> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.politicalcomms.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Billing & Account Balance > How balance-based billing works, auto-recharge, organization hierarchy, 10DLC costs, and refund policy. ## How does billing work? Billing is balance-based with instant updates (under 100ms). You add funds to your account balance, and we deduct costs as messages are sent. Pricing varies by message type: SMS (single segment), MMS (with media), carrier lookup (phone validation), and 10DLC fees. All charges roll up through your organization hierarchy automatically. Text messages are charged only on successful delivery; email is charged per recipient when the send is accepted. ## What is auto-recharge and how do I enable it? Auto-recharge automatically adds funds to your balance when it falls below a minimum threshold. Set your minimum balance and your target balance under **Billing > Payment Methods**. When your balance drops below the minimum, we charge your card on file for the difference up to the target and add the funds instantly. Each recharge tops up to the target and never more, so a send that costs more than your target is funded by several charges in a row, each with its own receipt; set the target close to what a typical send costs to keep that to one or two. Each recharge waits for the previous one to land in your balance (usually a second or two) and then at least 15 seconds, so a card is never charged twice for the same shortfall. If auto-recharge runs ten times in one day, your billing contacts receive one email suggesting a higher minimum and target balance, sized from what you spent that day, so future sends need one or two charges instead of many; auto-recharge keeps running. Auto-recharge is always available for top-tier organizations (Tier 0 and 1). A sub-organization can add a card and turn on auto-recharge as soon as its direct parent organization has connected a Stripe account, so a reseller's clients get the same protection against interrupted campaigns. See [Bring Your Own Stripe](/help/bring-your-own-stripe) for how resellers connect their account. ## What do I need to add a card? When you add a card on Billing > Payment Methods, the form has two parts. **Organization billing details** (billing email, phone, billing address) are prefilled from your organization; anything missing is asked for right there and saved to your organization so you only do it once, and nothing already on file is removed. **Card details** (name on card, and the card's own billing address if it differs from the organization's) belong to the cardholder and are stored only with that card, so an agency can keep several client cards on file and switch between them. Your Stripe customer record is created when the first card is saved and is kept in step with your organization details before every charge. ## How does organization hierarchy affect billing? When a sub-organization sends messages, all parent organizations in the hierarchy are charged based on their respective pricing tiers. For example, if Sub-Org A sends 1,000 messages, both Sub-Org A, Parent Org B, and Top-Org C all pay their tier prices. Each org sees their own balance deducted in real-time. This allows flexible billing arrangements across complex team structures. Because charges roll *up*, funding responsibility runs *down*: every organization in the chain must be able to cover its own share of a charge. If a parent organization runs out of funds, its sub-organizations are blocked from new usage even when their own balance is healthy - the parent's balance acts as a spending cap for everything beneath it. ## What happens if my balance runs out? If your balance reaches \$0, your entire organization tree is locked from sending messages until funds are added. Set up auto-recharge to prevent interruptions. You'll receive warnings at 20%, 10%, and 5% remaining balance. Add funds manually anytime through the billing dashboard. This applies to parent organizations too. If a **parent** organization hits its floor, its sub-organizations are blocked from sending as well, even if those sub-organizations are fully funded - so the fix is to add funds to the organization that actually fell short, not the one that hit the error. The error identifies which organization ran out (`details.isAncestor` is `true` when it is a parent's wallet rather than your own). To keep sub-organizations sending through a temporary dip, ask your account representative about a credit line on the parent. When a parent's shortfall blocks a sub-organization's scheduled send, the sub-organization's running projects are paused automatically with the reason "insufficient funds (parent organization)", the parent organization's billing admins receive an in-app notification naming the sub-organization, and both organizations see a banner in the dashboard until the situation clears. Once the parent adds funds, the sub-organization starts its paused projects again from the Projects page; they do not resume on their own. Nothing is torn down and no account is locked: you can keep signing in, reviewing reports and managing contacts while sending