Credits, Segments and Auto Recharge

Texts cost money to send, so Perceny charges them against credits. Email does not consume credits. Push notifications do not either.

The rule, from the page itself: "Credits pay for texts by the segment: 1 credit = N segments. A segment is up to 160 characters of a text message (70 if it includes emoji or special characters), so longer messages use more than one."

Why one message costs twoCopy a link to this section

A "text message" is a carrier fiction. What actually travels is a segment:

• Plain characters: 160 per segment.
• One emoji, one curly quote, one accented letter anywhere in the body: the whole message switches encoding and every segment drops to 70 characters.

So Hi Jane, see you Friday at 2pm! is one segment. The same message with a 💇 is two, and if it goes on your appointment reminder, it is two on every reminder you ever send.

This is why the template editor shows a cost line under the body. See Message templates and variables.

Where the balance livesCopy a link to this section

Messaging → Credits shows "N credits available", the purchase history, and a warning when "Your credits are running low."

Credits come in pools. A business has its own pool, and a member can have a personal one, which is why the inbox and the blast composer both offer Charge Credits To: Business Credits or My Credits. The blast composer spells out the consequence: "The blast is charged to these credits."

Who is allowed to spend the business pool is a permission, not an assumption:

• Use Business Credits in the Inbox: "Charge inbox replies to the business' messaging credits instead of the member's own."
• Use Business Credits for Blasts: the same for blasts.

Without them, a stylist's replies come out of their own credits. Try to spend a pool you do not own and Perceny refuses: "You are not allowed to spend those credits."

Buying creditsCopy a link to this section

Buy Credits offers packs (each shown as "N credits" / "Covers N text segments") and confirms before charging: "Purchase N credits (S text segments) for $X? The saved card will be charged."

The card is whoever pays for that pool: "Billed to the business's card on file" or "Billed to {name}'s card on file." Only cards saved for that payer appear in the picker. If there is no card yet, add one first: "There is no saved payment method to charge for credits."

Buying credits needs an active subscription with a saved card: "The business needs an active subscription with a saved card to buy credits." In the Perceny staff app, Buy Credits on the Web opens the same Credits page in your phone's browser; the purchase and auto recharge are made there, and the balance in the app updates as soon as it goes through. The app stores' rules do not allow the purchase inside the app itself.

When a credit payment is refunded or disputedCopy a link to this section

Credits are only yours while the payment for them stands. If the card payment for a pack or an automatic top-up is refunded, in full or in part, the same share of those credits leaves your purchased credits. If the cardholder disputes the payment with their bank, the disputed share leaves when the bank takes the money back, and comes back if the dispute is decided in your favor. Your free plan credits are never touched, and the balance never goes below zero: credits already spent before the refund or dispute stay recorded against that purchase. Each movement appears in Credit History as Purchase reversed or Purchase reinstated.

A dispute also turns Auto Recharge off for that pool, so the card being disputed is not charged again automatically. The settings say so: "Auto recharge was turned off because a card payment for credits was disputed." It stays off even if you win the dispute; turn it back on yourself when you are ready.

Auto RechargeCopy a link to this section

The important part, and the reason to read this page before a busy Saturday: "Top the balance back up automatically when it runs low, so nothing stops for want of credits."

Set three things per pool:

1. When balance goes below: the trigger.
2. Bring my balance back up to: the target. "Only the difference is charged." It must be at least $5.00 above the trigger.
3. Using this payment method: a card saved for whoever pays for that pool.

Each pool has its own settings and its own card: "Each pool of credits has its own auto recharge settings and card."

When it runs you get a toast: "Added $X credits to your balance." When it does not, you get told why:

• "Could not charge your card. {reason}"
• "Auto recharge was turned off after repeated failed payments: {reason} Check the card and turn it back on." Repeated failures disable it; it does not silently keep retrying forever.
• "Auto recharge could not cover this charge. Raise the recharge amount or buy credits manually.": your top-up target is smaller than a single blast.

