FPC Fees

I have read some articles about FPC additional fee charging cases, and I saw that multiple designs on one board require additional fees, just like rigid PCBs. Stiffeners also require additional fees when used over a certain threshold.

However, it looks like the "multiple designs on one board" criteria is different from rigid PCBs, stating that everything is considered a different design if there are no valid electrical connections. Does this mean that even if I duplicate one design multiple times in one order (under 100x100), and do not check for V-cut or panelization, and also check "1 design," there will be additional charges?

Also, I haven't uploaded the Gerber file, but FPC is $2 for a default order under 100x100. But does a stiffener incur additional fees even when the area is less than 100% and there are fewer than 4 stiffeners? I tried to check stiffener settings with other software + PI stiffener, and it was still $2. But once I checked EasyEDA + PI, it suddenly went up to $30. I suspect this is miscalculated because I checked options without uploading Gerber files, but I couldn't find out if stiffeners are free or not under those conditions (<100%, <4).

Also, when panelizing, if I make all stiffeners connected and cut it myself, is it still counted as 1 stiffener or many?