Watching films, listening to music and using streaming software has by now become an everyday habit and something we can’t live without. Some people choose to access this content for free, but with many limits. Others instead buy Premium plans to enjoy offers without constraints. We are talking about services such as Netflix, Spotify, Office 365, subscriptions where the monthly cost appears to be moderate but in reality added together at the end of the year they pile up. On average we spend £ 153 a year, of which £ 80.95 on Netflix, £ 12.65 on Spotify Premium, to which we must add another £ 60 for other services, for example Office 365 Personal.
And if i told you there was a way of saving up to 75% of the cost of these subscriptions, cutting costs from £ 153 to £ 38.25 a year? But how? Have you ever tried to split to membership costs with other people? I bet you have, but i also bet that you’ve always found difficulties in doing so. People always find an excuse not to have the money at the end of the month. So, what initially seems like a smart way of saving money instead becomes a tiring commitment for the subscribers of these memberships who, desperate, after months of trying, returns to pay the single plan in full.
The good news is that there is a solution to all this, and it is called Together Price. Together Price is a service ‘made in Italy’ that allows groups of friends, housemates, colleagues and family members to organise a division of the costs of digital multi-account services. You can manage everything from a simple Web interface that renders payments automatic. After signing up to the website you have two options: you can either create a sharing group to split the cost of your membership, or you can join an active group. If you want to learn more and, particularly, if you want to see in detail how Together Price works to save you money on your digital memberships, keep reading: everything is explained below.
Index
- requisites of Together Price
- supported services
- cost of Together Price
- how Together Price works
- sign up to Together Price
- create a sharing group
- participate in a sharing group
- manage payments
- the Trust
- in case of problems or doubts
Requisites of Together Price
Before we get to the heart of this tutorial, it seems appropriate to indicate what is necessary to use Together Price. First of all, it has to be pointed out that the service provides for two types of users
- admins, those who are the title holders of a multi-account subscription service and want to share it with other people by opening a sharing group
- joiners, those who want to join a pre-existing sharing group to share the costs of a multi-account subscription service
To become admin, one needs to be the title holder of a multi-account subscription service (e.g. Netflix Premium)
To become joiner, instead, one needs available a credit / debit card belonging to VISA/VISA electron/Visa Debit or MasterCard.
As far as the hardware and software go, there’s not much to say: Together Price can be used by computers, on any major browser (e.g. Chrome, Firefox or Safari), as well as on smartphones, tablets, still using the browser.
Supported services
Together Price allows you to share accounts from many of digital services. The only constraint, is having to keep in mind the settings in which the providers provide for sharing. Netflix and Spotify, for example, allow the sharing of their multi-account plans, respectively, Netflix Premium and Spotify Family, in the same household, whilst Office 365 allows the splitting of the membership cost among a maximum of 5 colleagues or coworkers.
It is important to know about these details before proceeding.
Moreover, one needs to ensure that the subscription they share permits sharing with other users and check all its limitations, for example the maximum number of users, age restrictions, geographic position, place of residence and so on.
Following this i will point out some of the most important limitations, indicating their limits and principle restrictions established in their conditions of use.
- Netflix – Netflix subscriptions don’t allow sharing with people outside of one’s household. Depending on the plan you subscribe to, it is possible to watch on 2 or 4 screens at the same time.
- Spotify – The Spotify Family plan allows sharing one’s account with a maximum of 5 people, as long as they reside at the same address.
- Amazon Music – The Amazon Music Family plan allows people to share their membership with 5 people living in the same household.
- NordVPN – the program permits the connection of 6 devices at the same time without constraints regarding location.
- Apple Music – The Apple Music Family plan allows the streaming of content on a maximum of 6 devices. All the participants need to be family members and reside at the same address.
- Google Play Music – With its Family plan, Google Play Music allows the account to be shared by 6 people. All members need to live in the same country as the overseer and all need to be of age.
- Tidal – The Tidal Family plan allows the service to be shared between 5 members of a family
- Office 365 – The Office 365 Home membership allows the subscription to be divided with another 4 colleagues or coworkers.
