🔍 Overview
Occasionally, customers notice a charge on their credit card or bank statement that does not match an invoice in the Search Atlas billing section, or they see what appears to be the same amount charged more than once. This article explains the most common causes and the steps you should take to investigate and resolve the issue.
📋 Common Reasons a Charge May Appear Without an Invoice
- Processing delay: Stripe (our payment processor) can process a payment before the corresponding invoice is generated and displayed in your billing dashboard. Wait 15–30 minutes and refresh the billing page.
- Top-up charges bundled into your subscription: Credit top-ups for features such as OTTO SEO projects are sometimes consolidated into a single Stripe subscription line item, which may not create a separate visible invoice immediately.
- Multiple payment methods on file: If your account is connected to both a platform integration (e.g., Shopify) and a direct credit card, charges can appear on both payment methods, creating the appearance of a duplicate.
- Prorated plan changes: Upgrading or downgrading mid-cycle can produce an additional charge that does not correspond to your usual invoice amount.
- Stripe record discrepancy: In rare cases, a technical discrepancy between Stripe records and the Search Atlas billing dashboard can cause a charge to appear without a matching invoice.
🛠️ Steps to Investigate a Missing or Duplicate Charge
- Check your billing section: Navigate to your top-right avatar (Account Menu) → Billing inside Search Atlas. Review all invoices and ensure you are looking at the correct date range. Look for any line items that include top-ups or add-ons bundled with your subscription.
- Note the exact charge details: Record the date, amount, and last four digits of the card charged. This will help our team locate the transaction in Stripe quickly.
- Check all connected payment methods: If you use a Shopify integration or have more than one card on file, verify whether the charge appears on multiple payment sources. This is a known cause of apparent duplicate billing.
- Review your plan and add-on history: Confirm whether a plan upgrade, downgrade, or credit top-up was initiated around the charge date. These actions can trigger additional charges that are legitimate but unexpected.
- Wait and refresh: If an invoice is missing but the charge is recent (within the last hour), wait 30 minutes and reload the billing page before escalating.
- Contact support if the issue persists: If you have completed the steps above and still cannot account for the charge, reach out to our team immediately using the instructions below.
💡 What Information to Have Ready Before Contacting Support
To help our team investigate as quickly as possible, please gather the following before starting a chat:
- The exact charge amount (e.g., $220.01)
- The date the charge appeared on your statement
- The last four digits of the card or the payment method that was charged
- Whether the charge appears once or more than once on your statement
- Any plan changes, top-up purchases, or add-ons made around the same date
🔒 How Duplicate Charges Are Resolved
When a genuine duplicate charge is confirmed by our billing team, a full refund for the duplicate amount is issued to your original payment method. Refunds typically appear within 5–10 business days depending on your bank or card issuer. Our team will send confirmation once the refund has been processed on our end.
🤝 Still 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.