A credit in iSend is one SMS part to a Greek mobile number. A message of up to 155 Greek characters consumes one credit, a longer one two or three, depending on its parts. Credits come from the monthly subscription, are valid in the month they are credited and the next one, and the oldest are always consumed first. Messages that are not delivered return their credits automatically. Your balance is shown on the platform's home page and in every campaign before sending.
How many credits a message costs
| Message | Credits |
|---|---|
| Up to 155 Greek characters, or 160 Latin | 1 |
| 156 to 304 Greek characters | 2 |
| 305 to 456 Greek characters | 3 |
| Message with emoji or symbols outside the GSM alphabet, up to 70 characters | 1, and then 1 per 67 characters |
The cost is calculated per recipient. A two-part campaign to 1,000 recipients consumes 2,000 credits. The counter in the campaign form shows the parts before you click send, and the cost box shows the total. The article about characters per SMS explains how to keep a message within one part.
Viber credits are separate, are valid only for the subscription month, do not roll over and cannot be topped up. They are described in the article about Viber.
Where credits come from
- Monthly subscription. Every month your plan's credits are credited, e.g. 200, 500 or 2,000. In the annual subscription the credits are not credited in one go, but per month, in twelve installments.
- Extra credits. If a month needs more, you buy extra from the "Top up credits" option in the Billing menu, without changing plan. Extra credits are valid for 12 months from purchase.
- Trial. The trial account has 50 credits for 7 days.
The prices per plan are on the pricing page. They do not include 24% VAT.
What happens to leftover credits
Each month's credits are not lost at the end of it. They are valid in the month they were credited and the whole of the next one, that is two months in total, and then they are removed. An example with a 500-credit plan:
| Month | Credited | You send | Balance at the end of the month |
|---|---|---|---|
| October | 500 | 300 | 200 from October |
| November | 500 | 600 | 100 from November, the 200 from October were consumed first |
| December | 500 | 200 | 400 from December, the 100 from November were consumed first |
The platform always consumes the oldest credits first, so they are used before they expire. The order is: subscription credits, then packs, and last the extra credits, which have the longest validity.
Credit refund on failure
When a message ends in a final failure status, that is "Undelivered", "Expired", "Failed" or "Rejected", its credits, all of its parts, are credited back to your balance automatically. The same applies to messages the platform does not send at all, such as to opted-out recipients or numbers on the blocklist, which are not charged in the first place. The article about delivery statuses has the details.
What happens when the subscription expires
If the subscription is not renewed at its expiration, the account does not close immediately:
- For 7 days it continues to work normally, so you have time to renew.
- For another 7 days it stays open read-only: you see contacts and reports, but you do not send.
- If you have unused credits, the grace period is extended to 30 days from expiration, so you do not lose them. If you renew within this period, the credits are kept.
After the grace period the subscription closes and its credits are removed. Your contacts are kept for 90 days after the subscription expires. If you renew within this period, you continue from where you left off. After that they are deleted, as the GDPR requires for data that no longer serves a purpose. Billing details are kept for as long as tax law requires.
Where to see your balance
On the platform's home page, in the cost box of every campaign, and in the Billing menu, where there is the history of every credit, consumption and refund. From the API, the call GET /api/http/balance returns the balance, so your own system can notify you before the credits run out. The WooCommerce plugin has its own low-balance notifications.
Frequently asked questions
If I change plan, what happens to the credits I have?
The credits you have already been credited keep their original validity. The new plan credits its own credits from the next cycle. For an upgrade within the month, contact us and we apply it immediately.
Are messages abroad charged the same?
The prices on the pricing page are for Greek mobile numbers. For sends to numbers in other countries the charge per message varies by destination. Ask us before sending to international numbers.
Can I see how many credits a specific campaign consumed?
Yes. In the Reports each campaign shows the recipients, the parts per message and the total credits, along with those refunded due to failure.