- Other services supported by Together Price are Steam, Xbox Live, Dropbox and Kaspersky. Furthermore, it is possible to create personalised groups in which you can include subscriptions not included in the premade list (look at Custom). For more details surrounding the services supported by Together Price and their rules, click on any service and then on (i) Rules of sharing that you will find in the box on the right.
The important thing, as we have said, is to always check the conditions of use of a service before sharing an account.
Cost of Together Price
Now we’ll move onto the cost of Together Price. The admin can use the service completely free, in the sense that no costs are added for the management of the shared group.
Costs only get added at the moment of a money transfer from the ‘wallet’ to the bank account, but only if the sum is less than £ 20: in this case, a fixed fee of £ 0.45 + 3% on the amount transferred. For transfers over £ 20 no commission is added.
The Joiners pay the amount indicated on the shared account page, so the price of sharing plus the management fees (which are usually £ 0.83).
How Together Price works
Now we can get to the heart of the matter and explore in more detail how Together Price works. So, take a minute and try out the service following the instructions i am about to give you.
Sign up to Together Price
The first step is to visit the Together Price website and create your account: this is completely free and requires almost no time at all. Moreover, it can be done in the same way whether you’re using a computer, smartphone or tablet. You can register using Facebook, Google or using the classic combination of email and password.
To proceed, click on the SIGN UP button that you find on the Together Price home page and choose how to register: clicking on the Log in with Facebook or Log in with Google then confirm with your Facebook or Google account (you’ll simply have to agree to the connection between the latter and Together Price).
Clicking, however, on Register now (at the bottom of the page) you will have to complete a classic registration form with name, surname, email address and password that you will use to access the service (type in twice to confirm). You will then have to tick the box marked I accept terms and conditions and then click SIGN UP to complete your registration to the site.
Once logged in, after a brief tutorial, you will be asked if you’d like to create a sharing group in order to split the costs of an account of which you are the owner or if you would like to join a pre existing sharing group.
Create a sharing group
To create a new sharing group, go to the homepage (selecting the home icon) from a computer, smartphone or tablet and click on the button CREATE A GROUP.
On the next page select the service of which you want to share an account (e.g. Netflix, Spotify, Apple Music Family or Dropbox), or select Custom to share a subscription for a service not present on the default list of Together Price.
Click on the button Upload image and choose a photo that represents the service you would like to share as a cover photo, or select one already available, and then insert:
- service name
- short description
- price
- free spaces (how many people you would like to share the account with)
- relationship with the other participants (you must indicate if they are housemates, family, friends or coworkers)
- visibility of the group (public, if you would like the group to be visible on the network, or private if you would like the visibility to be limited only to people who receive your invite)
A button will pop up asking you to accept the terms and conditions (at the bottom of the page) and then click the button publish.
The system will ask you to insert your phone number: enter your contact number in the form that appears on the screen and then provide the verification code that will arrive to you in a text.
You will then have to enter your city, country of residence, state and date of birth.
You will then be asked to choose manner in which you would like to be contacted by the joiners, that is to say the people who would like to join your group. Choose the options you would like to keep active between private chat, email and phone number and click the button marked PUBLISH to complete the creation of your shared group.
Once you’ve created your shared group you don’t need to do any more than accept the requests you receive from other users.
Invite a contact
If you have set your group as private or, in any case you would like to invite friends or family directly to take part, you can use the invite system included in Together Price.
So, click on the icon shared groups and go to CREATED BY ME, selecting your shared group and select INVITES that you will find at the left to copy the link to send to your friends or family to help them access the shared group.
Accept a participation request
When you get a participation request to one of your shared groups, you will receive a notification via email and you will see a red dot next to the icon of a bell (in the top right). Clicking on the bell icon, you will be able to see the participation request and respond: to accept click on (√) and to decline click on (x).
Communicate with participants in the shared group
If you accept the request of a user, they will be accepted in the chat, and they will be able to read the public chat of the shared group, but they still won’t have access to the shared service. Only when they pay their participation fee will they become your joiner, and will be able to share and communicate with you through the private chat, that you will be able to use to explain how your shared account works.
