At Postscript, we strive to be as transparent as possible with shops about how our pricing works. After thorough research and conversations with partners and customers, we determined a usage-based plan offers shops the flexibility needed to adapt to their industry throughout the year. With a usage-based approach to pricing, shops only pay for what they use and what they send.
In this article, we walk through a Postscript billing summary and the different charges you might see.
Postscript Charges and Fees
Each Postscript bill contains three categories in which we group charges and fees. Let's break these categories down.
- Usage. Usage charges are message fees and reflect the costs of sending SMS and MMS messages using Postscript.
- Carrier Fees. Carrier fees are small surcharges that mobile carriers (e.g. Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc.) charge for sending messages using their networks. Learn more about carrier fees here.
- Recurring Fees. Recurring fees are those fees a shop will pay on a monthly basis. This includes the monthly plan fee, which covers the features available to a shop within Postscript. It can also reflect the cost of a short code or other services.
Understanding Your Postscript Billing Summary
How and when Postscript charges a shop will depend on the type of plan the shop is on. Below, we walk through the billing summary and schedule for the plans offered on Postscript.
On a Free and Growth plan, shops are charged for usage as they reach their usage cap. Each usage cap charge will be accompanied by a carrier fee charge for the fees related to that usage cap. You can learn more about this process here.
With this in mind, let's look at an example billing summary. Beneath the image is a breakdown of the items.
- Paid usage amount. This reflects usage activity for which a shop has already been charged.
- Paid carrier fees. This reflects carrier fees related to usage activity for which a shop has already been charged.
- Recurring fees. This reflects any recurring fees for which a shop has already been charged. In the above example, the $100.00 recurring fee reflects the monthly plan fee for a shop on the Grow plan.
-
Unbilled usage amount. This reflects current usage activity for which a shop has not been charged. Once a shop reaches their usage charge cap (e.g., $100 or $500), they will be charged and that amount would be reflected in the Paid usage amount line.
- What are estimated carrier fees? Carrier fees update at the end of the day. If you are viewing your summary mid-day, after sending a campaign, your carrier fees wouldn't yet reflect the fees associated with that campaign.
On a Professional and Enterprise plan, shops are billed for usage each time they reach their usage cap. At the end of each month, a shop is charged the total of their usage activity plus related carrier fees and recurring fees.
With this in mind, let's look at an example billing summary. Beneath the image is a breakdown of the items.
- Usage subtotal. This reflects usage activity for which a shop has already been billed as well as current, unbilled usage.
-
Estimated carrier fees. This reflects an estimated total of carrier fees associated with both billed and current usage.
- Why is it an estimate? Carrier fees update at the end of the day (midnight UTC, specifically). If you are viewing your summary mid-day, after sending a campaign, your carrier fees wouldn't yet reflect the fees associated with that campaign.
-
Recurring fees. Shops are billed recurring fees at the start of the month, then charged for these fees at the end of the month.
- In the above example, this shop is billed for two recurring fees: $500 for their Professional monthly plan and $500 for their short code.
Get Support
Have questions? Please feel free to reach out to our wonderful Support team at support@postscript.io or via live chat. You can also submit a support request here!
Need ongoing channel strategy guidance? Please fill out this form and we'll connect you to one of our certified partners.
