Paid or Free Submissions Setup

Houzez gives you full control over how property submissions are handled on your website, offering multiple monetization models to fit your business strategy. You can allow users to submit listings entirely for free to encourage growth and build inventory, charge a one-time fee for each listing through a pay-per-listing model, or offer membership packages that include a set number of listings (and optionally featured slots) for a fixed period.

This flexibility allows you to operate as an open real estate directory, a curated premium marketplace, or a hybrid model that blends free exposure with paid upgrades such as featured listings. By tailoring the submission type to your audience and market, you can strike the right balance between accessibility for users and consistent revenue generation for your platform.

Add the Payment Page (Required for Paid Flows)

Before configuring submissions, you need to create the payment endpoint Houzez will use during checkout.

1. Go to Pages → Add New.
2. In Page Attributes → Template, choose Payment Page.
3. Publish the page.

Note: This page is required only if you plan to charge users (Pay per Listing or Membership). If submissions are free, you don't need it.

Choosing the Submission Type

Go to Theme Options → Membership → Enable Paid Submission and select one of the following:

1. Free (Pay for Featured)

• Users can publish listings for free.
• You can still monetize upgrades by charging for Featured Listings.
• Options Available:
  • Expire Days: Set a time limit for listings before they expire.
  • Number of Expiring Days: How many days until a listing expires.
  • Featured Listings – Expiring Days: Separate expiry for featured listings.
  • Auto Delete Expired Listings: Automatically remove expired listings after a set number of days.
  • Featured Price: Cost to upgrade a listing to featured status.
  • Currency: Select the payment currency (note: some currencies not supported by PayPal).
  • Terms & Conditions: Choose the page for your T&Cs.

2. Per Listing

• Users pay for each property they publish.
• Options Available:
  • Expire Days and Number of Expiring Days.
  • Auto Delete Expired Listings and Auto Delete Days.
  • Submission Price: Cost per listing.
  • Featured Price: Additional cost to feature a listing.
  • Currency selection.
  • Terms & Conditions selection.

3. Membership

• Users purchase a package that includes a quota of listings (and optionally featured slots) for a defined period.
• Options Available:
  • Enable Recurring Payments: Available for PayPal and Stripe only.
  • Auto Recurring Payments: Automate renewal billing.
  • Expire Days and Number of Expiring Days.
  • Auto Delete Expired Listings and Auto Delete Days.
  • Featured Price (optional, if featured slots are not bundled).
  • Currency selection.
  • Terms & Conditions selection.

Membership Packages (if Membership is selected)

Go to Real Estate → Packages and configure:

• Billing Period and Frequency (Day, Week, Month, Year).
• Number of Listings (or unlimited).
• Number of Featured Listings.
• Price and Taxes.
• Images per Listing (or unlimited).
• Visibility and whether the plan is marked as Popular/Featured.
• Stripe Package ID (if using Stripe for subscriptions).

Payment Gateways

Go to Theme Options → Payment Gateways and configure:

• PayPal, Stripe, 2Checkout, or Wire/Bank Transfer.
• Use Sandbox mode for testing before going live.
• Recurring billing works only with PayPal and Stripe.

When your website is live remeber to switch the API settings from Sandbox to Live. Go to Theme Options → Membership

Notes:

• Free: Best for growth and inventory building.
• Per Listing: Simple one-off payments with low maintenance.
• Membership: Encourages loyalty and recurring revenue.

Important: Keep the Payment Page published and unmodified, as it is required by Houzez for the checkout process.