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Selling globally makes you liable for VAT, chargebacks, PCI scope and consumer protection. How a merchant of record moves that liability, and what stays put.

SaaS starter kits give you code you own and maintain. Backends give you a service you don't. Real prices, the 18-month maintenance cost, and when each fits.

Time-based billing charges for time spent, not events or seats. How hold-and-capture works, the three models (per-minute, session, passes), and who uses it.

Is leaving Apple IAP worth it in 2026? US fees by path, why external links are now 0%, and the break-even math that decides it for your app.

Does leaving Apple IAP actually save money in 2026? Full US cost breakdown of external links and Web2App, including sales tax and the conversion gap.

Flat-rate, per-seat, usage, hybrid, time-based. All 8 SaaS pricing models explained with real examples, failure modes and how to choose at each growth stage.

Auth providers with built-in billing compared: Clerk, Kinde, Polar, Dodo and tiun on entitlements, 3DS support, and who handles VAT as seller of record.

Auth providers that don't charge per MAU: self-hosted, bundled, high free ceiling, and revenue-metered. What each charges instead and when per-user still wins.

Metered billing counts consumption, usage-based billing prices it, time-based billing charges for the clock. How the three differ and when each one fits.

No entitlement needed to link out on the US App Store since May 2025. What external payments cost in 2026, from Stripe and sales tax to a returning commission.

Proration, dunning, trials, entitlements. Most teams treat subscription management as a payments problem. In 2026, it is a revenue operations problem.

Flat subscriptions cap SaaS revenue. Hybrid billing combines recurring fees, usage metering and time-based charges. Explainer and platform checklist for 2026.