This guide is here to help you understand the Exchange Policy in plainer language. It is not the binding legal policy. If this guide and the Exchange Policy ever differ, the Exchange Policy controls.

Exchange Policy Guide

Binding policy: binding Exchange Policy

This guide explains how exchanges and term upgrades can work inside Axiom Charts. It is meant to make the rules easier to read. It does not create a new right to an exchange, refund, discount, product, checkout result, or support outcome.

What an exchange is

An exchange is a way Axiom Charts may allow eligible paid value to move from one paid Axiom Charts product or term into another paid product or term.

The important word is eligible. An exchange depends on your account, your access state, the product, the billing record, and the options shown to you in the exchange flow.

If an exchange option is shown, it means your account currently has a path the system may be able to offer. It does not mean every other product must also be available.

What an exchange is not

An exchange is not a refund.

It is not cash back. It is not a wallet balance. It is not stored money in your account. It is not general credit you can use for unrelated purchases.

Refund requests are handled separately under the Refund Policy and any checkout terms shown during the purchase.

This line matters because it is easy to hear "exchange value" and think "money." That is not what the Exchange Policy says.

The three exchange buckets

The Exchange Policy uses three buckets:

• monthly subscriptions

• yearly subscriptions

• lifetime one-time purchases

A same-cadence exchange stays inside the same bucket.

Monthly to monthly is same-cadence. Yearly to yearly is same-cadence. Lifetime to lifetime is same-cadence.

Moving to a longer term is different. That is a term upgrade, and it has its own rules.

Monthly exchanges

For monthly subscription exchanges, Axiom Charts uses Paddle subscription updates and proration where available.

In plain English, Paddle may look at the paid days left in your current month. The value from those unused days may help pay for the replacement product for those same unused days.

A monthly exchange normally keeps the same billing period, renewal date, and billing cadence. It does not restart the month you already paid for unless the exchange flow clearly says otherwise.

The examples below use easy numbers so the idea is easier to see. The real checkout preview may be different because Paddle, taxes, fees, discounts, product prices, and account state can all matter.

Monthly example: \$10 product to another \$10 product

Imagine you paid \$10 for a monthly product. Halfway through the month, you exchange into another monthly product that also costs \$10.

Example
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30-day month
|------ 15 days used ------|------ 15 days left ------|

You paid: $10
You used: about half the month
Value left: about $5

Simple math:

Example
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Half the month is still left.
Half of $10 is $5.

The old product has about $5 of unused value left.
The new product costs about $5 for the same 15 days.

$5 covers $5, so this example shows $0 due today.

That is why checkout may show no charge today. You are not getting a new free month. The value from the unused half of the old month may cover the unused half of the new month.

Monthly example: \$10 product to a \$20 product

Now imagine you paid \$10 for a monthly product. Halfway through the month, you exchange into a monthly product that costs \$20.

Example
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30-day month
|------ 15 days used ------|------ 15 days left ------|

Old product: $10 per month
New product: $20 per month

Simple math:

Example
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Half the month is still left.
Half of $10 is $5.
Half of $20 is $10.

The old product has about $5 of unused value left.
The new product costs about $10 for the same 15 days.

$5 covers part of $10, so this example shows $5 due today.

This is why a higher-priced replacement can still have a charge at checkout. The old product may help pay for the rest of the period, but it may not cover all of it.

Yearly exchanges

For yearly subscription exchanges, Paddle may look at the paid time left in your current year. The value from that unused time may help pay for the replacement yearly product for the rest of that same year.

A yearly exchange normally keeps the same renewal date and yearly billing cadence. It does not restart the year you already paid for unless the exchange flow clearly says otherwise.

Yearly example: \$120 product to another \$120 product

Imagine you paid \$120 for a yearly product. Six months into the year, you exchange into another yearly product that also costs \$120.

Example
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12-month year
|------ 6 months used ------|------ 6 months left ------|

You paid: $120
You used: about half the year
Value left: about $60

Simple math:

Example
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Half the year is still left.
Half of $120 is $60.

The old product has about $60 of unused value left.
The new product costs about $60 for the same six months.

$60 covers $60, so this example shows $0 due today.

If the replacement yearly product costs more, the same idea applies:

Example
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Half of $240 is $120.
The old product still has about $60 of unused value left.

$60 covers part of $120, so this example shows $60 due today.

At the next renewal, the subscription renews at the replacement product's recurring price unless it is canceled or changed before then.

Lifetime exchanges

Lifetime purchases are one-time purchases. They do not have a monthly or yearly billing period for Paddle to prorate.

