# Billing Paying for STRG is meant to be simple: you pay for the data you keep stored, and nothing else. Everything to do with it lives on the dashboard's *Billing* page - your cards, your billing details and your invoices - and this page explains how each part works and why it is there. ## What is billed You are billed for the data you store, and nothing else. Uploads, downloads and listings are free however often they happen, so a busy app and a quiet archive holding the same data cost the same. Prices are exclusive of VAT, which is added on top where it applies - [VAT](https://docs.strg.com/billing#vat) has the details. Here is how each kind of usage is treated: | | | | --- | --- | | Stored data | Billed | | Requests (uploads, downloads, listings, every other API call) | Free | | Data transferred in (ingress) | Free | | Data transferred out (egress) | Free | Stored data is measured to follow what you actually keep, day by day: - **Over time, prorated per day.** Usage is measured continuously and priced a day at a time, so data kept for part of a month is billed for the days it was stored. - **Decimal units.** 1 TB is 10^12 bytes. - **Every object version counts.** Versioning is always on, so overwriting or deleting an object keeps its earlier versions - which is what makes an accidental overwrite recoverable. Those versions stay billed until they are removed, either by deleting them by version ID or with a [lifecycle policy](https://docs.strg.com/lifecycle-policies) that expires them for you. - **Locked versions** stay billed until their retention ends, since they cannot be deleted before then. [Object Lock](https://docs.strg.com/object-locks) explains how retention works. - **Parts of unfinished multipart uploads** count too, until the upload is completed or [aborted](https://docs.strg.com/s3-api/AbortMultipartUpload). A [lifecycle policy](https://docs.strg.com/lifecycle-policies) can abort uploads left incomplete, so forgotten ones tidy themselves away. ### Your usage so far The dashboard's home page keeps a running view of what you store and what it is costing, so you can see an invoice coming well before it is issued: | Tile | What it shows | | --- | --- | | *Stored now* | The size of your buckets, summed, as of the latest daily storage report. Sizes arrive the day after something is stored | | *This period* | An estimate for the end of the current billing period: what the days reported so far cost, plus each region's last reported day repeated for every day still to come. The amount so far is shown beneath it. Until a day of the period has been reported, it shows "-" | | *Last period* | How much you stored on average over the previous billing period, and what it cost | The estimate is a guide rather than an invoice, and its amounts are before VAT. ## A card is required Before your first bucket or access key, we ask for a card. It is there to prevent abuse - in the dashboard's words: "A card is required to prevent abuse: a $1 hold checks it and is released at once, and nothing is charged until there is storage to bill." Here is what adding a card involves: | | | | --- | --- | | The $1 hold | Placed to check the card and released straight away. It is never charged | | What the form asks for | The card number, expiry and security code. With no billing address on file yet, it also asks for your whole [billing details](https://docs.strg.com/billing#billing-details) - the country is the one required field - and saves them before the card: a tax ID that is refused stops it before the card is checked or charged. With billing details on file, it asks for none of them, and the card is added with your saved billing address | | 3-D Secure | When your bank asks for confirmation, the dialog waits for it ("Waiting for your bank's confirmation…") | | A refused card | A card can be refused; a different card is the way forward | Creating a bucket or an access key without a card on file leads to a pointer to add one first. In the dashboard, the form is replaced by that message and an *Add a card* button, which opens the card dialog right there; once the card is verified, the form is back. Through the S3 API or an AI agent, the answer points to *Billing*. Buckets and keys you already have keep working - a card is needed for creating new ones. ### Managing cards Keeping more than one card on file means an invoice still gets paid when one card can't be charged - an expired card, say. On *Billing*, under *Cards*: - **Add card** opens the card dialog. A card shows *Being verified* until the check completes, normally within seconds. - **Every card you add becomes the default** once it is verified, and your other verified cards are tagged *Backup*. - **Backups step in when the default cannot be charged.** An invoice and *Pay now* charge your default card first, then each backup, newest first, until one pays. - **Make default** on another verified card makes it the default instead. - **You can have up to 3 cards.** A fourth is turned away with "You can have up to 3 cards. Delete one to add another." - **Adding a card you already have replaces it.