Organization Settings: WhatsApp Fees

Getting Here

Access this setting by navigating to Settings module > Organization Settings > WhatsApp Fees.

In this module, you can manage your WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) that's connected to the respond.io WhatsApp Business API. These include topping up your WABA balance, configuring auto recharge or balance alerts when your balance is low and viewing your top-up or usage history.

WhatsApp Business Account (WABA)

Each phone number connected via respond.io WhatsApp Business API will be associated with one WABA. Each WABA will have its own credit balance, which is shared and used to pay for the WhatsApp conversation charges of all the connected phone numbers.

The WABA will list the phone number, channel name and workspace name of the connected WhatsApp Business API.

Current Balance

The current balance shows the approximate remaining balance of your WABA. Your balance will be deducted immediately when a paid conversation is initiated.

Once you've used up all the free conversations of your WABA provided by Meta, you'll be blocked from sending messages to your Contacts via the designated WhatsApp channel if your balance is 0. Do top up your WABA immediately to continue messaging your Contacts.

Top Up Balance

To top up the balance for your WABA, click the Top Up button and enter the amount you would like to top up. Your balance will be updated instantly once the payment is successful.

After a successful top-up, a receipt will be sent to your organization's billing email. You can find the billing email in Organization Settings > Billing & Usage > Update Billing Information.

Auto Recharge

You can turn on auto recharge to automatically top up your WABA balance if it goes below a certain amount.

When you turn on the Auto Recharge toggle, a dialog box will appear for you to set the trigger amount and recharge amount. If you need to update your auto recharge settings, click the Edit button next to the toggle to open the configuration dialog.

Balance Alert

You can turn on the balance alert to receive platform and email notifications when your WABA balance goes below a certain amount.

When you turn on the Balance Alert toggle, a dialog box will appear for you to set the trigger amount and select the users to receive the notifications. If you need to update your balance alert setting, click the Edit button next to the toggle to open the configuration dialog.

Top Up History

You can check all of your top-up transactions by clicking the Top Up History button. You can also download the receipt by clicking the View Receipt button.

Usage History

At the beginning of every month, a monthly invoice will be generated for your WhatsApp paid conversations usage to show the total amount that has been charged from your WABA balance for using WhatsApp paid conversations during the specified month.

You can check your monthly usage by clicking the Usage History button. You can download the invoice by clicking the View Invoice button.

FAQ and Troubleshooting

What are free tier conversations?

Free tier conversations are free WhatsApp chats between your business and customers. For each WhatsApp Business Account (WABA), the first 1,000 conversations are free and the free tier is refreshed monthly. Even if a WABA has multiple numbers attached, the free tier threshold is still 1000, as the free tier is provided at the WABA level. Learn more about free tier conversations here.

How to view my free conversations usage and all conversations metrics?

You can monitor your conversation insights in the Insights tab of your Meta WhatsApp Manager. From there, you can view the total number of free conversations you've used, the total number of paid conversations you've initiated and the approximate charges associated with them. Learn more about conversation metrics here.

What is the messaging fee for each conversation?

WhatsApp Business Platform conversations fall into two categories that are priced differently:

• User-initiated: A conversation that initiates in response to a user message. Whenever a business replies to a user within the 24-hour customer service window, that message will be associated with a user-initiated conversation. Businesses can send free-form messages within this 24-hour customer service window.
• Business-initiated: A conversation that initiates from a business sending a user a message outside the 24-hour customer service window. Messages that initiate a business-initiated conversation will require a message template.

All conversations are measured in fixed 24-hour sessions. A conversation starts when the first business message in a conversation is delivered, either initiated by the business or in reply to a user message. Businesses and users can exchange any number of messages, including template messages, within a 24-hour conversation session without incurring additional charges. Each 24-hour conversation session results in a single charge.

Charges for conversations are based on the user’s country code. A user here is defined as the customer that your business is communicating with. Rates for business-initiated and user-initiated conversations vary by country or region. For the exact rates, see the rate card here.

How will I be charged?

After you’ve used up all of your free conversations for the month, your subsequent conversations will be charged based on their message type (user-initiated or business-initiated). Your WABA balance will be instantly deducted for every paid conversation initiation.

If your WABA does not have enough balance to initiate a paid conversation, the associated WhatsApp Channel will be suspended. During the suspension, you will be blocked from sending messages (including broadcast, workflow, and Dialogflow) to your Contacts via the designated WhatsApp channel. If this happens, please top up your WABA immediately to continue messaging your Contacts.

Why is my WABA Current Balance showing a negative amount?

If you initiate WhatsApp paid conversations without sufficient WABA balance to cover for them, your Current Balance will go negative. When this happens, all WhatsApp channels associated with that WABA will be suspended and you will not be able to send any outgoing messages to your Contacts.

To enable your WhatsApp channels again, you will need to top up your WABA balance. Once the payment is successful, your balance will first be deducted to offset the negative balance.

How is the transaction processing fee calculated for top-up or auto recharge?

A 4% transaction processing fee is applied to every top-up or auto recharge. This fee is charged by the payment processing company that handles the card transactions.

Use the following formula to calculate the total charges for your top-up or auto recharge transaction:

Total Charges = Top-Up Amount x (1 + 4%)

For e.g. if you top up $100, the charges will be $100 x (1 + 0.04) = $104.

Is it possible to receive a refund from my WhatsApp balance?

No, the balance in your WABA account cannot be refunded. However, if you have a valid reason and would like to request for the refund, please contact us and provide a detailed explanation so we can assess your case.