Receiving a percentage from the joiners
Every time a joiner sends you their percentage you will see and receive in real time the credit in your ‘wallet’, the Together Price virtual wallet.
At every deadline, Together Price will take care of automatically renewing the payments from your joiners, which will result in payments received, while in pending payments you will find details of the renewed payments that your joiners still need to send you.
If you want to communicate with a member who is late with their payment you can use the function request renewal, that you will find next to their name. If the user still doesn’t pay after the request, you can remove them from the group by clicking on (x) located next to their name.
Modify a shared group
If you require, you can modify the features of your shared group or even cancel in a very simple way. All you have to do is select the icon dedicated to shared groups (the two squares), access the page created by me and select the shared group to modify.
In the page that opens, open the button MODIFY and choose which guidelines to modify within the group: you can change the means of getting contacted by joiners (email or telephone), the number of people with whom to share the subscription and the level of visibility of the shared group. Once completed the desired modifications, click on the button save changes.
If instead you would like to cancel the shared group proceed in this way: inform the participants of your decision (using the private chat), after which click on the button cancel shared group. Automatically all your participants will be warned and no one will be able to send their payments. At the end of the validity of the last payment sent, the shared group will be automatically deleted.
Participate in a shared group
To become a joiner and participate in a shared group on Together Price, go onto the homepage and click on the button marked PARTICIPATE in the middle of the screen and then on BEGIN. The process can be done from a computer as well as from a smartphone or tablet.
Look for a group
At this point, you need to identify which shared groups you would like to be a part of: you can browse the groups in terms of their category (so by the kind of service they offer), or by the date when they joined Together Price. Alternatively you can use the search bar located at the top of the screen to find groups related to a specific service or search for the surname of the admin who created the shared group.
Before selecting the group to join, check carefully the price, the level of trust of the admin (you are advised to go to admin with high levels of trust) and ensure that there are still places available, looking at specific section at the bottom of the preview (e.g. 1/ 3 places available)
Participate in a shared group
Once you have chosen the group that interests you, click on the button ENTER THE GROUP, specify your relationship with the admin (e.g. friends, family, living in the same house, coworkers) in the box that appears on screen, mark the box to show you accept the terms and conditions and click on the button SEND REQUEST and then CONTINUE.
Mission accomplished! Now all you have to do is wait for the admin to respond: when you get accepted you will receive a notification via email, SMS and directly to Together Price via the icon of a bell that you will find on the right.
Send the payment
Once you enter the shared group you will have to pay a sum as your part of the subscription: therefore, go to the sharing page, click on the button pay and choose whether to put the transaction into effect via wallet or credit / debit card. If you choose to use the credit / debit card, you will have to indicate the network to which you belong (e.g. Mastercard), enter your details (number, expiry date etc) and click on the button confirm to complete the transaction.
Communicate with the admin
Once completed the payment you will be able to see the private chat in the shared group, with whom you will be able to communicate with all the participants, ask information and swap suggestions. If instead you would like to contact the admin directly you can click on admin contact details and use the channel of communication the admin has entered to be contacted with: email or phone number.
See the groups you are a part of
Following this, you will be able to easily find the groups you are a part of, click on the icon shared groups and select of which i participate.
On the page, pending, there are groups that you have send a request to but have not yet been formally accepted by the admin. To discover the meaning of the wording next to each name (e.g. request accepted, completed etc.) click on the button (i) situated in the top right.
Ask for a refund
Are you still having problems with the admin of a shared group? Despite paying the fee are you unable to use the promised service? In this case you can request a refund for the amount paid.
To move forward your refund request, go to your wallet by selecting the icon of the person and then the Wallet, click on the link show more at the refunds section, select the shared group for which you would like the refund and click on the option request refund. Stay calm: if your reasons are considered valid, your refund will be given! For the first 25 days after you send the payment, your payment is visible but not accessible to the admin, exactly to protect you.
Leaving a group in which you participate
Would you like to leave a shared group to which you have joined in the past? Even in this case it’s a breeze. First of all, go to the sharing page, click on shared groups i am in, after which click on the button leave group and confirm, responding OK to the announcement that appears on screen.
