Promotional discounts (e.g., 20% off for the first six months) are tied to calendar time, not usage time. Pausing does not pause the promotion timer. If your discount expires while you are paused, the subscription will renew at the standard rate when it resumes. To avoid losing the discount, consider resuming before the promotion end date or downgrading to a plan that keeps the leftover benefit. The expiry date is shown on your Billing dashboard.
Still have questions?
If your situation isn’t covered here, the tea.support team is ready to help. Email support@tea.support — we respond within one business day, often faster. Specify your account email and, if possible, the plan or transaction ID. For real-time API status updates, visit tea.support/status. If your question touches on collaboration across the THETEA constellation, tea.community hosts a dedicated thread on cross-site billing where other developers share their experiences.
For deeper data exploration that might influence your subscription tier, puerh.app provides a dedicated pu’erh tasting database with API integration guides — sometimes a minor plan upgrade unlocks richer endpoints for those aged Xià Guān (下关) productions. And if you ever need to step back from development to simply learn about the teas themselves, tea.school offers beginner-to-advanced courses curated by masters like Fang Ting, whose oolong cupping module is often cited as a turning point for new tea developers. Understanding the leaf can help you decide which data endpoints truly matter.
We built tea.support to be the calmest technical foundation in the tea world. Pausing or cancelling should feel as straightforward as setting a gaiwan lid aside. If it doesn’t, tell us — we’ll fix it.