Checkify billing uses a system of recurring payments. Learn how you are going to be charged once you subscribe to Checkify one-page checkout service and complete the free trial period.
In this article:
1.2 The Plans
2.2 Checkify charges
2.4 Change the plan
1. Checkify pricing
1.1 How Checkify calculates pricing
Checkify uses a combination of a fixed fee and variable transaction commissions (also referred to as transaction fees) on your sales. Transaction fees will be applied to each transaction if you receive a successfully completed order from your buyer.
Transaction fees are calculated in the following way:
[order amount] x [transaction fee, %]
Transaction fees are finalized and charged at the end of the billing period. If you have no successful sales or use a manual payment method (ala COD - cash on delivery), the transaction fees will be €0. If you have successful sales via Checkify's checkout, the minimal processable value of transaction fees is €0.50. For example, if the sum of the fees at the end of the billing period is €0.49, you will be charged €0.50.
NOTE: Once you switch to the customizable checkout, you will not need to pay transaction fees to the eComm (Shopify) platform, so you end up with fewer payment costs for your business. The fees by Checkify are charged based on your online transactions completed using the custom checkout, not on your store’s revenue during the same period.
1.2 The Plans
Checkify has three pricing tiers. Each plan comes with a free trial period.
The Starter Plan gives you access to the basic features of the single-page checkout. It comes with the option of setting up a custom domain, 1 Upsell, 1 Checkout page extra offer and 1 Thank You page extra offer. The available payment methods are Stripe, Adyen and PayPal. There is a €9.99/week fixed fee and a 1.65% transaction fee.
The Optimal Plan gives you full access to all the app's features, including creating a custom domain, unlimited Upsells, Checkout page and Thank You page extra offers. The available payment methods are Stripe, Adyen, PayPal and COD. This plan has a €16.99/week fixed fee and a 1.25% transaction fee.
The Master Plan is similar to the Optimal Plan, but has reduced transaction fees. This plan has a €29.99/week fixed fee and just 0.65% of transaction fees.
NOTE: Your subscription / free trial starts right after the first successful transaction via Checkify's checkout.
2. Checkify billing
2.1 Connect your card to Checkify
When you add a card to Checkify, it is stored on Stripe’s servers, and the payment processor will use it to collect payments on your Checkify invoices. Stripe is likely to perform a verification hold (block) in the amount equivalent to €1.01 on your account to check whether the card is valid. Just like Uber, or any other from thousands of existing apps and online services do. Once the check is completed, €1.01 is returned to the account. There is no payment, so there will be no refund. It will appear as if the whole transaction never happened. Your bank should be able to confirm this for you. Depending on your card issuer, the original charge will disappear from your pending charges within a week, but usually way faster.
Stripe billing on Checkify accepts MasterCard, Visa, Amex, Union Pay, Cartes Bancaires. It is possible to connect Google / Apple Pay as well. Cards by other issuers could be declined. You can connect credit and debit cards. Other card types might not support recurring payments. If you constantly see an error message when adding a card after making several attempts, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. Also, refer to the FAQ (troubleshooting) section in the bottom of this article.
To add a card to Checkify:
Go to the Billing tab in the Checkify Admin panel.
Click Add payment method.
No payment cards on Checkify
Add your card details.
Make sure all the details are entered correctly.Click Add payment method +.
Add your card data
ATTENTION: We recommend using "traditional" bank cards. Virtual or digital cards like Wise, Payoneer, Revolut etc., may not always be successfully accepted, or they may be accepted during the initial connection, but there could be issues at repeated billing. Do not use prepaid cards.
2.2 Checkify charges
Checkify generates invoices to track your subscription payments. The invoices are generated according to the schedule of your subscription. However, the charging attempts may not always match the invoice time and date, for example, because of a payment service error or insufficient funds on your card at the time of the scheduled charge, or because of the decision to change the subscription plan.
If you are charged out of schedule and believe it was an error, simply drop a message to [email protected] or [email protected]. We will investigate it for you.
View and download the invoices for your payments in the Invoices section of the Billing tab. You can see the recent invoices as well as full history of your subscription payments. To download a PDF file with your invoice, click the download icon next to the invoice. If you click on the invoice number, you will be redirected and have an option of downloading the invoice or the receipt.
