Standing deals

Paying for something by the week or the month. Each week or month is paid when it starts, nothing is held, and either of you can stop it.

What a standing deal is

A standing deal is one agreement that pays again every week or every month: storing a car, a weekly lift, a regular clean. You agree once. After that the same amount goes from the person paying to the person providing at the start of each week or month, until one of you stops it or the number of weeks or months you chose runs out.

It starts when you take up a post priced per week or per month. The card shows /wk or /mo. Every other post makes the one-off deal in "A deal, step by step": a price by the hour or by the day, a fixed total, a free post, and a thing you lend.

Two names are used on this page. The payer is the person who pays: whoever takes up an Offer, or whoever posted a Need. The provider is the person who is paid.

Nothing is held

A one-off deal holds the payer's Beans in trust until the job is done. A standing deal holds nothing. Each week or month is paid when it starts, like rent paid in advance, so the provider has the Beans before the work.

There is no Release Credits, no Cancel Trust Hold and no Hold back on a standing deal. There is nothing held to release, so nobody has a tap to make each month.
The 1.5% market fee comes off what the provider is paid, as in any deal, and goes to your community's Commons.
A payment is final. If you pay for a month and get nothing, the most you lose is that month, because you can stop the rest with one tap. The app cannot take a paid month back, and with nothing held there is nothing for an admin to settle. See "When a deal goes wrong".

Taking up an Offer

Open the Offer and tap Accept Offer. A screen, Take this up?, opens in place of the hours. It says the title, the amount and who it is from, such as Vehicle Storage · 50 Beans a month · from Rob.
Under How long? choose Until one of us stops it, or For 6 months (or weeks). The − and + change the number, from 1 to 52.
Under Start: choose Today, or Up to 30 days ahead and use the − and + to pick the day.
Read the lines under that. They say what happens now, such as 50 Beans go to Rob now for the first month (9 Nov – 9 Dec), then 50 at the start of each month, until one of you stops it. If you chose a later start, the first period is still paid when you tap Agree, and it covers the period that begins on your start day.
Tap Agree and pay 50 Beans. Or tap Cancel and nothing happens.

Your phone (or your browser) signs one agreement with your key when you tap Agree. It names the amount, the week or month, how many, who is paid and the start day. Your community's server can only pay exactly that: never more, never more often, never past the count, never to anyone else.

If you do not have the room to pay the first period, Agree is greyed out and the screen says why, such as You need 50 Beans of room; you have 30. Your room is your balance plus the credit line you can use. See "Your credit line".

Helping with a Need

On a Need priced per week or per month, tap I can do this as for any Need. You are not asked how many weeks or months. You offer to help, and the person who posted it chooses how long it runs.
The person who posted the Need sees your request and taps Approve & Commit (in the web app, Approve & Hold in Trust, though nothing is held on a standing deal). The same Take this up? screen opens on their side, and they tap Agree and pay.
The person who posted the Need is the payer. They pay you the first period at once, and each one after at its start.

What each of you sees

The post shows the deal, so you never have to look for it, in the phone app and the web app alike. Your deals marks it 🔁 STANDING and shows the same line as the post.

The payer sees: 🔁 Standing deal since 9 Nov · 50 Beans a month, then This month's 50 went to Rob on 9 Nov · the next 50 go on 9 Dec. If you chose a number, it also says Month 3 of 6.
The provider sees: Marty's standing deal · 50 Beans a month · paid for this month on 9 Nov · next on 9 Dec.
Both have Stop… and Message. Nothing else: no Release, no Cancel, no Hold back.

A standing deal that is running well never adds to the red number on Your deals or to the count on the bell: it is not waiting on anyone.

Each time a period is paid:

The payer gets a Ledger row, such as Standing deal · Vehicle Storage · month 3, and a line in the deal's chat. There is no alert: it is your own standing order.
The provider gets an alert, as for any payment, and the same Ledger row and chat line: 50 Beans for Vehicle Storage came in from Marty · month 3.

Dates

Weeks are exactly 7 days. A month keeps the day you started on, at about the same time of day, and a month without that day uses its last one. A deal that starts on 31 January is paid again on 28 February (29 in a leap year), then 31 March, then 30 April. It never slips: each date is worked out from the start, not from the one before.

Stopping it

Either of you can stop a standing deal at any time. Tap Stop… and the app asks first.

The payer sees Stop after this month? and You've paid for this month; Rob keeps it; nothing more is paid.
The provider sees Stop after this month? and Nothing more will be paid to you after 9 Dec.
Tap Stop it to go ahead, or Keep it to leave it running. In the web app the buttons are OK and Cancel. (On a weekly deal it says week.)

The period that is paid stays paid, and the deal ends when it ends. The card says Stops on 9 Dec · this month is paid, and the other person is told. A post that is not Repeatable goes back on the market when the deal ends. Pausing a post does not stop its standing deals.

When the next period cannot be paid

A period is due when it starts. If the payer does not have the room to pay it, the deal is short, and nobody is left guessing.

The warning. A few days before (3 for a month, 1 for a week), if the payer's room would not cover it, the payer gets an alert that says so: Vehicle Storage: 50 Beans go to Rob on 9 Dec and you're 30 short. Earn or receive Beans by then, or stop the standing deal. The provider is told nothing at this point. Only the payer ever hears their balance or how short they are.

