Sign up step-by-step
Three minutes from I want to try this to logged in. Card payment goes through Stripe’s secure hosted checkout — we never see your card number, you never type it into our forms.
Step-by-step walkthrough
Three minutes end to end for a paid tier; under two for Free. Here’s exactly what happens.
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Open the membership levels page.
Navigate to /my-account/membership-levels/ — five cards appear for Free, Starter Annual, Starter Monthly, Pro Annual, Pro Monthly. Each card shows the price, billing interval, and a one-line summary of what’s included.
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Click “Select” on your chosen tier.
You land on the checkout form. The top of the page confirms which plan you’re signing up for — double-check it before filling. Wrong tier? Click back and pick again.
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Fill the four account fields.
- Username — anything memorable, no spaces or slashes. Used for login.
- Password — minimum 8 characters, mix of letters and numbers. Form rejects weak passwords.
- Email — real and reachable. Used for receipts, password resets, digest emails.
- Confirm email — retype it to catch typos.
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Skip the “Full name” field.
It’s a honeypot — invisible to humans, visible to bots. Leave it blank. If you fill it, we’ll flag your signup as a bot and reject it.
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Click Submit.
Free tier finishes here — you’re redirected to a confirmation page and logged in. Paid tiers get redirected to Stripe for card entry.
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(Paid tiers) Enter card on Stripe.
URL changes to
checkout.stripe.com/.... You’ll see the plan summary and a card form. Enter the card number, expiry, CVC, cardholder name, postcode. Apple Pay / Google Pay show up above the card form if configured on your device. -
Click Pay.
Stripe charges the card instantly. On success you’re redirected back to
/membership-confirmation/on Garden Buddy — already logged in, membership active.
What happens behind the scenes
Useful to understand in case something goes sideways.
| Step | What’s happening | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Form submit | WordPress validates fields, creates user record (status: pending payment for paid tiers) | Instant |
| Redirect to Stripe | Garden Buddy creates a Stripe Checkout Session with plan price, your email, signed return URL | ~1s |
| Stripe charges card | Stripe runs the card transaction | 2–5s |
| Webhook → activate | Stripe sends a webhook to Garden Buddy; PMPro activates your membership (status: active, level: your tier, next_payment_date set) | ~1s after Stripe success |
| Browser redirect | Your session lands on /membership-confirmation/ with a session token — we log you in automatically | Instant |
| Confirmation email | Welcome email queued via Post-SMTP to your inbox | <60s |
Card numbers go straight to Stripe (PCI-DSS Level 1 certified). We get back a customer ID and a charge confirmation — never the actual card number. If a website asks you to enter your card directly into its own form, be careful — that site is taking on PCI compliance liability, often without the controls to handle it.
Cards we accept
Through Stripe’s hosted checkout:
- Visa — all variants (debit, credit, prepaid)
- Mastercard — all variants
- American Express — Stripe handles the surcharge; we don’t pass it on
- Apple Pay / Google Pay — auto-detected on supported devices
Zip, Afterpay, and similar BNPL services aren’t supported for subscriptions.
If something goes wrong
“This email is already registered”
You signed up before, possibly with a different tier, possibly months ago. Use the password reset link to recover that account, then upgrade/downgrade from there rather than creating a duplicate account.
Stripe says “card declined”
First: try the same card again (sometimes a transient bank check fails). If it still declines:
- Call your bank — Stripe is registered in Ireland; some Australian banks block international-processor charges by default.
- Check if the card’s daily online-spend limit is hit (business cards especially).
- Try a different card — Visa/Mastercard most reliable.
Stripe completed the payment but you land on an error page
Don’t panic — Stripe has the money, our webhook just didn’t land. Email support with your Stripe receipt (the email from Stripe, not from us) and we’ll fix it within a business day. You won’t be charged twice — Stripe locks out duplicate attempts on the same session.
The only place you’ll see a card form on a Garden Buddy flow is on checkout.stripe.com. If something on gardenbuddy.au asks for your card number in a form, close the tab and email us — it’s a compromised session or a spoofed page.
What happens immediately after signup
- Confirmation email within 60 seconds. Check spam if it doesn’t arrive.
- Membership active — you have access to /my-garden/ straight away.
- Next payment date set — monthly tiers renew in 30 days, annual in 365. Visible on /my-account/.
- Stripe customer record created — your card is saved (encrypted, by Stripe) for future renewals. You can update it any time.
- PMPro user meta is tagged with your tier, enabling the right shortcodes and access rules.
Next up: logging in on return visits and getting oriented on the My Account dashboard.