Invoices in the Billing tab
If you need invoices for your company (with Tax IDs or other details added on them), download them from the admin. Make sure you add the relevant details to admin.checkify > Profile. Other data, such as business address, will be used from your Shopify store. Checkify's VAT (ID) registration number is also added to invoices.
All the invoices for every charge by our service are automatically-generated documents and are being emailed to customers. You can use them later for accounting and other purposes. Please check spam folder and “All email” in case you do not see or stopped receiving them.
When an invoice is generated (finalized), Checkify will attempt to charge your card.
If the charge is successful, the invoice will be marked as paid.
If the charge fails, we will retry collecting the payment later. We will notify you by email if the payment has failed.
There is a system of automatic cancelations of the subscription due to unpaid invoices. In such case, the checkout will no longer appear on your store, unless the debt is covered. It is reactivated once all the required payments are successful.
In case of reactivation, our checkout service reserves the right to collect the outstanding payments to continue its operation. You will see the appropriate notification in our admin interface:
There are email notifications on the upcoming charges, usually three days in advance. So, please pay attention to such emails.
2.3 Checkify balances
You may have some positive balance, either due to a previous overpayment, or if you get credits from Checkify. The balance will decrease the amount due on the your next invoice. Or, you may have an underpayment that will be deducted from your next bill.
If available and applicable (non-zero), the balance is displayed in the interface of admin.checkify, Billing section.
Example: A customer has a positive balance of EUR10.52 and is paying less on the billing date
Example: A customer has a negative balance of EUR5.47. The total value of the upcoming invoice is going to be increased by the indicated amount.
2.4 Change the plan
You can change your subscription plan at any time.
NOTE: If you switch your plan mid-cycle, you will be paying the difference in case of an upgrade, or the difference is credited to your customer profile in case of a downgrade. The billing cycle remains unchanged.
Transaction fees, in accordance with the previous (old) plan, are to be paid instantly, as the switch is confirmed. The fees in accordance with the newly-selected plan are calculated and charged at the end of the billing period. The break-down, incl. fees, unused time, etc., is available in the invoices.
Follow these steps for changing the plan:
1. Go to the Billing section of your Checkify admin panel.
2. Click Change plan and choose the one that matches your needs.
3. Save changes.
Go to Billing > Billing Profile to change your subscription plan
NOTE: If you want to downgrade to the Starter plan, remove Cash on Delivery method, as it will no longer be supported. If you have more than one Upsell, Checkout page and / or Thank You page offer, you need to delete them as well, and leave the one you intend to keep running. Correct operation of COD, all the created upsells and offers will not be possible or guaranteed.
2.5 Cancel the subscription
If you decide to stop using Checkify's checkout, follow these steps to cancel your subscription.
Go to the Billing section of your Checkify admin panel.
Click Cancel subscription.
In a pop-up that appears, click Cancel subscription again.
Click "Cancel subscription" in the pop-up
When you cancel your subscription:
Your checkout is deactivated immediately.
You are charged transaction fees for the used part of the current billing cycle.
Turning the checkout off (deactivating) and canceling the subscription does not mean exactly the same thing. These are the two unrelated processes. If you disconnect the checkout but do not cancel the subscription, you will still be charged. It works this way for the developers, who need to disconnect checkout for a while without triggering a subscription.
ATTENTION: When you cancel the subscription, you will be charged all the transaction fees due at this point. Canceling the subscription moves the billing cycle up, so you are charged right then. If charging is failed, there would be several more attempts to charge the fees in order to cover the debt. The status is not going to change to "cancelled" because of that.
If you get back to Checkify with unpaid invoices, you will be charged before you can reconnect the store. Once the open invoice is covered, i.e. the debt is collected, and the upfront payment for the next billing cycle (a 7-day period) is successful, the subscription is restored.
"Delete Checkify account" option appears once the subscription is cancelled, or there is no active subscription at all. Please treat it with care, as removal of the account is an irreversible process. The current store (.myshopify domain) will permanently lose the ability to have our product activated again, if you go for it.
