Quick answers to the questions I get most often. If yours isn’t here, troubleshooting covers technical issues and contact support handles everything else.
Subscription questions
Can I cancel any time?
Yes. One click from your account page. No phone calls, no retention loops. You keep access until the end of the current billing period; nothing else is charged.
Do you refund unused time on annual plans?
Yes, prorated. If you’ve used 2 months of a $29 annual plan and cancel, you’ll get $24 back (10 months × $2.42 a month equivalent). Stripe handles the refund automatically and it arrives on your card within 3 to 5 business days.
Can I switch tiers?
Yes. Upgrade (Starter to Pro) charges the prorated difference immediately. Downgrade (Pro to Starter) takes effect at your next renewal. No refund on the current period.
Can I pause my subscription?
Not directly yet. What I’d do is cancel and re-subscribe within 12 months, your data waits for you. A formal pause option may come later in 2026.
Your data
What happens to my garden data if I cancel?
Your data stays in my database for 12 months. If you re-subscribe within that window, everything is still there for you. After 12 months I anonymise and delete per the privacy policy.
Can I export my data?
Yes. From /my-account/export-data/ you can download a complete JSON of every bed, plant, harvest, care event, and pest observation you’ve logged. Yours forever, formatted for any spreadsheet or analysis tool.
Do you share my data with anyone?
No. Your individual garden data is never shared with third parties. Aggregated anonymised statistics (“Australian home growers harvested X kg of broccoli last autumn”) may appear in blog posts and research, but your individual data never leaves my database.
Is my data backed up?
Yes. I run daily automated database backups retained for 30 days, and weekly backups retained for 12 months. Stored off server. I’ve never lost member data.
Payment and security
Is my payment information secure?
Payments go through Stripe, PCI-DSS Level 1 certified (highest tier). I never see or store your card number, Stripe does.
What cards do you accept?
Visa, Mastercard, American Express. Apple Pay and Google Pay also work via Stripe’s hosted checkout on supported devices. Zip, Afterpay, and similar BNPL aren’t supported for subscriptions.
What about GST?
Prices include GST (10% for Australian customers. The $29 annual plan is $26.36 + $2.64 GST). My ABN appears on every invoice (86 081 237 087, Dutch Digital Dynamics Pty Ltd).
Can I deduct the subscription for tax?
If you use Garden Buddy for a business purpose (market garden, CSA, farmers’ market stallholder, food bloggers using their own produce for content), the subscription may be tax deductible. Check with your accountant, I don’t give tax advice.
Price data
How often do you update prices?
Every night, 23:00 to 00:10 AEST. I pull daily averages from Woolies, Coles, Aldi and IGA for 76+ vegetables. My null rate across the four retailers runs at around 0.8%.
Why do some crops show “no price data”?
Usually because the crop is sold by the bunch (kale, silverbeet, coriander, bok choy), not by weight. I capture what’s available, but per kg data for these is thin and I’d rather show “no data” than misleadingly low numbers.
Can I override prices for specific crops?
Pro tier yes. You can set a per crop price override that’s used for your ROI calculations. Starter tier uses my scraped averages.
Geography and scope
Can I use Garden Buddy from outside Australia?
You can sign up and use the garden tracker (beds, plants, harvests, care log). But the supermarket prices, the climate zones, and the planting guides are all Australian. If you’re in NZ, the UK, the US, or anywhere else, you’ll get less value out of it. My zone system won’t match your climate.
Will you expand to New Zealand?
Maybe in 2027. NZ has distinct climate zones that would need fresh data collection, not just a copy of the Australian system. Email me if you’re interested and I’ll note the demand.
Features
Do you have a phone app?
Not yet. The website is mobile responsive and works on any phone browser. A native app is on my roadmap for Q4 2026 but only if the web product proves itself first.
Can I share a membership with family?
One paid membership covers one user account. Gift subscriptions aren’t supported yet. Couples sharing a garden typically just share the one account’s login and that’s fine for now. Family accounts with multiple logins are on my roadmap for 2026.
Can I share my garden publicly?
Not yet, except via my /demo-garden/ which is mine. A “public profile” feature where members can optionally share their plot is something I’m considering for 2027.
Can I import data from another app?
I can import CSVs if the column structure is clean enough to work with. Email support with a sample file and I’ll review what’s possible. Direct integrations with other gardening apps aren’t supported.
The spelling question
What’s with the occasional Dutch-sounding spelling?
There isn’t any in this guide. I grew up in the Netherlands, and earlier content had some Dutch-English quirks in it for authenticity. I’ve removed them from the member guide at user request. Everything here is Australian English, no typos intended.
Why Australian English?
Because the product is Australian. Colour, behaviour, organise, realise, fertilise, that’s how it’s spelled here.