Meta Billing FAQ

Neelke Stadler Updated by Neelke Stadler

How Meta bills for template messages?

Meta bills for template messages when they are delivered not when they are sent (source).

When a template message isn’t immediately delivered because a user is offline (for example, they ran out of data on their plan), Meta attempts to deliver it for 30 days

What this means in practice: despite sending template messages before April 1st, if it only gets delivered to someone when they come back online after April 1st, Meta will charge that message according to the new waiver rules.

Make sure you always have message credits

If you are sending templates of any kind (via Reminders, scheduled Journeys or manually sending templates to re-initiate conversations via the Inbox), you should always have message credits loaded into your account — to avoid key messages failing to get sent.

You can see full instructions in the Message Billing » article, but the tldr is: Go to Settings > Message Billing > Top up.

What happens if my balance goes negative or hits zero?

If your message template credit balance goes negative, your service will be unable to send any templates — including utility and authentication templates, even if those are covered by your waiver. The waiver covers the Meta cost, but you still need a $0 or positive balance in Turn.io for templates to go out.

What this means in practice: Even if you're on the waiver, you need to still keep a $0 balance to avoid disruption. If you are not on the waiver, you need to ensure you have sufficient funds for the template messages you plan to send. Keep a positive balance at all times to avoid disruption. Top up via Settings → Message Billing → Top Up.

Got specific questions on the waiver programme? Jump to this Meta Fee Waiver FAQ article.

Billing for recently re-classified messages

Meta bills based on the classification a message had when it was sent.

What this means in practice: If you recently re-classified a specific template as utility, you might still have 30 days old messages getting delivered when they were sent with the old classification, which means you’re getting charged as marketing messages.

How can I re-classify my messages?

You can find a tutorial Raquel from the support team wrote on Learn ».

Not all messages can be re-classified, as Meta is very strict with how they define marketing and utility, but if you feel that any of your templates have been mis-classified, we strongly suggest you attempt re-classifying them or creating new ones.

Why am I charged a different rate to Meta's local currency rate?

Turn.io is a US based company and is charged the USD local country rate by Meta. As such our message rates charged are the USD local currency rate. Turn.io also charges a 5% processing fee.

Was this article helpful?

Meta Fee Waiver FAQs

Contact