If, after some time, you understand that the decision to delete completely was not right, or done in an error, you can still apply for an account reactivation program via the email template (form) we provide at the sign up (registration) stage. Start entering your old (initial) credentials to get access to the form.
Make sure the information is complete and correct. We will evaluate submission and get back to you. At the same time, Checkify reserves the right not to satisfy such a reactivation request without any additional comments or clarifications from its side.
3. Trial period
The free trial period is triggered by the first successful transaction via the custom checkout. It lasts for seven (7) calendar days. It means that the first day begins at midnight, 00:00 (UTC), and not at the moment of the same day when the subscription gets activated.
You can use all the features while on trial, depending on your plan. There are no limits.
When your trial period comes to an end, you will be charged a fixed weekly fee according to your plan (as the first charge). Fixed fees are charged at the beginning of the billing period, which is, in fact, an upfront (advance) payment, while variable transaction fees are charged historically (for the past 7-day period, the billing cycle).
For example, if you have the Optimal Plan, you pay €16.99 after the first seven days since starting the usage. Then, after another billing cycle of seven days, you will be charged €16.99 for the next seven days, and transaction fees for the past period.
Canceling the subscription during the trial period saves your free trial days. You can use them once you decide to go back to Checkify. If you cancel before the finish of the trial period, there will be no charges: neither fixed, nor transactional.
4. Resolving common issues
🙀 I have some trouble with covering an unpaid invoice.
You can confirm the payment, if necessary, directly on the Stripe side. To do this, go to the Invoices tab. Find the required invoice in the table, click on its unique number or on "view".
🙀 I cannot see the Cancel subscription button.
The cancellation is possible along with the settlement of any open (unpaid) invoice. If you cannot see the button, it may also mean that you do not have an active subscription on Checkify at all.
If you want to remove Checkify from your store, check our guide on disconnecting Checkify.
🙀 I was charged outside my billing schedule.
Such a situation might happen if charging was impossible because of a server error with Stripe, or insufficient funds on your card on the due date. So, the collection of the payment happened later than expected. Please let us know if you still have doubts on the correctness of the charge.
🙀 I was charged twice.
It can happen at reactivation. Absence of debt is the main condition for uninterrupted use of our service. Every charge by Checkify is backed by an invoice and a receipt. We send them by email to all subscribed customers. You can also view them in admin > Billing > Invoices. The invoices show the breakdown between the fixed subscription fee and the variable transaction fee. They may also include some additional information, like unused time on a subscription plan.
🙀 Can I delete the card I connected to Checkify?
You cannot delete the card you connected. You can simply change it to a different card, so it becomes the current (the default) payment method. Checkify has no visibility and no access to your full (complete) card data.
🙀 I refunded an order for the customer. Will my transaction fees be refunded?
If you refunded the order we do not refund (deduct from) weekly transaction fees. Shopify treats refunded orders the same way. According to their terms, as of March 1, 2020, they are no longer returning transaction fees on refunded sales to merchants.
The refund is made outside our platform, so it will not affect the dashboard (the value in the "Total revenue" tab) in admin.checkify. That's one more reason why there will be no deduction for the figure displayed and no adjustments in invoices.
🙀 My card was not connected.
Please ensure your card details are complete and correct, there are sufficient funds for the card's validation, and Stripe supports the chosen card type.
In case of repeated declines, you may try the following:
- change the card type (e.g. Visa to Mastercard and vice versa);
- try debit or credit cards by different issuers (banks);
- try adding a card by one of your country's banks. Example: you are a business from France, so a card of the French origin is more likely to be accepted successfully.
🙀 My card gets declined.
It may often be necessary to complete a 3D Secure authentication step. This window and stage are not managed by us, so we cannot help complete it or somehow bypass it. Please make sure there are no missed notifications, SMS or pop-ups from your bank (app), the card is valid, there is some small positive balance on it.
Attempt the connection in a different browser and / or switching to a different network. Some cards are a bit more likely to get rejected, so, for instance, stop trying virtual cards if this happens in your case. Change the card type (brand), if possible. E.g.: Visa > Mastercard. Retries should succeed.