** The old copy is removed once the new one is verified, and does not count towards the 3. - The trash icon deletes any card but the default. Your default card can be removed once another card has been made the default. ### A card that can't be charged When a bank declines a charge in a way that retrying cannot change, the card is tagged *Can't be charged*, and *Billing* shows why under your cards. We never charge such a card again, and it cannot be made the default, until your bank updates it - a renewed or reissued card, for example - or you add it again. Each reason comes with a straightforward fix: | Reason shown | What helps | | --- | --- | | "Your bank asks to confirm payments with this card. Add it again to confirm it." | Adding the same card again and confirming with your bank. It replaces the old copy | | "This card has expired. Add your new card." | Adding the new card | | "This card can no longer be charged. Add another card." | Adding another card | ## Billing details Your billing details are what your invoices show, and they decide which VAT applies. Under *Billing details* you set the billing address (the country is required, every other field is optional), an optional company name, and an optional tax ID. *Save billing details* saves all of them together. ### Your tax ID One tax ID can be on file, and there is no type to pick: the field is labelled by the country selected in the form, so it always asks for the right kind of number. | Country | The field | | --- | --- | | An EU member state | *European VAT number* | | Elsewhere | The country's invoicing number - for example *Canadian GST/HST number*, *Switzerland VAT number*, *Japanese Tax Registration Number (Tōroku Bangō)*, *United Kingdom VAT number* | | A country with no tax ID type | No tax ID field | - **Changing it** is a matter of entering the new number and saving; **removing it**, of emptying the field and saving. - **It is the selected country's.** Switching to a country your tax ID on file does not fit empties the field, and the form says it is removed when you save. - **An EU VAT number starts with the member state's code** - its country code, but `EL` for Greece. A German number (`DE…`) cannot be saved with an address in Austria: the save is refused, and the field says the number must start with the country's code. Switching the form to another member state empties a VAT number on file of a different one, which is removed when you save. - **A VAT number from an EU member state other than Austria means no VAT on your invoices**: the form says "With a VAT number, your invoices carry no VAT: it is reverse-charged." [VAT](https://docs.strg.com/billing#vat) explains why. - **A number that is refused refuses the whole save**, so nothing is ever half-saved: the address and company name stay as they were, and the reason is shown on the field. After it is saved, an EU VAT number, a UK VAT number or an Australian ABN is checked against its issuing register, and the field says "Being verified.", "Verified." or "Could not be verified against the register - please check the number." If the register rejects it: - You get an email asking you to check it and update your billing details. - A red banner on every dashboard page names the number and the register - for example "We could not verify your VAT number `` against the EU's VAT register. Please update it in your billing details." - with an *Update billing details* button that leads to them. - Nothing else changes: the tax ID stays on file, your invoices show it as before, and it still decides their [VAT](https://docs.strg.com/billing#vat). The banner disappears once you save a new number. ### On your invoices The details are shown on your invoices, and your billing address and VAT number decide their [VAT](https://docs.strg.com/billing#vat). A change applies to invoices issued after it, not to ones already issued. ## Invoices Invoices are issued for your billing period and charged to your card automatically, so there is nothing to remember to pay. Here is how invoicing works: | | | | --- | --- | | Billing period | Monthly, starting on the day of the month your account was created. In a month without that day, the period starts on the month's last day | | When an invoice is issued | After the period ends, once its usage is final - usually within a few days. A period in which you stored nothing has no invoice | | Payment | Charged automatically when it is issued: to your default card, then to each backup in turn if it cannot be charged | | Email | Each invoice is emailed to you with its total and the invoice attached as a PDF, plus a link to *Billing*. If the PDF cannot be attached, the email says instead that the invoice and its PDF are on *Billing* | | On *Billing* | Under *Invoices*, newest first. Each shows its period, its status (*Draft* while it is being issued, then *Due*, *Paid* or *Void*) and its total, VAT included, with the VAT beneath it. The PDF icon opens the invoice as a PDF, which has the full breakdown - a line per region - and its VAT | ### VAT Prices are net: VAT is added on top. STRG is established in Austria, so which VAT applies depends on your billing address and VAT number: | Your billing address | VAT on your invoices | | --- | --- | | Austria | Austrian VAT, with or without a VAT number | | Another EU member state, with a VAT number in your [billing details](https://docs.strg.com/billing#your-tax-id) | None: the invoice is reverse-charged, and you account for the VAT yourself | | Another EU member state, without a VAT number | Your country's VAT | | Outside the EU | No VAT is added | - **It is decided when an invoice is issued**, from the billing address and VAT number on file then. A VAT number you save applies to invoices issued after it, not to ones already issued. - **A VAT number the register could not verify still counts.** It stays on file and is used for your invoices, and you are asked to check it ([Your tax ID](https://docs.strg.com/billing#your-tax-id) has more). - **How it is shown**: on *Billing*, under an invoice's total - for example *VAT (20%) $1.36*, or *VAT reverse-charged* in place of an amount - and on the invoice's PDF. An invoice with no VAT shows no VAT line. The total includes the VAT, and it is what is charged and what the email shows. ### Paying Invoices are charged automatically, so there is usually nothing to do. When there is, an invoice that is due has a *Pay now* button on *Billing*, which charges your default card for it, then each backup, until one pays. ## Closing your account You can close your account yourself from [Account settings](https://docs.strg.com/account-settings), once everything owed is paid - that page has every check made first. Usage reported after it closes is still invoiced and charged to the card on file. ## Questions We're happy to help with anything about billing at `support@strg.com`.