Once the validity period of the last quota you sent has expired, your membership in the group will be automatically canceled.
Manage payment
Managing payments in Together Price is very simple, everything happens in your wallet: a digital wallet in which the admins receive and collect payments from their joiners, and in which the joiners can receive refunds, should they request them.
To access your wallet click on the icon of a person that you will find in the top right and select the wallet from the page that opens. You will find yourself on a page with your current balance, the payment history (with payments received, sent and pending), the credit card details linked to your account and the link to refunds, of which i spoke about in the previous section of the tutorial.
Clicking on the transfer button (located in the top right) you can transfer the funds in your wallet to a bank account or card gifted by IBAN. If you are an admin, you will be able to transfer the payments received from joiners to your your account or to your card after only 25 days from when you received the payments: this period is necessary to allow joiners to have money stored in case of problems or difficulties accessing the service.
To continue select Wallet that you will find in the top centre and click on the button transfer.
At this point select a method of payment available from N26, HYPE and Codice IBAN (you can use any account given by IBAN) and fill out the form with the information required: Code IBAN, code BIC, account holder name and surname, bank name and bank address. After this click on the buttons at the bottom (e.g. UPLOAD DOCUMENT) and upload the scan or photo of the requested documents.
If, for example, you have a HYPE account, you must obtain a document for the validation of the account from the service’s official app. Start up the official app of HYPE on your smartphone, click the button…located in the bottom right, go on documents, select emoney document signed by the bank and take a screenshot of the first page. If you need a hand to take a photo of your phone screen look at the tutorial i have done on this topic. The screenshot is the document that you need to upload to the Together Price form.
Once you select the document (or documents) required for account validation, click on the save button and the method of payment selected will be linked to the account. You many be asked to confirm your date of birth and / or other personal information.
The Trust
Together Price uses a data control system and verifies the reliability of each user, assigning each of them a level of Trust. Simply, the higher the Trust level of a user, the more likely they are to be accepted in sharing groups and to be successful with their own shares.
Their level of Trust grows over time and is based on different markers: the information in their profile (the more complete a profile is, the more their level of Trust grows), the reviews received from other users, the goals and missions. What does this involve? I’ll explain straight away: the objectives are goals that can be achieved thanks to certain events, some of which however, you do not have full control of (e.g. receiving at least 3 positive reviews, a 4-star rating or staying in Together Price for at least 6 months). The missions, however, are actions that you can do to increase your level of Trust: added a profile picture, confirming your phone number, sending a shared group request, created a shared group and so on.
You therefore need to ensure that you have a profile picture, that you confirm your phone number (if you haven’t already done it) and you complete your profile with as much information as possible. To proceed, click on the icon of a person and check if over your name, there is a profile picture: in the case that there isn’t, click on account that if located in the top right, click on upload photo and proceed to upload a photo to use as profile picture.
Having done this, load the page account and fill in the missing fields of the form. Then click on the your number field and then on the Continue button to provide a valid mobile number (if you have not yet entered it).
Other information you are advised to enter are country of residence, country of birth, city of residence, sex, birthday and interests (e.g. films, TV series and music). Once filled in, click on the button update information to save everything.
By scrolling the Account page, you can also adjust the privacy settings, then choose which people to view profile details and contacts (the privacy options are All, Friends or Only me) and you can choose which events to receive notifications for, by checking the appropriate boxes and then pressing the Update notifications button.
Remember to come back often in the Account section of the service (the person icon) and check the list of objectives and missions to complete, so as to increase your level of trust more and more.
In case of problems or doubts
If you still have doubts surrounding Together Price, i strongly invite you to check out the FAQ section where there are answers to the most frequently asked questions.
Alternatively, if you want to get in touch with the assistance of Together Price, click on the ‘Help’ button at the top right of the main page of the service, presses the button CONTACT US FOR ASSISTANCE, select one of the available topics and go ahead to send a message to the support of Together Price, who will answer you via email as soon as possible.
