Membership Plans and Discounts

Qbix Platform Assets plugin
#1

Membership Plans & Discounts

In addition to one-time purchases and service reservations, communities and providers may offer Membership Plans that give users access to recurring benefits, discounts, or entitlements over time. These plans integrate cleanly with Products, Services, Offers, Pricing, and Orders — and are expressed naturally as Assets within the Qbix Streams architecture.

Assets/plan

A Membership Plan represents a recurring entitlement that becomes active once purchased, and remains in effect until expiration or cancellation.

Typical plan attributes:

  • price (recurring fee)
  • billingCycle (weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly)
  • benefits (JSON)
  • discounts (per-Product, per-Service, or global)
  • maxUsage or fair-use rules (optional)
  • freeTier or “included” items
  • metadata

Membership Plans may include 0–100% discounts on specific products, services, catalog entries, or offers.
A 100% discount essentially acts as free access to items in the catalog, but only while the membership is active.

Plans can be targeted at:

  • students
  • seniors
  • members of a community
  • premium subscribers
  • season ticket holders
  • business clients
  • staff or volunteers
  • partner organizations

Each plan can apply automatic pricing adjustments to Offers and Catalogs whenever an eligible user is logged in.

Plan → Discount Rules

Discounts apply at the Offer layer, not directly to Products or Services.

A plan may define:

  • global discount (e.g., 10% off everything)
  • category discount (e.g., 50% off all burgers)
  • service discount (e.g., free consultations)
  • time-window discount (e.g., free lunch on weekdays before noon)
  • limited-usage discount (e.g., 3 free AI transforms per month)
  • capacity-based discount (e.g., lower prices for first 50 subscribers)
  • group-size discount (members get group pricing even when booking alone)
  • staff-only perks (free meals, discounted services)

All discounts use the same Assets/pricing/rule mechanism described earlier.
Membership simply activates a set of pricing rules while the plan is valid.

When a user selects an Offer, the system evaluates:

  1. Base Pricing
  2. Plan-based Rules
  3. Offer-based Rules
  4. Inventory-based Rules
  5. Community-based Rules

Then computes the final Item price.

Recurring Plans & Prepaid Entitlements

Membership Plans are typically recurring:

  • Monthly gym membership
  • Yearly hosting/maintenance plan
  • Weekly meal plan
  • Seasonal passes
  • Ongoing software support plans
  • Premium AI credits

A plan renews automatically unless cancelled.

During the plan period:

  • eligible Offers have their pricing modified
  • users unlock special Catalog views
  • reservations may become free or discounted
  • users gain access to subscriber-only Products or Deliverables
  • quotas (e.g., “10 free tasks per month”) reset according to billing cycle

Plan expiration immediately removes discounts and entitlements.

Payment Schedules

Assets/payment/schedule

Defines how a user pays for:

  • a Membership Plan
  • a Product or Service that requires periodic payment
  • prepaying for usage of a stream
  • pre-purchasing credits (AppBux)
  • prepaying for access to a plugin or hosting component

Schedules may define:

  • billingCycle
  • amountDueEachCycle
  • startTime, endTime
  • autoRenew flag
  • gracePeriod
  • allowedPaymentMethods

Important:
The Qbix Platform does not engage in financial credit or lending.
Payment schedules are used for:

  • prepaid access
  • prepaid usage credits
  • recurring subscriptions
  • maintenance/support contracts
  • plugin hosting fees
  • memberships

…but not for credit-financed purchases of consumable items.

Prepaid Streams & Discounted Plans

Communities may allow users to:

  • prepay for a long-term plan
  • lock in a discounted rate
  • buy discounted AppBux or micro-payment credits
  • gain deeper discounts for committing earlier

For example:

  • Prepay 12 months → get 20% discount
  • Prepay for 100 hosting jobs → get lower per-job rate
  • Prepay for 10 haircuts → get 1 free

These all use Assets/payment/schedule as a reusable object.

Membership Entitlements

A Membership Plan can entitle users to:

(1) Free or discounted Offers

  • free product refills
  • free consultations
  • discounted meals
  • discounted add-ons
  • free access to premium Spaces

(2) Increased capacity or limit

  • more AI transformations
  • more project submissions
  • additional subtasks allowed
  • extended room/table reservation limits

(3) Access to exclusive Products or Services

  • subscriber-only catalog items
  • exclusive events or availability windows
  • early access to new features
  • subscriber-only task templates

(4) Extended hosting or warranties

  • additional months of encrypted hosting
  • expanded warranties or maintenance coverage
  • free updates or bug fixes

(5) Discounts on Tasks

For example:

  • free background-removal tasks
  • $0 logo revisions
  • half-price deployment tasks

Membership becomes a dynamic modifier across the entire system.

Membership + Tasks + Deliverables

When an Item spawns Tasks:

  • Membership can discount Task labor
  • Membership can provide “free revisions”
  • Membership can include “X deliverables per billing cycle”
  • Membership can extend hosting for the deliverables
  • Membership can reduce or waive service fees
  • Membership can allow priority processing

This creates powerful subscription-based workflows for:

  • agencies
  • AI services
  • streaming services
  • salons and spas
  • restaurants
  • classes and group events
  • app hosting and updates
  • plugin ecosystems

Membership + Catalogs

A Catalog may show different items or prices depending on user plan:

  • free drinks for VIP members
  • member-only menu items
  • discounted delivery fees
  • premium seat selection
  • early access to limited stock

Prices update in real time as Offers are recomputed.

Membership Lifecycle

  1. User purchases a Membership Offer

  2. Order creates Items representing the subscription instance

  3. Payment Schedule begins

  4. Plan activates and discounts start applying

  5. User renews automatically or manually

  6. If expired or cancelled:

    • discounts vanish
    • catalog views may change
    • items revert to base pricing
    • hosting or warranties may end

Membership effects are updated instantly via Streams.

Example Scenarios with Membership Plans

1. Gym Membership

  • Plan gives unlimited classes (100% discount)
  • $20 discount on personal training
  • Access to member-only events
  • Monthly billing schedule

2. Restaurant Loyalty Program

  • Free dessert with any meal
  • 10% off lunch service on weekdays
  • Members access a secret menu
  • Free group-discount activation for parties

3. Software-as-a-Service

  • Pro plan unlocks plugin catalog
  • Unlimited background-removal tasks (up to fair-use quota)
  • Monthly AppBux stipend
  • Discounted hosting charges

4. Car Maintenance Membership

  • Free oil changes
  • Discounted repairs
  • Priority booking for inspections
  • Extended warranties on deliverables

5. AI Task Membership Plan

  • 100 free AI transformations per month
  • Additional tasks 50% off
  • Priority execution on GPU tasks
  • Encrypted deliverables hosted longer

6. Education or Coaching Plan

  • Weekly sessions included (100% discounted)
  • Premium one-on-one services discounted
  • Members get early access to reservation slots
  • Deliverables (recorded lessons) hosted as long as plan is active

Conclusion

Membership Plans and Payment Schedules extend the Products & Services architecture into a full-featured system supporting:

  • recurring access
  • entitlement management
  • discounts and perks
  • prepaid usage
  • subscription hosting
  • plugin ecosystems
  • AppBux utility tokens
  • time-based benefits

All of this integrates cleanly with:

  • Offers
  • Pricing
  • Tasks
  • Deliverables
  • Availabilities
  • Events
  • Catalogs
  • Orders
  • Items

Using nothing but Streams, Relations, and Messages.