Table of Contents
- Getting Here
- WhatsApp Business Account (WABA)
- FAQ and Troubleshooting
- What are free tier conversations?
- How to view my free conversations usage and all conversations metrics?
- What is the messaging fee for each conversation?
- How will I be charged?
- Why is my WABA Current Balance showing a negative amount?
- How is the transaction processing fee calculated for top-up or auto recharge?
- Is it possible to receive a refund from my WhatsApp balance?
- Can I add a different credit card for each WABA (WhatsApp Business Account) I create?
- Can I use a different credit card that was not used for my respond.io plan subscription to top up my WABA balance?
- How can I re-download the top-up receipt if the receipt link has expired?
Organization Settings: WhatsApp Fees
Updated
by Wai Ting Yong
- Getting Here
- WhatsApp Business Account (WABA)
- FAQ and Troubleshooting
- What are free tier conversations?
- How to view my free conversations usage and all conversations metrics?
- What is the messaging fee for each conversation?
- How will I be charged?
- Why is my WABA Current Balance showing a negative amount?
- How is the transaction processing fee calculated for top-up or auto recharge?
- Is it possible to receive a refund from my WhatsApp balance?
- Can I add a different credit card for each WABA (WhatsApp Business Account) I create?
- Can I use a different credit card that was not used for my respond.io plan subscription to top up my WABA balance?
- How can I re-download the top-up receipt if the receipt link has expired?
Getting Here
- This setting is accessible by Organization Admins and Billing Admins only.
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 and the total number of paid conversations you've initiated. Learn more about conversation metrics here.
What is the messaging fee for each conversation?
WhatsApp Business Platform conversations categories that are priced differently:
- Service Conversations: 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.
- Marketing, Utility, and Authentication Conversations: A conversation is charged when a business sends a user a message template inside or outside the 24-hour customer service window
Marketing, utility, authentication, and service conversations last 24 hours unless closed by a newly opened free-entry point conversation. Free-entry point conversations last 72 hours.
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 conversations vary by country or region. For the exact rates, see the rate card here.
How will I be charged?
After you’ve used your free 1,000 service conversations for the month, your subsequent conversations will be charged based on the conversation category. 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 must top up your WABA balance. Once the payment is successful, your balance will be deducted to offset the negative balance.
How is the transaction processing fee calculated for top-up or auto recharge?
A 5.5% transaction processing fee is applied to every top-up or auto recharge. This fee is charged by the payment processing company (Stripe) 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 + 5.5%)
For e.g. if you top up $100, the charges will be $100 x (1 + 0.055) = $105.5.
Is it possible to receive a refund from my WhatsApp balance?
Please be aware that only full refunds of WhatsApp fees are possible. However, to initiate a full refund, it is necessary to delete your WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) as a Channel on the platform as WhatsApp fees are tied to the WABA. For more details on the refund process and assistance with your specific situation, please contact us.
Can I add a different credit card for each WABA (WhatsApp Business Account) I create?
Yes, you can use different credit cards for each WABA.
Can I use a different credit card that was not used for my respond.io plan subscription to top up my WABA balance?
Yes. You are not restricted to using the same credit card for your respond.io plan subscription as the one you use for your WABA(s).
How can I re-download the top-up receipt if the receipt link has expired?
As a security measure, receipt links expire within 30 days. Expired receipt links require you to provide the original email address you registered in Stripe to resend the receipt.
