Postmark Invoices Explained
We've all, at some point in our lives, seen an invoice and, with a stumped face, thought to ourselves "What do these different things even mean?". We wrote this short guide to ensure reviewing your Postmark invoices is easy and stress-free.
Understanding your billing cycle#
Simply put, a
billing cycle is the period of usage for which we charge you.
Your billing cycle is
defined by the date of your first upgrade. When you first upgrade from a free Developer to a paid plan, we charge you for the billing cycle ahead of you, and continue to do so on your future invoices. For example, if you first upgrade to a paid plan on January 8th, your first charge will be for the cycle of January 8th through February 8th. We will continue to charge you on the 8th of each following month for the month ahead of you. If you first upgrade on the last day of the month, for example January 31st, we will charge you on the last day of each following month, whether that’s 30th or 31st (or in case of February, on the 28th or 29th), and the charge would be for the month ahead of you.
If you don’t change your plan, or consume any additional emails outside of your plan’s quota, the total on your invoice will be the same each month. However, if you do change your plan within an existing billing cycle (upgrade or downgrade), things get a bit more complicated.
Example invoice breakdown#
Let's take a look at an example where the customer's monthly plan renews on the 1st of each month. On September 1st they paid $15 for the 10,000 email plan. A few days later, on September 4th, they decided they'd like to upgrade to the $55 plan for 50,000 emails.
A few things to note off the bat:
1. You do not pay upgrade costs at the time of upgrading. Instead, you pay the upgrade costs during your account's next scheduled billing date which you can see in the Plan & Add-ons tab.
The example customer would pay for their upgrade costs on October 1st.
2. Monthly plan charges are for the month ahead. For the example customer above, when they paid $15 for the 10,000 plan on September 1st, they were paying for the billing period of September 1st - October 1st.
With the above in mind, the customer's next invoice on October 1st will include both the cost of upgrading to a higher plan on September 4th plus the monthly plan cost for their next billing period (October 1st - November 1st).
Here's a breakdown of what the example customer sees when they upgrade from the $15 (10,000 emails) plan to the $55 (50,000 emails) plan on September 4th:
1.
“Unused time on 10,000 after 04 Sep 2024” indicates the ($13.17) prorated credit of the unused portion of the $15 (10,000 emails) plan that they originally paid for on September 1st. That credit will automatically be credited to their next invoice on October 1st.
2.
“Remaining time on 50,000 after 04 Sept 2024” indicates the $48.29 prorated cost of the more expensive $55 (50,000 emails) plan, four days into their current billing period (September 1st - October 1st).
A reminder that the customer does not pay the upgrade cost at the time of upgrading, but instead they'll pay the upgrade cost during their account's next billing date of October 1st. This is why "Due now" is $0.00.
3.
“Monthly plan (50,000 emails)” indicates the $55 price for the 50,000 emails plan that the account will be on during their next billing period of October 1st - November 1st.
A reminder that Postmark monthly plans are paid for the monthly billing period ahead.
4.
“Extra emails this period (0 emails)” is blank in this example. If the customer had sent additional emails outside of the allowance in their original 10,000 plan after upgrading, these overages would’ve been absorbed into the new 50,000 emails plan and no overages would have been paid.
If they had sent more than 50,000 emails, that number would’ve shown in the extra emails brackets. The cost would have been calculated based on the overage cost for the 50,000 emails plan ($1.30 per 1,000).
5. The “Total” is the sum of amounts indicated in 2, 3, and 4. The amount shown in 1 is subtracted from that total.
TL;DR
When you upgrade your Postmark account's monthly plan, your next invoice will include both the prorated cost of the upgrade to a higher plan plus the cost of that new higher monthly plan for the month ahead.
Invoice with overages#
If you send all of the emails included in your monthly plan, your account will keep sending/receiving emails, and you'll see a charge for the additional emails you use on your next invoice:
