Pay renewals automatically with a card

Automatic payments are optional. With them on, your saved card pays each server renewal on its due date, and add-ons you buy, so a renewal is never late because an email got lost. Your account credit is always used first: only what's left is charged. New server orders are never charged automatically; you pay those yourself.

Turn on automatic payments#

1. In the panel, open Billing, then Auto-pay.
2. Read the authorisation and tick the box: you agree that we may charge the card for your servers' renewals and add-ons, for the amount on each invoice, until you turn automatic payments off or remove the card.
3. Choose add a card, then continue to Stripe to add your card. Enter your card on Stripe's secure page. Your bank may ask you to confirm it in its app (3-D Secure). Nothing is charged now.
4. You come back to the panel, and the page shows your card (for example Visa •••• 4242) with automatic payments on. We email you to confirm.

You can also tick save this card for automatic renewals when you pay an invoice by card. The card is saved once that payment is accepted (a new order's card payment is checked by a person first, as usual).

Your card details go straight to Stripe, our card processor. We keep only the card's brand, last four digits, expiry date and country, and Stripe's reference for it, never the card number.

When your card is charged#

1. Seven days before a renewal is due, we issue the invoice and email it to you. The email says which card we'll charge, and the date and time (UTC).
2. On the due date, we charge the card for the invoice's total (after credit), and email you a receipt that names the card and the server's new paid-until date. There's no "due soon" or "due today" reminder while a charge is planned. Several renewals charged at the same time come in one receipt email.
3. Add-ons you buy are charged an hour after their invoice is issued, so you can still pay them another way first.

If you'd rather pay a renewal another way, pay the invoice before its due date: with Bitcoin, USDT, account credit or another card. We never charge an invoice that is already paid. A renewal of a server you cancelled at the end of its period is never charged.

If a charge doesn't go through#

If your bank declines the charge, nothing is taken and the invoice stays open. We email you straight away with the reason your bank gave and what to do. If the decline might be temporary (for example, not enough funds), we try the card again a day and two days after the due date, before the server would be suspended, and each email gives the time of the next try. If the last try fails too, we email you once more to say we won't try again by ourselves. If your bank wants you to confirm the payment yourself, or the card has expired, we don't try that card again: pay the invoice yourself from the email, where you can confirm the payment with your bank.

If your saved card expires before a renewal it would pay, we email you up to 30 days before that renewal so you can add the new card in time, and the reminder 3 days before the due date says so too. We never try to charge a card we know has expired.

If you add a new card while a renewal is overdue, we charge it within a few minutes. The usual unpaid renewal dates still apply if the invoice stays unpaid: we suspend the server 3 days after the due date.

On an open renewal or add-on invoice, pay now with Visa •••• 4242 charges your saved card at once.

Change the card, turn it off, or remove it#

• Change the card: on the Auto-pay page, choose add a new card. The new card replaces the old one, which is deleted at Stripe.
• Turn automatic payments off: choose turn automatic payments off. The card stays saved, so you can turn them back on later with one click.
• Remove the card: choose remove this card. It's deleted at Stripe and can't be charged again; automatic payments go off.

On a team, the account owner and members with billing access can change automatic payments; other members can see whether they're on.