# impact.com Essentials Edition Billing Explained

This billing information applies to brands that either upgraded to Essentials Edition through the [in-app Subscription screen](https://help.impact.com/brand/platform-features/finance/your-subscription/view-your-impactcom-subscription-and-usage-details) or signed up using the self-serve checklist. If you didn’t sign up through the checklist — for example, if you signed up with help from our sales team — your billing details may differ slightly from what’s described here.

With Essentials Edition, your first credit card charge for partner payouts happens once your first set of partner-driven actions is tracked. Your impact.com fees are 500 USD per month, and include 2,500 USD in partner payouts at no additional cost. Any partner payout amounts exceeding this are charged at a 20% rate. (*Amounts may vary depending on your selected currency*.)

When you sign up, you'll provide credit card details so that impact.com can top up your funding account and ensure any upcoming costs will be covered, preventing overdue payments. The system charges your credit card automatically when your funding account balance falls 30 units below the total you owe, plus a mandatory 50 currency unit buffer.

impact.com checks your account for charges due daily, but won't charge your card if your funding account balance is sufficient, or if the total you owe partners + impact.com is less than 30 currency units. Here’s how your daily credit card charge is calculated:

* *Pending Costs + Buffer Amount - Funding Account Balance = Amount to charge (but only charge if ≥ 30)*

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** The currencies we currently support for credit card payments include USD, GBP, AUD, EUR, HKD, DKK, NOK, SEK, JPY, and SGD.
{% endhint %}

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#### Let’s explain

Whenever partner or impact.com fees are due, the system will check your funding account for those fees plus the standard 50 currency unit buffer. If your funding account is 30 currency units under this total, the system will charge your credit card to replenish your funding account with the amount required.

*\* This example uses USD as the currency.*

#### Example A — Partner commissions fall below $2,500

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="You sign up / upgrade" %}
On May 12, you sign up or upgrade to impact.com Essentials Edition and complete your billing information. No partner costs or impact.com fees are due yet. However, the $50 buffer amount is due.

* Initial funding account balance: **$0**
* Total fees owed: **$0**
* Credit card auto-charge: **$50**
* Funding account deductions: **$0**
* New funding account balance: **$50**
  {% endtab %}

{% tab title="1st set of conversions tracked" %}
You managed to secure contracts with partners after subscribing to Essentials Edition, and on May 29, impact.com tracks conversions driven by these partners. According to the rate mutually agreed upon in your contracts with partners, you now owe a total of $15 in commissions. impact.com runs the formula to check whether your credit card should be charged:

{% hint style="info" %}
*Pending Costs ($15) + Buffer Amount ($50) - Funding Account Balance ($50) = Amount to charge ($15) (but only charge if ≥ $30)*
{% endhint %}

The $15 won’t be included in your credit card auto-charge on May 29, because although the actions have been tracked, the total you owe falls below the 30 currency unit threshold.

* Initial funding account balance: **$50**
* Total fees owed: **$15**
* Credit card auto-charge: **$0** (because $15 is not at least $30)
* Funding account deductions: **$0**
* New funding account balance: **$50**
  {% endtab %}

{% tab title="2nd set of conversions tracked" %}
On May 30, impact.com tracks more partner conversions. The total you owe in commissions for today is $40. impact.com runs the formula to check whether your credit card should be charged:

{% hint style="info" %}
*Pending Costs ($15) + Buffer Amount ($50) - Funding Account Balance ($50) = Amount to charge ($15) (but only charge if ≥ $30)*
{% endhint %}

The $55 will be included in your credit card auto-charge on May 30, because the total you owe falls above the 30 currency unit threshold. However, the $55 will only be deducted from your funding account once the actions [lock](https://help.impact.com/brand/readme/set-action-locking-and-payment-scheduling-periods).