The grace. If the period is due and not paid, the deal gets a grace of half a period: about 15 days on a monthly deal, 3½ days on a weekly one. The app names the last day. During the grace:

The server tries again every hour.
The moment Beans reach the payer, whatever way (a payment for something, a gift, a refund), the whole period is paid to the provider at once. It is never paid in parts, and the dates stay the same.
If the payer's room grows without Beans arriving, such as a higher credit line, the next hourly try pays it, so it can take up to an hour.
Either of you can stop it now (see below).
If nothing arrives and nobody stops it, the deal ends when the grace ends.

Example, a month. Marty pays Rob 50 Beans a month for Vehicle Storage. The second month is due on 9 Dec, and Marty is 30 Beans short.

6 Dec: Marty is warned that he will be 30 short. Rob hears nothing.
9 Dec: the 50 cannot be paid. Both are told. Marty's card says ⚠️ This month's 50 Beans couldn't be paid · 50 needed by 24 Dec or it ends. Rob's says This month isn't paid yet · we'll keep trying until 24 Dec, and he can stop it now.
About 16 Dec, halfway: both get a reminder, such as Vehicle Storage: 50 Beans 7 days overdue. Earn or receive Beans by 24 Dec, or it ends.
17 Dec: someone pays Marty enough for a job to cover it. The 50 goes to Rob straight away, and both are told: Vehicle Storage: this month's 50 Beans have gone to Rob. The next 50 is still due on 9 Jan.
Had nothing arrived: on 23 Dec both are told it ends tomorrow unless the 50 reaches Rob. On 24 Dec it ends. Marty is told Vehicle Storage ended: this month's Beans couldn't be paid. Nothing more will be taken. Talk to Rob about it. Rob is told Marty's Vehicle Storage ended: this month's Beans couldn't be paid. Nothing is owed through the app for the days since 9 Dec.

Example, a week. Ana pays Sam 20 Beans a week for a weekly lift, due each Monday. The grace is 3½ days, so a week that is not paid on Monday has until about Thursday. A weekly deal has no halfway reminder, because it would come only 18 hours before the one that says it ends tomorrow. The rest is the same: the warning the day before, both told on Monday, paid the moment Beans arrive, and both told on the Wednesday that it ends unless the 20 arrives.

While it is short: Stop now

On a short deal the button on both cards becomes Stop now, for the payer as well as the provider.

The payer sees Stop it now? and It ends now. This month's 50 Beans aren't paid and won't be; nothing is owed through the app for the days since 9 Dec. Talk to Rob about it.
The provider sees Stop it now? and It ends now. This month's 50 Beans won't come; nothing is owed through the app for the days since 9 Dec.
Stop it ends the deal at once. Nothing is paid for that period, now or later, and the Ledger shows nothing for it. The other person is told in words like Marty stopped Vehicle Storage. This month's 50 Beans weren't paid; nothing is owed through the app for the days since 9 Dec.
Keep it leaves it running.
In the web app the buttons are OK and Cancel.

"Nothing is owed through the app" means BeanPool keeps no tab for the unpaid days. If Rob stored the car for two weeks of that month and the two of you think something is owed, settle it between you. The app will not count it, and nothing in it can collect it.

Where you see it

A short deal is a step for the payer, so while it is short:

Under Needs you at the top of the bell (Notifications), and on Home's Needs you card, the payer has one line: Vehicle Storage: 50 Beans 3 days overdue · until 24 Dec. It is amber and counts in the number. On the day it is due, it says due today.
The provider has one too: Marty's 50 Beans for Vehicle Storage: 3 days overdue · we try until 24 Dec · you can stop it now. It is listed but does not count, because it is not their step.
The line rewrites its own days each day. ✕ and Clear all do not remove it. It goes by itself when the period is paid, or the deal is stopped or ended. Tap it to open the deal.
Each alert above is also kept as a notice in the bell, under Needs you. You can clear these, and they go by themselves after 7 days. On your lock screen an alert says only There is news on one of your trades. The words are in the bell. See "Notifications".

Other ways it ends

The count runs out. You are told when the last period is paid, and it ends on the day that period ends: Vehicle Storage: the last month of this standing deal is paid. It ends on 9 Jun.
Whoever posted it takes the post down. The period already paid stays paid and the deal ends when it ends. On a short deal it ends at once. The other person is told.
An admin removes the post. The deal ends now, and both are told. Periods already paid stay paid.
Either of you deletes your account, or is removed from the community. The deal ends at once.
The server was away. If it is off for a short time, the period is paid when it is back, with the dates unchanged. If a whole week or month goes by with nobody to pay it, nothing is paid for it and the deal ends. Both are told: This community's server was away for longer than a whole period, so the standing deal for Vehicle Storage has ended and nothing was paid for it. Talk to each other, and take it up again if you both want to.
It cannot go on. If something no longer allows it, it ends and both are told: The standing deal for Vehicle Storage can't carry on, so it has ended. Nothing more will be paid.

Good to know

Holiday Mode. A payer cannot switch on Holiday Mode while a standing deal of theirs is running. The app says Stop your standing deal for Vehicle Storage first. A provider can go away while theirs run.
Enterprises. A standing deal cannot pay a keeper of the enterprise that pays it. Pay each job as a deal instead.
Reviews. A standing deal asks for one review, on its first period, not one a month.

The same guide is in the BeanPool app, and works there without a connection: open Settings, then "Help & how it works" under BeanPool. Every other rule, guide and manual is in the Help Centre. Guide version 166.