## **🔍 What Are Duplicate Charges?**

A duplicate charge occurs when your account is billed more than once for the same subscription period. This can happen when a second subaccount or subscription is created unintentionally alongside your existing plan. Common scenarios include:

- An annual subscription was active, but a separate monthly subscription was created on a subaccount.
- A billing retry after a failed payment generated a second active subscription in Stripe.
- A plan upgrade or OTTO site addition triggered an additional billing event incorrectly.
- Your account was connected to two payment sources (for example, both Shopify and a credit card), resulting in charges from each.

If any of these situations match your experience, you are likely eligible for a refund of the duplicate charges.



## **🧾 How to Confirm You Were Charged Twice**

Before raising a refund request, verify the duplicate charge by following these steps:

1. Go to the **Account Menu** in the top-right corner of the platform (click your avatar).
2. Navigate to **account menu (person icon, top-right) → Billing** to review your active subscriptions in Plans & Top-ups and past charges in Invoices.
3. Check your bank or card statement for charges from Search Atlas during the same billing period.
4. Look for two separate line items with the same or similar amounts on overlapping dates.

If you see two charges covering the same subscription period, this confirms a duplicate billing event.



## **⚠️ Common Causes to Be Aware Of**

Understanding why duplicate charges happen can help you avoid them in the future:

- **Re-checkout after a past-due status:** If your subscription became past due and you re-entered payment details, a second subscription may have been created instead of reinstating the original.
- **Subaccount creation:** Adding a team member or subaccount under certain legacy billing configurations sometimes triggered an independent subscription.
- **Multiple payment integrations:** Accounts connected to both Shopify billing and a direct credit card occasionally received charges from both sources simultaneously.
- **OTTO site pricing events:** Adjustments to OTTO site allocations in some cases generated an extra billing line item.

## **💰 How to Request a Refund**

Search Atlas reviews all duplicate charge claims and processes eligible refunds. To get your refund resolved as quickly as possible, please have the following information ready before contacting support:

- The email address associated with your Search Atlas account.
- The dates and amounts of the charges you believe are duplicates.
- Your subscription type (annual or monthly) and when it started.
- Screenshots or transaction IDs from your bank statement or billing history, if available.

Once you have this information, reach out through the live chat widget so our billing team can locate your account, verify the duplicate, and process your refund. Refunds are typically returned to your original payment method within **5–10 business days**, depending on your bank or card issuer.



## **🛡️ How We Prevent This Going Forward**

Our engineering team has identified and resolved the root causes behind the most common duplicate billing scenarios, including:

- Preventing new subscriptions from being created during a re-checkout flow when an existing subscription is already on file.
- Fixing incorrect pricing events triggered by OTTO site changes.
- Blocking simultaneous charges across multiple payment integrations (Shopify and direct card).

These fixes are live, so new accounts and renewals are no longer affected by these issues. If you are on a legacy billing plan and are unsure whether your setup is at risk, contact our team and we will review your account configuration.



## **💬 Need Help?**

If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type **human teammate** to be connected with a member of our team.