* Initial funding account balance: **$50**
* Total fees owed: $15 + $40 = **$55**
* Credit card auto-charge: **$55**
* Funding account deductions: **$0**
* New funding account balance: $50 + $55 = **$105**

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** impact.com charges your credit card once per day for the total cost of all partner activity for that day. If 4 partners each generated $10 in commissions on May 30, you’ll see one $40 charge on May 30 — not 4 separate $10 charges.
{% endhint %}
{% endtab %}

{% tab title="1st impact.com fee charged" %}
On June 1, you receive your first impact.com fee invoice. Since your accumulated partner commissions fall below the $2,500 baseline, you only owe $500. impact.com runs the formula to check how much your credit card should be charged:

{% hint style="info" %}
*Pending Costs ($15) + Buffer Amount ($50) - Funding Account Balance ($50) = Amount to charge ($15) (but only charge if ≥ $30)*
{% endhint %}

A total of $500 will be included in your credit card auto-charge on June 1 to ensure that your funding account balance covers your impact.com fees, pending partner commissions, and the $50 buffer.

* Initial funding account balance: **$105**
* Total fees owed: **$500** (Assume no additional partner conversions were tracked)
* Credit card auto-charge: **$500** impact.com fee
* Funding account deductions: **$0**
* New funding account balance: $105 + $500 = **$605**
  {% endtab %}

{% tab title="1st impact.com fee deducted" %}
On June 2, your first impact.com monthly fee is deducted automatically.

* Initial funding account balance: **$605**
* Total fees owed: **$0** (No additional fees are owed yet)
* Credit card auto-charge: **$0**
* Funding account deductions: **$500**
* New funding account balance: **$105**
  {% endtab %}

{% tab title="All May conversions lock" %}
Assuming you went with the default action-locking period of `27 days after the end of the month` [in your settings](https://help.impact.com/brand/readme/set-action-locking-and-payment-scheduling-periods), the actions that were tracked on May 29 and May 30 lock on June 27. The $15 + $40 = $55 in pending partner costs for those days will now be deducted from your funding account.

* Initial funding account balance: **$105**
* Total fees owed: **$0** (Assume no new partner conversions were tracked)
* Credit card auto-charge: **$0**
* Funding account deductions: $15 + $40 = **$55**
* New funding account balance: $105 - $55 = **$50**
  {% endtab %}
  {% endtabs %}

#### Example B — Partner commissions exceed $2,500

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="You sign up / upgrade" %}
On May 12 you sign up or upgrade to impact.com Essentials Edition and complete your billing information. No partner costs or impact.com fees are due yet. The $50 buffer amount is however due.

* Initial funding account balance: **$0**
* Total fees owed: **$0**
* Credit card auto-charge: **$50**
* Funding account deductions: **$0**
* New funding account balance: **$50**
  {% endtab %}

{% tab title="1st set of conversions tracked" %}
You managed to secure contracts with partners after subscribing to Essentials Edition, and on May 20, impact.com tracks conversions driven by these partners. According to the rate mutually agreed upon in your contracts with partners, you now owe a total of $20 in commissions. impact.com runs the formula to check whether your credit card should be charged:

{% hint style="info" %}
*Pending Costs ($15) + Buffer Amount ($50) - Funding Account Balance ($50) = Amount to charge ($15) (but only charge if ≥ $30)*
{% endhint %}

The $20 won’t be included in your credit card auto-charge on May 20, because although the actions have been tracked, the total you owe falls below the 30 currency unit threshold.

* Initial funding account balance: **$50**
* Total fees owed: **$20**
* Credit card auto-charge: **$0** (because $20 is not ≥ $30)
* Funding account deductions: **$0**
* New funding account balance: **$50**
  {% endtab %}

{% tab title="2nd set of conversions tracked" %}
On May 25, impact.com tracks more partner conversions. The total you owe in commissions for today is $500. impact.com runs the formula to check whether your credit card should be charged:

{% hint style="info" %}
*Pending Costs ($15) + Buffer Amount ($50) - Funding Account Balance ($50) = Amount to charge ($15) (but only charge if ≥ $30)*
{% endhint %}

The $520 will be included in your credit card auto-charge on May 25, because the total you owe falls above the 30 currency unit threshold. However, the $520 will only be deducted from your funding account once the actions [lock](https://help.impact.com/brand/readme/set-action-locking-and-payment-scheduling-periods).

