This guide outlines the standard procedure for paying your BusinessChat subscription invoices and provides a diagnostic path for resolving BusinessChat related payment failures when your card has sufficient funds.
1. How to Pay the BusinessChat Outstanding Invoices
If your BusinessChat subscription renewal fails, your account enters a temporary dunning period before services stop.
Dunning Period (First 4 Days):
Even with an outstanding invoice, your account remains fully functional for 4 days. You can still log in, automations will run, and you can message customers—provided your Meta payment method is valid and the e-commerce app remains installed. you should see an alert on the main dashboard about the outstanding invoice.
Account Locked (After 4 Days): If the invoice remains unpaid after 4 days, your account will be locked. All services, including automations and messaging, will be paused immediately until the outstanding balance is settled.
Important distinction between BusinessChat subscription and the E-commerce integration subscription:
Please distinguish between the two separate subscriptions required to run your service:
BusinessChat Subscription:
Paid to: BusinessChat directly.
Purpose: Covers access to the BusinessChat platform features.
Frequency: Typically Yearly (legacy accounts may be monthly).
E-commerce Integration Subscription:
Paid to: Your e-commerce platform (e.g., Shopify, Zid, Salla).
Purpose: Allows BusinessChat to sync with your store and access customer data for automations.
Frequency: Yearly
1.1. Automatic Collection & Retries:
The system is designed to collect the bill amount from your connected card automatically. If a transaction fails (e.g., due to insufficient funds), you will need to add funds and proceed with a manual payment.
Note on Notifications: It is normal to receive multiple "Payment Failed" messages. The system will continue attempting to withdraw the funds automatically for a 4-day dunning period before the account is suspended.
1.2. Manual payment
If you have an overdue invoice for your BusinessChat subscription, you can manually settle it by following these steps:
Log in to your BusinessChat account and click on your Profile Picture at the bottom of the page.
Select Manage Subscriptions from the menu.
Choose the Billing history.
Click the Pay Now button.
Click Pay now again
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the payment process.
You will get a pop-up with the message for a successful payment if the payment went through. If you got a failure message instead, follow the troubleshooting steps.
2. How to Add or Edit Payment Methods on a BusinessChat account
Only the Account Owner, Admins, or Users granted "Subscription Management" permissions can add or change the payment method associated with your BusinessChat account.
To add or change a payment method to a BusinessChat account, follow these steps:
Log in to your BusinessChat account.
Click on your Profile Picture located in the bottom right corner.
Select Manage Subscriptions from the menu.
In the pop-up window, click on the Payment Methods option.
Click on the currently displayed payment method.
Select Edit Payment Method.
Fill in the required information for the new payment method and click Update.
To add a new card, click Add New
Add the card details and click Add again to save
Important Notes:
Deletion Policy: You cannot delete a payment method from the BusinessChat platform until you have added a new one.
Manual Deletion: Payment methods are not deleted automatically; you must remove the old one manually after adding the new one.
Multiple Cards: If you have more than one card added to BusinessChat, the system will automatically withdraw funds from the card designated as "Main" (Primary).
3. How to Export BusinessChat Subscription Invoices
BusinessChat issues periodic invoices for your account subscription. You can track or export these invoices directly from the platform.
To export a BusinessChat Invoice, follow these steps:
Click on your Account Profile Picture and select Manage Subscriptions.
From the pop-up window, click on Billing History.
Select the specific invoice you wish to download and click Download. The file will be saved directly to your device.
Understanding Invoice Amounts: If you notice your invoice amount is higher than your standard subscription cost, there are two likely reasons:
Usage Fees: The invoice may include costs for conversation consumption that exceeded your free limit. You can verify this by downloading the invoice and checking the usage breakdown. BusinessChat invoices always list the subscription amount and the consumption cost separately in the invoice.
Bank Fees: It is normal for the total to include a tax or transaction fee deducted by your bank for international transfers. This is usually estimated at 3%, though it varies by bank. To confirm, check the invoice total against your bank statement and contact your bank to verify the tax value.
4. Account Suspension and Locking Due to Unpaid Invoices
To avoid service interruptions, please note that the platform enforces a strict policy regarding late payments.
⚠️ Important Notice: 4-Day Deadline
Whether the invoice is for a monthly subscription or conversation consumption, the system operates automatically as follows:
Invoice Issuance: The grace period begins on the date the invoice is issued.
Account Locking: If payment is not received, your account will be automatically locked on the 4th day following the issuance date.
The Result: No users will be able to log in to the platform at all until the outstanding balance is settled.
How to Restore Access to Your Account?
Once the account is locked, standard login attempts will fail. To restore service, you must follow these steps:
Contact Support: You must reach out directly to the BusinessChat support team.
Financial Settlement: The team will provide you with the link or the appropriate method to pay the outstanding invoice.
Reactivation: The team will manually reopen the account once the payment process is confirmed successful.
Pro Tip: To avoid business disruptions, please ensure that your registered payment card is valid and has sufficient funds before the invoice renewal date.
NOTE: The BusinessChat team would have already tried calling you several times before the account was closed.
5. Troubleshooting: Payment Failed (Despite Sufficient Funds)
If you have attempted to pay using the steps above but the transaction failed—even though you are certain the card has funds—follow this specific diagnostic path.
Step 1: The funds check
Payments might fail if the card has exactly the required amount, because banks usually deduct a tax fee for international payments. The tax percentage is different based on the bank itself.
Solution: Make sure you have more than the bill amount in the card, and try to process the payment again. If you want to know how much the tax is, you need to contact your bank.
Step 2: The Bank Check
Payment rejections often happen at the banking level, even when the balance is sufficient. Please contact your bank to confirm three specific settings:
International Online Payment: Is this feature enabled on your card?
Recurring Subscription: Is the card authorized for recurring automated payments?
Spending Limits: Have you reached a daily or monthly transaction limit?
Step 3: The Card Check
Verify if your specific card type supports this transaction nature.
Card Type: Some prepaid or local-only cards automatically block recurring subscription payments. You must verify this limitation with your bank.
Step 3: Action & Retry
After confirming the settings above with your bank, please wait a short period before retrying the transaction.
If the issue persists, attempt the payment with a different card (preferably a standard Credit/Debit card rather than a prepaid card).