Balance replaces invoice-based billing with a prepaid Balance. You add funds up front, and we deduct Prevent alert fees and Deflect lookup fees from that Balance as they occur.
This setup removes complex billing cycles and lowers the chance of payment failures or unintended deactivations.
What is Balance?
Balance (Balance Billing or Balance Top-Up) lets you add funds to your Chargeback.io account. When an alert or lookup posts a charge, we deduct the amount from your Balance immediately instead of invoicing at the end of a billing period.
A top-up adds funds to your Balance. An alert or lookup fee uses those funds. Neither means your customer has been refunded. Customer refunds are separate from alert fees.
For the fees involved, see how Prevent alert billing works and how Deflect lookup billing works.
Are Balances Refundable?
Account credits in balances (top-ups) are refundable up to $10,000 after all descriptors are fully disenrolled from all networks (e.g., Ethoca) under all of your accounts.
For instance, if you had a balance of $100 before starting the disenrollment process, we'd refund you that full $100.
Once all of your accounts are fully unenrolled, contact our support team and let them know you'd like a refund. From there, we'll process it for you.
How to add or replace your billing card
Follow these steps to add your new billing card:
Open Account Settings in the lower-left corner, then select Settings.
Under Finance, click Balance.
Under Payment methods on the right, click + Add payment method to add your new card.
After adding your card, open the three-dot menu beside it and click Make default.
To remove a card, open the three-dot menu beside it, then click Remove.
Your Chargeback.io account must have at least one active card. To remove all cards from your account, you will need to unenroll all billing descriptors and close your account. From there, Chargeback.io support can remove your final card.
To replace an existing card, add the replacement and make it the default before removing the old card.
If Shopify is your default payment method, the saved card serves as your backup. Use the three-dot menu to choose your default backup card.
Your billing card pays Chargeback.io. It is separate from the payment processor integration used to refund your customers.
How to Add a Balance
Open Account Settings in the lower-left corner, then select Settings.
In the left sidebar, choose Balance.
Click Add Funds. Enter an amount or pick a preset. The modal shows:
Current: your current Balance
Minimum: the minimum you must add
Recommended: a suggested amount based on recent alert volume
Click Continue to confirm and fund your Balance.
If Add Funds sends you to Shopify but you want to pay with a card saved in Chargeback.io, contact our support. From there, tell us which payment options you see so we can help with your account.
Low Balance & Deactivation (Important)
If your Balance falls to 30% of your Minimum, your account enters a deactivation risk state. We may deactivate the account after 10 days if you do not fund it.
Automatic Top-Ups (auto top-up) will automatically refill your balance. Make sure to keep a valid, non-expired card on file to avoid interruptions.
Failed top-ups due to an expired card may lead to deactivation.
How to Set Automatic Top-Ups
Automatic Top-Ups refill your Balance when it drops below a threshold you choose.
Edit this through the following values:
When balance goes below: the trigger amount for the top-up (cannot be below your Minimum).
Example: if your Balance drops below $500, the top-up triggers.
Fill my balance up to: the amount we add when the trigger fires.
Example: when the trigger amount hits $500, we add $2,000.
Ensure the card saved to your account has not expired. Failed billing attempts for Automatic Top-Ups may result in deactivation.
Auto Top-Up does not work with Shopify Payments due to Shopify's policies. If you pay for Balances with Shopify, you must manually top up your Balance.
General Information About Balances (Useful)
You can deposit any amount; we don't set an upper limit.
We send notifications by email for events like low Balance and successful top-ups.
Balances exist at the user level — your Balance displays the same across all business accounts you access.
At this time, only the Owner role can view Balance. Admins, Viewers, Managers, and other roles cannot view it.
You can't disable auto top-up. If you have issues regarding automatic top-ups, let our support specialists know.
If a top-up appears as failed but you were charged
In some cases, a balance top-up may show as failed in Chargeback.io while your payment method has already been charged.
If you see a failed top-up in your balance but notice a corresponding charge in your payment processor or bank statement:
Do not submit another top-up before confirming with Support.
Contact Support and include the date and amount of the charge.
Submitting a second top-up before confirming with Support may result in a duplicate charge. Our team will verify the payment and apply the balance if the original charge was successful.
💡 Questions or concerns?
Get help from our support specialists at Chargeback.