* Initial funding account balance: **$50**
* Total fees owed: $20 + $500 = **$520**
* Credit card auto-charge: **$520**
* Funding account deductions: **$0**
* New funding account balance: $50 + $520 = **$570**
  {% endtab %}

{% tab title="3rd set of conversions tracked" %}
On May 30, impact.com tracks many more partner conversions. The total you owe in commissions for today is $2,000. impact.com runs the formula to check how much your credit card should be charged:

{% hint style="info" %}
*Pending Costs ($15) + Buffer Amount ($50) - Funding Account Balance ($50) = Amount to charge ($15) (but only charge if ≥ $30)*
{% endhint %}

The $2,000 will be included in your credit card auto-charge on May 30, because the total you owe falls above the 30 currency unit threshold. However, the $2,000 will only be deducted from your funding account once the actions [lock](https://help.impact.com/brand/readme/set-action-locking-and-payment-scheduling-periods).

* Initial funding account balance: **$570**
* Total fees owed: $20 + $500 + $2,000 = **$2,520**
* Credit card auto-charge: **$2,000**
* Funding account deductions: **$0**
* New funding account balance: $570 + $2,000 = **$2,570**

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** impact.com charges your credit card once per day for the total cost of all partner activity for that day. If 100 partners each generated $20 in commissions on May 30, you’ll see one $2,000 charge on May 30 — not 100 separate $20 charges.
{% endhint %}
{% endtab %}

{% tab title="1st impact.com fee charged" %}
On June 1, you receive your first impact.com fee invoice. Since your accumulated partner commissions fall above the $2,500 baseline, you owe $500 + 20% on the $20 excess (i.e., $4). impact.com runs the formula to check how much your credit card should be charged:

{% hint style="info" %}
*Pending Costs ($15) + Buffer Amount ($50) - Funding Account Balance ($50) = Amount to charge ($15) (but only charge if ≥ $30)*
{% endhint %}

A total of $504 will be included in your credit card auto-charge on June 1 to ensure that your funding account balance covers your impact.com fees, pending partner commissions, and the $50 buffer.

* Initial funding account balance: **$2,570**
* Total fees owed: $500 + $4 = **$504** (Assume no additional partner conversions were tracked)
* Credit card auto-charge: **$504** impact.com fee
* Funding account deductions: **$0**
* New funding account balance: $2,570 + $504 = **$3,074**
  {% endtab %}

{% tab title="1st impact.com fee deducted" %}
On June 2, your first impact.com monthly fee is deducted automatically.

* Initial funding account balance: **$3,074**
* Total fees owed: **$0** (No additional fees are owed yet)
* Credit card auto-charge: **$0**
* Funding account deductions: **$504**
* New funding account balance: $3,074 - $504 = **$2,570**
  {% endtab %}

{% tab title="All May conversions lock" %}
Assuming you went with the default action-locking period of `27 days after the end of the month` [in your settings](https://help.impact.com/brand/readme/set-action-locking-and-payment-scheduling-periods), the actions that were tracked on May 20, May 25, and May 30 lock on June 27. The $20 + $500 + $2,000 = $2,520 in pending partner costs for those days will now be deducted from your funding account.

* Initial funding account balance: **$2,570**
* Total fees owed: **$0** (Assume no new partner conversions were tracked)
* Credit card auto-charge: **$0**
* Funding account deductions: $20 + $500 + $2,000 = **$2,520**
* New funding account balance: $2,570 - $2,520 = **$50**
  {% endtab %}
  {% endtabs %}
