Billing: payment method, invoices, discount codes
Where to see your next charge, your usage, what extra use costs and your usage balance, update your card, find receipts, apply a code, and what to do if a payment fails.
Everything is under Profile → Plan and billing.
Your plan
The top of the page shows your current plan and its status, the days left during a trial, when the next charge or renewal is due, your billing cycle and who the plan is billed to.
Payment method
The Payment method card shows the card on file, if there is one, and how the plan renews:
- Automatically, from that card, or
- Manually: you pay for each period yourself, from this page, if you have no card saved.
With no card on file, choose a plan on the page and pay at checkout. Your payment provider may add a small processing fee at checkout, which is shown before you confirm.
Usage this month
The Usage card shows how many Secretary conversations your plan includes each month (150 on Pro, 400 on Business), how much of that your Secretary has used so far, the split by channel, and the day the count starts again (the 1st of each month, UTC). WhatsApp conversations count as two, because WhatsApp charges per message, so 10 WhatsApp conversations use 20 of your allowance; every other channel counts as one. When only one is left, a WhatsApp conversation is still included. Messages your Secretary sends to you are free and never counted, and on Business so are the API, webhooks and connected actions. Business also shows the call minutes included this month.
Extra use
Past the allowance, each new conversation is paid once from your usage balance, at its channel's price (a WhatsApp conversation is paid once, not twice). Prices are in naira for a business in Nigeria and in US dollars everywhere else, and Billing shows yours:
| Extra use | Price |
|---|---|
| A web, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram or email conversation | $0.05 |
| A WhatsApp conversation | $0.12 |
| A WhatsApp confirmation, reminder or order delivery sent as a template | $0.02 |
| A phone call minute | your line's own rate (see Phone calls) |
A conversation is one customer on one channel, until 24 hours pass with no message from them, for up to 20 of their messages. Messages your Secretary sends to you are always free.
When your balance cannot pay for a new conversation past the allowance (the balance is empty, or your spend cap is reached), that customer gets a short reply saying you will answer them soon, with your booking form, and every message they send reaches you. Conversations that started within your allowance, or that were paid for, carry on as usual until they end. A WhatsApp template the balance cannot pay for is not sent: the same message goes as a normal WhatsApp message if the customer wrote to you in the last 24 hours, and otherwise by email. A top up, or a higher spend cap, puts everything back as it was from the next message.
Usage balance
The Usage balance card shows your prepaid balance, what it pays for (phone minutes, WhatsApp templates and conversations past your allowance, and your Secretary's phone line if you have one) and its latest charges and top ups. On Pro and Business, Top up with one of the packs or another amount; each pack shows about how many extra chats it pays for. Packs start at $5, and the $25 and $50 packs add a 5% and 10% bonus, shown as its own line. Top ups are not refundable. If your plan is billed through Shopify, your usage works the same way: extra use comes from your usage balance, and you top it up on this page with the same packs. Shopify charges the top up on your Shopify bill, like your plan, and your balance updates once Shopify confirms it.
Monthly spend cap and usage alerts
The Monthly spend cap is optional: enter the most you want to spend from your usage balance in a month, or leave it empty for no cap. A charge that would take this month's spending past the cap is not made, so extra conversations and WhatsApp templates are handled as when the balance cannot pay, and we tell you the cap is reached. Calls keep being answered and charged. Usage alerts tell you at 80% and 100% of your conversations, when your balance runs low, and when your cap is reached, by push, email and a message from your Secretary, at most once a month each. Switch any of them off on the same page.
Payment history
Payment history, at the bottom of the page, lists every plan payment and usage balance top up with its date, description, reference, amount and status (paid, failed or refunded).
Discount codes
At checkout, open Have a discount code?, enter it and Apply. The discount shows on the total before you pay. An invalid or expired code says so.
A failed payment
If a renewal fails, your status shows Payment due and you are emailed. Pay now on Plan and billing takes you to checkout for the plan you are on, where you can pay with a different card. If it stays unpaid the page pauses as at the end of a trial; nothing is deleted.
Yearly billing
Choose Yearly when picking a plan for two months free. Switching from monthly to yearly works like any other plan change (see Switching plans): your remaining time is credited only where the change applies in place, or where checkout says it carries over.