> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://documentation.outpost.pub/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# One-Person Subscriptions
> Send personalized subscription links or invoices to specific individuals or groups, locked to the recipient's email address.
One-Person Subscriptions let you send a personalized subscription offer or invoice to a specific person. The link is locked to their email address — useful for special arrangements, sponsorships, direct sales, institutional deals, and invoicing **group subscriptions** where one buyer pays on behalf of a team or organization.
You can either send a sign-up link (the recipient pays first, then access starts) or start the subscription immediately and bill via a Stripe invoice (access starts now, payment comes later).
One-person subscriptions live in two places in the left menu, one per billing style:
* **Subscriptions → Signup Links** — send a personalized link; the recipient pays first, then access starts.
* **Subscriptions → Direct Invoicing** — start the subscription immediately and bill via a Stripe invoice.
Each page has two tabs: one to create (**Create Link** or **Create Invoice**) and a **History** tab listing what you've sent from that page.
## Signup Links
Use **Subscriptions → Signup Links** to send a special offer that is only good for the person you send it to. The subscription link is locked to the provided email address, and the subscription period starts once the person pays.
| Field | Description |
| --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Email** | The recipient's email address (the link only works for this email) |
| **Customer Name** | Optional name for the recipient |
| **Subscription Plan** | Pick a regular offer or a group subscription offer |
| **Add Member Labels** | Optional labels applied when they subscribe |
After filling in the fields, click **Build URL** to generate the personalized subscription link. You can then:
* **Copy the URL** to share it manually
* **Send an email** directly from Outpost — Outpost drafts a subject line and body for you, and you can edit either before sending
## Direct Invoicing
Use **Subscriptions → Direct Invoicing** when you want the subscription to start right away and bill the subscriber via a Stripe invoice. This is common for enterprise, institutional, or group deals where access is needed before payment is collected, or where the buyer needs an invoice for AP processing.
When you click **Generate Subscription, Invoice and Send Email**, Outpost:
1. Creates the Stripe customer (and rebuilds the Ghost member if the email already exists)
2. Starts the subscription immediately on the selected plan
3. Generates a Stripe invoice with the payment terms you chose
4. Drafts an email to the recipient with the invoice link and your custom message
5. Lets you preview the invoice link, edit the email subject and body, and send when ready
The invoice appearance, logo, footer, memo, and payment methods come from your [**default invoice settings in Stripe**](https://dashboard.stripe.com/settings/billing/invoice) — Outpost does not override them. Set those once in Stripe and every invoice you send through Outpost inherits them.
### Invoicing group subscriptions
If you pick a **Group Subscription** offer (selected from the second tab in the offer picker), the invoice covers the entire group plan. When the buyer pays, the subscription starts for them **and** seats the group with the included number of members. Use this for newsroom site licenses, team plans, classroom subscriptions, and any deal where one person pays for many.
The group's seat count and benefit are added to the invoice footer automatically so AP departments see exactly what's included.
### Fields
| Field | Description |
| ------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Email** | The recipient's email address (the buyer being invoiced) |
| **Customer Name** | Optional name |
| **Subscription Plan** | Pick a regular offer or a group subscription offer |
| **Due Date** | Payment terms: **Net 15** (default), **Net 30**, or a **Custom** date you pick from a calendar. The recipient sees this as the due date on the Stripe invoice. |
| **Add Member Labels** | Optional labels applied when they subscribe (regular offers only — group offer labels are managed on the group itself) |
| **Allow people to pay by check** | Adds your remit-to address and check payment instructions to the email and invoice memo (see below) |
| **Text to Add to Invoice and Email** | Custom text appended to both the Stripe invoice memo and the notification email — use this for purchase order numbers, special instructions, or other notes |
| **Add subscriber address fields** | Collects the buyer's mailing address (line 1, line 2, city, state, postal code, country) and attaches it to the Stripe customer so tax can be calculated correctly |
| **Add VAT number** | Collects a tax ID and attaches it to the Stripe customer record (see VAT and tax IDs below) |
### Pay by check
When you enable **Allow people to pay by check**, the email and invoice memo get appended with your check remittance instructions. The first time you enable this, Outpost will ask for your remit-to mailing address and save it on the site so you don't have to re-enter it later.
This is common for institutional subscribers, libraries, and government buyers that require offline payment.
If someone pays by check (or any way outside Stripe), you must manually mark the invoice as paid in Stripe. Until you do, Stripe will continue sending payment reminders and the subscriber may enter your [failed payment retention flow](/features/failed-payment-flow).
### Taxes — VAT, GST, sales tax
Outpost can apply VAT, GST/HST, and other taxes automatically when you invoice, by handing tax calculation off to Stripe. To make this work you need two things:
1. **Tax must be configured upstream** — either [Stripe Tax](https://stripe.com/tax) is enabled on your Stripe account, or your products have tax rates configured in Stripe (or carried over from Ghost's tax setup).