is blocked. Organizations approved for post-pay billing can be granted a credit line, letting sending continue past \$0 down to the agreed credit limit. Your remaining spendable funds (balance plus available credit) appear in the header balance tooltip and on the Payment Methods page. A credit line disables auto-recharge, since post-pay organizations draw on credit rather than a card. Contact your account representative to set one up. If you manage sub-organizations, an owner or admin can set a sub-organization's credit line from **Admin > Organizations**; an organization can never set its own. ## What is a spend commitment? A spend commitment is a promise to spend at least a set amount per period (monthly, quarterly, or annual). At the end of each period the shortfall, if any, is billed to the committed organization's balance; meeting or exceeding the commitment costs nothing extra. Your organization's own commitment, with progress for the current period and the history of past periods, is shown on **Billing > Pricing**. Commitments are set by whoever funds the organization: your account representative for a direct customer, or the parent organization for a sub-organization. If you manage sub-organizations, an owner or admin can create, edit, cancel, and forgive a sub-organization's commitment from **Admin > Organizations**. ## How do agency clients join my organization hierarchy? An owner or admin can mint an **organization signup link** from **Admin > Organizations** to bring a new client on as a sub-organization without a manual setup call. Each link has a label, a host (the main platform domain or one of your own custom app domains), an expiry (never, 24 hours, 7 days, 30 days, or a custom date), and a use limit (single use, a fixed number of uses, or unlimited). Links are revocable at any time, and the token is shown once at creation, so save it somewhere your team can share it from. A prospect who signs up at `/register?link=` becomes an **active child organization one tier below yours immediately** - there's no platform approval step to wait on. You get an in-app and email notification the moment they register. The new sub-organization then goes through its own [account setup](/onboarding/account-setup): business profile and funding, with your organization able to add funding on its behalf per the hierarchy rules above. Anyone visiting the organization signup link before signing up sees only your organization's name and logo, nothing else about your account. Registration links are a dashboard feature; they aren't part of the public API or SDKs. ## What are the 10DLC registration costs? Per brand (per candidate) setup breakdown: 1. **Brand Registration:** \$4.50 one-time 2. **Campaign Verify Token:** \$95 one-time (valid for the current two-year election cycle) 3. **First Campaign:** $30 for first 3 months, then $10/month ongoing \*\*Total initial cost per brand: $129.50.** Additional campaigns under the same brand: $30 for 3 months, then \$10/month each. Phone numbers cost extra based on your pricing tier. Consulting firms managing multiple candidates multiply these costs by the number of brands (candidates). Registration timeline: 2 to 3 business days per brand. Toll-free numbers and toll-free message sends are billed separately at toll-free rates, visible on your pricing page. Toll-free projects skip brand and campaign registration, so none of the 10DLC fees above apply to them. ## What do AI features cost? AI survey analysis is billed at \$0.05 per analyzed reply. Only replies that fail exact answer matching are sent for analysis; exact matches stay free. You enable it per survey, so surveys without the toggle are never charged. Linc reply drafting and the Linc support assistant are included at no extra charge. ## Can I get a refund for unused balance? Account balances do not expire and can be used anytime. Refund policies depend on your agreement terms. For most accounts, balances are non-refundable but remain available indefinitely. Contact your account manager for specific refund questions or special circumstances. ## Can I download invoices and receipts? Yes. **Billing > Ledger** has an Invoices card listing your last 12 months. Each closed month has a PDF invoice (every usage charge by service, volume by day for messages, email and lookups, adjustments, refunds and payments received, with a per-organization breakdown when you pay for sub-organizations) and a CSV with the same lines for your books. Invoices are generated automatically on the first of the month; older months generate the first time you download them. **Billing > Payment Methods** has a Payments card listing every payment added to your balance, each with a receipt PDF. Every card payment, manual or auto-recharge, also emails a receipt to your organization's billing email, or its contact email if no billing email is set. Documents carry the branding and support contact of the organization that bills you, and dates are in UTC, matching the ledger. An invoice covers usage in the calendar month; it is not a bill to pay, since usage is drawn from your prepaid balance. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.