Subscriptions & billing

Subscription charges are generally non-refundable, but you keep full access through the end of the billing period when you cancel. Contact support for billing errors or unauthorized charges.

Yes for the initial subscription purchase and for renewal-invoice payments, but not for automatic recurring charges. Crypto renewals require manual settlement of each renewal invoice within the 7-day window because off-session crypto charging is not possible.

Yes. Pay-As-You-Go credit packs accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, USDT, USDC, and 100+ other cryptocurrencies via CoinPayments. Credits land after on-chain confirmation. Crypto for PAYG is unrestricted — only subscriptions have the manual-renewal limitation.

Yes, anytime during the grace period (before the subscription expires). Account Settings → Billing & Payments → Reactivate Subscription. Same plan, same billing date, no fees.

Yes. Start with PAYG then subscribe later, subscribe and add PAYG top-ups, or cancel a subscription and go PAYG-only. Existing credits stay through the switch.

Cancellation is free and keeps full access until the current billing period ends (grace period). Monthly credits expire at period end; PAYG credits stay forever. Reactivate anytime before expiry.

No. Monthly credits are use-it-or-lose-it within the billing cycle — unused amount expires at renewal. PAYG credits, on the other hand, never expire.

Subscriptions are billed monthly only — no annual prepay option today. The monthly plans already include 15–20% volume discount vs. PAYG. Custom enterprise terms available on request.

Downgrades schedule for next renewal so you don't lose the current allocation you've already paid for. No charge when you schedule. Can be cancelled anytime before the renewal date.

Open Account Settings → Billing & Payments → Payment Methods, click Add Payment Method, fill in the Stripe-hosted card form. Your full card number never touches VEC servers. The new card shows up in the saved list and can be set as default.

Account Settings → Billing & Payments → Payment Methods tab. Add cards, set a default, or remove old ones. Card details are handled by Stripe — we never see your full card number.

Cancel anytime from Account → Billing in the dashboard. You keep your credits until the current billing cycle ends, and PAYG credits stay forever.

Use the renewal-payment-method selector on the Subscription sub-tab. Switching between card and crypto here updates only the renewal preference, not your default card or other charges. Your default card stays the default for PAYG and auto-refill.

Go to Buy Credits → Monthly Plans, pick a smaller tier, click downgrade. The change is scheduled for your next renewal date — no charge today and you keep the current plan until then.

Open Account Settings from the sidebar, then click the Billing & Payments tab. That single page holds your subscription state, saved cards, credit usage chart, and a deep link to your invoices.

From Account Settings → Billing & Payments → Payment Methods. Look for the Manage at Stripe (or Update payment method on Paddle) button. Click it and you are redirected to the hosted portal in a new flow.

Open Account Settings → Billing & Payments. Click the red Past Due banner (or open Invoices and find the Pending row). Pick a card or crypto, complete payment. The subscription reactivates immediately and the 7-day grace clock stops.

Open Account Settings → Billing & Payments → Payment Methods, find the card row, click the trash icon, confirm. VEC removes the card from your saved list and detaches it from Stripe in the same step. You cannot delete the only card on an active subscription without adding a replacement first.

On Account Settings → Billing & Payments → Payment Methods, click the star (or Set as Default checkbox) on the card row. The default card is what VEC uses for subscription renewals, auto-refill, and PAYG checkouts unless you override it.

Go to Buy Credits → Monthly Plans, pick a larger tier, click upgrade. Effect is immediate; you pay only the prorated difference based on your unused current-plan credits.

Valid Email Checker does not auto-retry failed renewal charges. The renewal cron attempts a single off-session charge on your billing date. If it fails, a pending invoice is created and recovery is manual — you pay the invoice when ready.

Depends on the chain. Bitcoin: typically 10-60 minutes for 1-2 confirmations. Ethereum mainnet: 1-5 minutes. Litecoin: 5-15 minutes. USDT on Tron: under 2 minutes. CoinPayments waits for the required confirmations before notifying VEC, after which credits land within seconds.

Seven days. The grace runs from the moment a renewal charge fails, regardless of timezone. Pay the pending invoice within those 7 days to reactivate. Miss the deadline and the subscription cancels automatically.

Every purchase generates an invoice automatically. Download PDFs, add company billing info, and use credits history to track every credit movement in your account.

Your subscription dashboard lives at Account Settings → Billing & Payments. View plan, usage progress, next renewal date, and pending changes. Upgrade, downgrade, or cancel from here.

There are two grace-period flows in Valid Email Checker: the cancellation grace (lasts until your current period ends) and the past-due grace (a 7-day window after a failed renewal). Both keep monthly credits active during the window but behave differently.

Charge declined, credits not appearing after purchase, subscription showing past-due, auto-refill disabled? Each issue mapped to the actual code path and the right recovery action.

Upgrading takes effect instantly with prorated billing — you pay only the difference based on unused credits. New monthly allocation drops in immediately. Billing cycle resets to 30 days.

Active means your monthly plan is renewing normally on the scheduled billing date. Credits are flowing, the API is open, and no payment problem has been detected. This is the default healthy state.

Cancelled means your subscription has ended (either because you cancelled and the period rolled over, or because a Past Due grace expired without payment). Monthly credits are zero. PAYG credits stay forever. You can subscribe to a fresh plan anytime.

Past Due means your most recent renewal charge failed. VEC created a pending invoice with a 7-day due date, kept your monthly credits active during that window, and is waiting on you to pay the invoice. Miss the deadline and the subscription cancels.

Paused is a rare status applied manually by VEC support (chargeback review, extended-absence requests, fraud holds). No renewals run, monthly credits freeze, and the only way out is contacting support.

Underpayment: VEC flags the transaction as underpaid (more than 1% short), no credits awarded, admin review required. Overpayment: the excess is credited as bonus credits at the same USD-to-credit ratio as the original purchase. A 1% under-tolerance covers crypto rounding.

The renewal is attempted once on your billing date. If the card fails, a pending invoice is created with a 7-day due date, your subscription flips to past-due, and your monthly credits stay active during the grace window. Pay the invoice manually to reactivate; if you do not pay within 7 days, the subscription cancels.

You keep full access through the end of the billing period (grace period). Monthly credits stay usable until then. PAYG credits never expire and stay forever. No final charge.

When you upgrade mid-cycle, you don't pay the full new-plan price. The system calculates the dollar value of your unused current-plan credits (capped at the full plan price) and subtracts it from the new plan's price. The charge can never go below zero.

The customer portal is the Stripe-hosted page (or Paddle equivalent) where you manage saved payment methods outside the Valid Email Checker app. It exists for card management when our in-app form is not enough — for example, replacing the card behind a Paddle subscription anchor.

We accept all major credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover) plus 100+ cryptocurrencies. Monthly subscriptions require a card; PAYG accepts both.

Your subscription runs on a 30-day cycle from the subscription start date (or the last renewal/upgrade). The exact next billing date appears on the Subscription tab of Account Settings → Billing & Payments.

Open Account Settings → Billing & Payments → Subscription sub-tab. The status badge (Active, Past Due, Paused, Cancelled) sits next to your plan name with the next billing date right beneath it.

Stripe and Paddle push card-attached events to VEC over a webhook. In rare cases that webhook is delayed by a few seconds. A manual sync runs automatically when you refresh the Payment Methods tab. If the card is still missing after a refresh, the sync-payment-methods function reconciles directly.