2. **The buyer's location must be on the invoice** — turn on **Add subscriber address fields** and/or **Add VAT number** when generating the invoice. Stripe needs the address to determine the correct tax jurisdiction.
When you provide the buyer's address or VAT ID, Outpost flags the invoice with `automatic_tax: enabled` so Stripe calculates and applies the right tax line. The buyer's tax ID and address are saved to their Stripe customer record so future invoices on the same subscription bill correctly.
### Supported tax ID types
The **Add VAT number** field supports 25 tax ID types covering most major jurisdictions:
EU VAT, UK VAT, US EIN, Australia ABN, Australia ARN, Brazil CNPJ, Brazil CPF, Canada BN, Canada GST/HST, Canada PST (BC/MB/SK), Canada QST, Switzerland VAT, Hong Kong BR, India GST, Japan CN, Japan RN, South Korea BRN, Mexico RFC, New Zealand GST, Norway VAT, Singapore GST, Singapore UEN, South Africa VAT.
Pick the type from the dropdown, enter the number, and Stripe will validate the format and include it on the invoice.
### Existing Ghost members
If the email belongs to a Ghost member that already exists, Outpost shows a confirmation prompt before continuing. To re-sync the member with Stripe and start the new invoiced subscription cleanly, Outpost rebuilds the Ghost member — labels and newsletter subscriptions are preserved, but historical engagement data (which newsletters they opened, etc.) is reset. You can cancel out of this prompt if you'd rather not lose the history.
## Preview & send
Once the invoice is generated, Outpost shows you:
* The **invoice URL** — click it to preview the actual hosted Stripe invoice the recipient will see, or copy it to share manually
* A **drafted email** with subject and body — Outpost fills in the buyer's first name, the offer name, the price/cadence, the due date, the link, any custom text you added, and your sign-off
Edit the subject or body in place, then click **Send Email** to dispatch it from Outpost. You can also skip the email entirely and just share the URL — the subscription and invoice still exist in Stripe either way.
## History
Each page's **History** tab shows what you've created there — signup links on the Signup Links page, invoices on the Direct Invoicing page — including:
* Date created and whether the email was sent (envelope icon — hover to see the email body)
* Type — `signup`, `invoice`, or `prorate`
* Recipient email
* Offer details (linked to the recipient checkout/invoice URL)
* Stripe invoice number (linked to the invoice in your Stripe dashboard)
* Subscription start date and payment date — if the type is `invoice` and there's no payment date, the row shows **Not Paid**
Use this tab to see at a glance which invoices are outstanding and jump straight to the Stripe dashboard to mark a check payment as paid or chase up an overdue one.
***
## Frequently asked questions
The link is locked to the email address you entered. If someone with a different email tries to use it, they won't be able to complete checkout.
Yes. You can create multiple subscription links for the same email, each with a different plan or offer. Only the links they actually use will result in a subscription.
A **Signup Link** is a link the person clicks to begin their subscription (they pay first, then access starts). **Direct Invoicing** starts the subscription right away and sends a Stripe invoice — useful for enterprise, institutional, or group deals where access is needed before payment is collected.
Yes. In the **Subscription Plan** picker, switch to the **Group Subscription Offers** tab and pick the group plan. The invoice will cover the full group price, and when the buyer pays, the subscription starts for them and seats the group with the included member count. The seat count is added to the invoice footer automatically.
All of those come from your [default invoice settings in Stripe](https://dashboard.stripe.com/settings/billing/invoice). Outpost does not override them — set them once in Stripe and every invoice inherits them.
Yes. Enable **Allow people to pay by check** when creating the invoice. The email and invoice memo will include your remit-to address and instructions. You'll need to manually mark the invoice as paid in Stripe once you receive payment, or Stripe will keep sending reminders.
Make sure **Stripe Tax** is enabled on your Stripe account (or that your products have tax rates configured in Stripe / Ghost), then enable **Add subscriber address fields** and/or **Add VAT number** on the invoice. Stripe needs the buyer's location to pick the right tax jurisdiction. With those provided, Outpost flags the invoice with automatic tax and Stripe adds the correct tax line.
Outpost asks for your confirmation, then rebuilds that Ghost member to re-sync them with Stripe for the new invoiced subscription. Labels and newsletter subscriptions carry over, but historical engagement data (open/click history) is reset. Cancel the prompt if that trade-off isn't acceptable.
Yes, once the buyer's first invoice is paid and they have a saved payment method, the subscription will be moved by Stripe to charge automatically going forward, so future renewals don't need the client to take action on an invoice.
***
## Related features
Create the plans and offers used in one-person subscription links
Configure team and institutional plans before invoicing them
View subscribers created through one-person links
What happens when an invoice goes unpaid
Manage subscriptions for organizations and institutions