For eligible lifetime-to-lifetime exchanges, Axiom Charts uses a three-year value-depletion calculation. The three-year period starts on the original lifetime purchase date.

At a plain-language level, that means the exchange value runs down over that three-year period. The calculation uses the eligible part of that period that is still left.

The calculation is based on the amount Axiom Charts can reliably identify as paid for the original lifetime product. That means the product amount before taxes and fees, after any discounts used on that original purchase. It does not mean the list price. It does not mean the total receipt amount if that total includes taxes or fees.

The basic formula is:

Example
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Start with the amount Axiom Charts can confirm you paid.
Then look at how much of the three-year window is still left.
That gives the possible lifetime exchange discount.

Lifetime example: \$10 lifetime product, exchanged 10 months later

For this example, imagine you paid \$10 for a lifetime product. Then, 10 months later, you exchange into another lifetime product.

Example
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three-year window is 36 months
|------ 10 months passed ------|------ 26 months left ------|

You paid: $10
Time left in the three-year window: 26 of 36 months

Simple math:

Example
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Out of 36 months, 26 months are still left.
That means about 72 percent of the three-year window is left.

About 72 percent of $10 is about $7.22.
So this example has about $7.22 of possible exchange discount.

If the new lifetime product costs \$20, the rough example would look like this:

Example
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The new lifetime product costs $20.
The possible exchange discount is about $7.22.

$20 minus $7.22 leaves about $12.78 before taxes, fees, or other checkout changes.

This does not mean lifetime purchases turn into cash. It also does not mean the discount can make checkout go below zero. If the discount is bigger than the target lifetime price, it is capped at the target price.

The short version: monthly and yearly exchanges look at paid time left in the current billing period. Lifetime exchanges look at time left in the three-year exchange window. Checkout is still the final place to confirm what is actually available.

Term upgrades

A term upgrade keeps the same product but moves it to a longer available term.

Monthly products may be upgraded to yearly or lifetime access. Yearly products may be upgraded to lifetime access.

Customer self-service downgrades are not currently supported. That includes yearly to monthly and lifetime to yearly.

When a term upgrade is processed, remaining value from the source term may be applied as a checkout discount or billing adjustment toward the upgraded term. For a term upgrade, source access is removed only after the upgraded access is successfully created or confirmed.

Why checkout may still appear

Checkout may still appear even when the preview says nothing is due today.

That can feel strange, but checkout is not only there to collect money. It may also confirm the exchange request, apply the eligible discount, create or update Paddle billing records, and keep access records lined up.

After target access is confirmed, the old source product or source term may be removed, canceled, revoked, or allowed to end. The exact handling depends on the exchange path used.

Do not treat a zero-dollar checkout as a promise that checkout can be skipped. Do not treat checkout as a promise that the exchange will complete no matter what Paddle or the account system finds.

Why an exchange may not be available

Not every product can be exchanged into every other product.

Access may be ineligible if it came from a package, manual grant, trial, complimentary access, expired subscription, refunded purchase, revoked entitlement, disputed transaction, or another non-standard path.

Access may also be ineligible if Axiom Charts cannot reliably recover the original amount paid, if the target product is unavailable, if you already own the target product in the relevant cadence, or if Paddle or the account systems cannot complete the transaction safely.

Public discounts, promotional pricing, and exchange discounts do not stack unless the checkout flow expressly says otherwise.

If a product is not shown as an exchange option, that does not always mean something broke. It may mean the account, product, billing record, or checkout path does not qualify.

If checkout fails or gets interrupted

If checkout fails, is closed, or cannot be confirmed, the exchange or term upgrade may not complete.

Axiom Charts systems are designed to avoid removing source access before target access has been created or confirmed. That is a design goal, not a promise that every unusual billing or account state will be simple.

If something gets stuck, the account may need review before the exchange can complete or be retried.

When support may need to review it

Axiom Charts may review exchange or upgrade requests manually when account state, billing state, eligibility, product availability, or fulfillment records are unclear.

You can send exchange or upgrade questions through contact support.

Support review does not guarantee approval. It does not guarantee that an unavailable product can be exchanged. It does not guarantee that missing records can be recovered or that checkout can be completed if Paddle or the account system cannot do it safely.

The honest version is simpler: if the system cannot clearly tell what happened, Axiom Charts may need to look at it.

Where the binding policy lives

The binding Exchange Policy is the legal source.

If this guide and the Exchange Policy ever differ, the Exchange Policy controls.

Axiom Charts may update the Exchange Policy when products, checkout systems, billing provider capabilities, or legal obligations change.

For refund questions, use the Refund Policy. The exchange guide does not create refund rights.