Billing day & how auto-pay works

CargoSurge bills each tenant on a fixed monthly billing day. This article explains the cycle, the auto-charge logic, and the email sequence you receive.

Overview

Your tenant has a billing day (1–28) derived from either the day you first subscribed or the day your tenant was created. On that day each month, CargoSurge generates a platform invoice and attempts to charge your saved payment method via Stripe.

A daily scheduler at 03:00 UTC scans all active subscriptions and bills any whose billing_day matches today and hasn't already been billed for the current period. It's idempotent — run it twice and you get one invoice, not two.

What's on a platform invoice

• Base plan — this month's flat fee (or 1/12 of yearly).
• Extra seats — users beyond your plan's max_users.
• Extra branches / vehicles — beyond included counts.
• Usage overages — shipments / WH orders / SKUs beyond quota.
• Add-on seats — driver mobile app, warehouse mobile app.
• One-time setup fee — only on first subscription of a new plan.

Every line item is itemised. Open the invoice PDF from Settings → Subscription → Platform Invoices to see the breakdown.

The auto-charge sequence

1. 1
   Day 0 (billing day): invoice raised, auto-charge attempted. If successful, invoice marked paid and a receipt email is sent.
2. 2
   Day 1–7 (retries): if the charge fails (expired card, insufficient funds), a payment-failed email is sent immediately. Stripe retries daily.
3. 3
   Day 7 (grace period warning): if still unpaid, a suspension-warning email is sent. Your account continues working normally but the clock is ticking.
4. 4
   Day 14 (suspension): if still unpaid, the account is suspended. Users can't log in until payment is received.
5. 5
   Payment received (any point): Stripe webhook fires, invoice marked paid, account reactivated, receipt email sent.

Emails you'll receive

• Invoice issued — on billing day, with PDF attached. Sent to your tenant's billing contact.
• Receipt — after a successful charge (auto or manual).
• Payment failed — first failure onward. Mentions the next retry date.
• Suspension warning — day 7 of the grace period.
• Plan changed — when you switch plans via self-service.

All emails are sent from [email protected]. If they're going to spam, whitelist the domain.

Common pitfalls

Paying by bank transfer

If your company doesn't pay by card, email [email protected] before your first billing day. We'll switch your tenant to manual invoicing — no auto-charge, invoice PDF with bank-transfer details, 14-day payment terms. Enterprise customers default to this mode.

Changing your payment method

Settings → Subscription → Manage payment methods. Opens the Stripe Customer Portal in a new tab. You can add / remove cards, set a default, and view receipts. Changes sync back automatically.

Disputing an invoice

If a line item looks wrong, email [email protected] with the invoice number. Platform admin can issue a credit, adjust the invoice, or re-run billing with corrected inputs — see the team for the right path.