Reminders and other automatic textsCopy a link to this section

The texts Perceny sends for you (appointment reminders, confirmations, waitlist offers, walk-in "you're up next" texts, receipts, payment links, invoices) follow one rule, spelled out at the top of the Buy Credits window: "Reminders, confirmations and other automatic texts are free to US and Canadian numbers. To a number in any other country they use credits for every segment, at that country's rate, and they are not sent when there aren't enough credits."

• To a US or Canadian number: free, however many you send. Only a customized template that is longer than the built-in one is charged, for the extra segments (see Message templates and variables).
• To a number anywhere else: the whole text is charged, every segment, at the rate of the country the number is in, before it goes out. It does not matter where your business is: a shop in London texting London clients pays the UK rate. If the text cannot be sent (the carrier rejects it), the credits are given back.
• Invites and login details for your own team are always free, to any number.

So if you have clients abroad, or your business is outside the US and Canada, your reminders use credits, and at international rates they add up quickly. Check Credit History after a week to see what your reminders cost, and keep auto recharge on.

What happens when credits run outCopy a link to this section

You get "Insufficient credits." and the text does not send. The consequence is not only marketing: an automatic text to a number outside the US and Canada is not sent either, and the message shows "Not sent: texts to numbers outside the US and Canada use credits, and there weren't enough". A shop with clients abroad that runs dry on a Friday afternoon stops reminding those Saturday clients, and Saturday's no-show rate tells the story.

Turn on auto recharge. It is the single highest-leverage setting on this page.

Estimating a blast before you send itCopy a link to this section

The blast composer does the arithmetic for you:

• "N credits/recipient (S segments)" per channel, with email marked "No credits".
• "Estimated total: T credits" for the whole audience.
• A confirmation: "Send this blast on {channels}? This will use about T credits."

Trimming one sentence out of a 900-recipient blast is a real saving. Check the estimate before confirming, every time. See Run a marketing blast.

Skipping the chargeCopy a link to this section

Send without charging credits exists for the cases where Perceny is covering the cost. If you do not see it, it does not apply to you; do not plan around it.

Free credits first, then paidCopy a link to this section

Under the balance, Messaging → Credits now says which credits you are actually spending, the way an AI subscription shows its monthly usage:

• "N of M free plan credits left this month", with a bar and "Renews {date}": the credits your plan includes. Texts, calls and AI replies come out of these first and cost you nothing until they run out.
• "N purchased credits": what you bought on top (or were given). Once the free credits are used up, everything is paid from here until the month renews, and the page says so.

The free monthly credits come with a paid plan. On a free trial, or while a payment is behind, the allotment is zero and only purchased credits can be spent; it comes back the moment the plan is paid. The owner can end a trial early from Business Settings → Billing → Skip Trial & Pay Now (see Your plan and add-ons).

The same line appears beside the balance on the Blasts page. Percy shows a short version under its message box, next to Pricing: for example "$7.77 of $45.00 free left · Renews Oct 20", plus the purchased credits when you have any. The blast estimate says "Covered by this month's free plan credits", "Paid from purchased credits", or the split when a blast uses the last of the free ones.

Reading the historyCopy a link to this section

Credit History on the same page records every purchase, every automatic top-up, every charge and every refund, newest first, with the balance after each. Each charge is explained rather than just labelled:

• Type says what kind of movement it was: Credits spent, Purchase, Plan credits, Refund or Extra charge (a delivery that cost less or more than estimated), Gift from Perceny, Transfer, Purchase reversed or Purchase reinstated (a credit payment that was refunded or disputed, and a dispute you won).
• Details says what it paid for and who it was with: "Text to Omar Syouri", "Reply to +1 213 373 4253", "Call with Jane, 3 min", "Birthday reminder · Send SMS to Jane", "Sent to 212 recipients" for a blast, "Chat: Today's bookings" for a copilot reply. The first words of the message are quoted under it, and a link (Open Conversation, View client, Open Workflow, Open Blasts, Open Call Log) opens the thing itself. A row whose record was since deleted says so.
• Paid From says whether the charge came out of Free plan credits, Purchased credits, or both, so you can see the day the free credits ran out.

Export writes the same words to the file. A month that consumed twice the usual credits can then be explained rather than guessed at. Pair it with a look at your templates: a one-word edit that pushed a reminder to two segments is the usual culprit.