# Paddle merchant onboarding — Read the Markets Use this when filling Paddle's seller-application / business-description fields. Framing is deliberately **media / publishing**, not financial services — "trading", "signals", "advice" wording triggers rejection or sends the application to extra compliance review. --- ## Business description (one paragraph) **Read the Markets** is a UK-based subscription publishing service for retail investors who want to *understand* what's moving in markets without acting on tips or signals. The site aggregates public market data (prices via Yahoo Finance) and public RSS news feeds, then generates plain-English written commentary using a large language model. Subscribers read; the service does not trade, hold client funds, or give personal financial advice. Operated by Giorgio Gilestro, ICO-registered as ZC098928. ## What we sell A single B2C subscription that unlocks extended access to our written market commentary and personal-portfolio analysis features. There is one product, two billing cadences: - **Read the Markets — Paid plan, Monthly** — £7 GBP / month - **Read the Markets — Paid plan, Annual** — £70 GBP / year A free tier exists indefinitely (no card required) and gives access to the core editorial at reduced refresh cadence. Pricing in GBP; VAT handled by Paddle as merchant of record. ## What subscribers get on the Paid plan - 24-hour news headline window (free: 6 hours) - Strategic interpretation log refreshed every hour during market hours (free: every six hours) - Daily written digest emailed Monday–Saturday - The ability to ask follow-up questions to the AI about any past published interpretation - Optional upload of a personal portfolio CSV (currently Trading 212 export) for an AI commentary on diversification and macro-regime fit — purely descriptive, no buy/sell calls - Optional end-to-end encrypted cloud sync of the portfolio file ## What we explicitly do **not** do (regulatory framing) - **Not a financial-advice service.** We do not produce personalised recommendations or consider a user's wider finances, debts, tax position, or objectives. - **No buy/sell/hold signals.** Output is editorial commentary on public data. - **No brokerage.** We never execute trades, hold client money, or custody assets. - **Not regulated under FSMA / FCA COBS.** This is explicitly stated on the site disclaimer and in the portfolio-analysis feature description. - **No crypto trading, no margin/leverage products, no copy-trading, no managed accounts.** - **No tipster service.** All copy emphasises the difference between "understanding markets" and "gambling on them." ## Audience Retail readers in the UK and EU who want a daily macro briefing in plain English. Comparable to a paid newsletter (e.g. Substack finance writers) or a personal-finance magazine subscription, delivered as a web app + email. ## Refund & cancellation policy Published at §6: 14-day statutory cooling-off (Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013), cancel-any-time taking effect at end of billing period, pro-rata refund if we terminate service through no fault of the user. Refund requests handled by email at . --- ## Comprehensive product overview (single-field answer) > Use this when Paddle asks **"Could you provide a comprehensive > overview of your product?"** — one self-contained block, ~400 > words, designed so the reviewer hits the "not a financial product" > framing within the first two sentences. **Read the Markets** () is a UK-based subscription publishing service that helps retail readers *understand* what is moving in financial markets — through plain-English written commentary, not through trading signals, advice, or recommendations. It is best understood as a digital newsletter / news-and-media subscription product, with an AI-content layer, comparable to a paid financial newsletter on Substack or a digital news magazine. We do not execute trades, hold client funds, custody any assets, or operate as a broker or investment adviser. We are not authorised by the FCA and we are not a regulated financial service. This positioning is explicit on the live site disclaimer at and in the body copy of every paid feature. The product works as follows. We aggregate public market data (stock, FX, commodity, and rate quotes via Yahoo Finance) and public RSS news feeds across the macro universe. A large language model (via OpenRouter) then writes a short editorial interpretation of what the underlying public data appears to be saying. The output is a written article — a "strategic log" — refreshed through the trading day, plus per-asset-class commentary panels and a daily / weekly written digest delivered by email. Subscribers can also optionally upload a personal portfolio holdings CSV (currently exported from Trading 212) to receive a written sense-check of diversification, currency exposure, and macro-regime fit on those holdings; this output is purely descriptive and contains no buy, sell, or hold recommendations. A free tier exists indefinitely (no card required) and serves the core editorial at a reduced refresh cadence (6-hour news window, strategic log refreshed every six hours, weekly Sunday digest only). The Paid plan extends those to a 24-hour news window, hourly strategic log refresh, daily Mon–Sat email digest, the optional portfolio upload + AI commentary, an interactive follow-up chat against any past published article, and optional encrypted cloud sync of the portfolio file. Pricing is in GBP, with Paddle as merchant of record handling VAT: **£7 / month** or **£70 / year** (two months free). Subscribers can cancel any time, taking effect at the end of the current billing period. A 14-day statutory cooling-off period applies under the UK Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, plus pro-rata refunds where we terminate service through no fault of the user — full refund policy at §6. Operated by Giorgio Gilestro, ICO-registered as ZC098928, contact . --- ## Practical tips when completing the Paddle form - **Category dropdown:** pick **"Software / SaaS — Content & publishing"** or **"Digital subscription — News & media"** if those options exist. Avoid anything containing the words *financial services*, *trading*, *investing tools*, or *fintech*. - **Self-declaration:** describe the product as **media / publishing with an AI-content angle** — not a financial service. - **Linkable references for the reviewer:** - Pricing & tier breakdown: - Disclaimer (the legal "not advice" statement): - Terms & Conditions (incl. §6 Refunds): - Privacy notice (ICO ZC098928 surfaced here):