💳 White-Label Billing, Ownership Transfer & Downgrades

💡 Overview

This article addresses the most common questions around white-label billing charges, removing white-label add-ons, transferring account ownership, and downgrading your plan — all without creating duplicate subscriptions or losing access to your data.

💰 Why Your Bill Is Higher Than Expected

If you are on the PRO plan ($399/mo) but are being charged $537.60/mo, the difference is almost certainly caused by an active White-Label add-on attached to your account. This add-on is billed separately on top of your base plan and continues to renew automatically until it is explicitly removed.

Common reasons the add-on remains active:

• The white-label configuration was set up by a previous account owner and was never cancelled.
• Downgrading your plan does not automatically deactivate the white-label add-on (a platform improvement for this is currently in progress).
• White-label child accounts linked to your agency hub can prevent clean removal if they are not deactivated first.

🛠️ How to Remove the White-Label Add-On

Before the add-on can be removed, any active white-label child accounts must be deactivated. Follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Search Atlas account.
2. Navigate to your Agency Hub and open the Customer Management section.
3. Deactivate or remove each white-label child account listed. If a child account appears un-deletable, do not proceed alone — contact support via the chat widget (see below).
4. Once all child accounts are cleared, go to Settings → Billing and locate the White-Label add-on under your active subscriptions.
5. Select Remove Add-On and confirm the cancellation.

Important: Complete this process before your next renewal date to avoid being charged for another billing cycle.

🔄 How to Transfer Account Ownership (Login Email & Stripe Billing)

If your account was originally created by a previous owner and you need to transfer both the login credentials and Stripe billing ownership to a new email address, this cannot be done entirely from the self-serve settings. Here is what you can do and what requires support:

• Team Members: You can manage team access by going to your avatar in the top-right corner → Team Members (or navigate directly to /settings). Add the new owner as an admin here as an immediate step.
• Login email change: Go to Settings → Account to update the primary login email if you have current access to the account.
• Stripe billing email transfer: This requires backend verification to protect billing security. Contact support using the chat widget to have a teammate update the Stripe customer record to reflect the new owner's email.

Note: A feature to fully convert a white-label child account into an independent parent account is currently under review and is not yet available in self-serve.

📉 How to Downgrade from PRO to Growth Without a Second Subscription

You can downgrade your plan without triggering a second subscription by following the correct sequence below. Do not attempt to purchase a new Growth plan before cancelling PRO — this will create a duplicate subscription.

1. Log in and go to Settings → Billing.
2. Review your current plan and confirm the renewal date (e.g., September 26).
3. Remove the White-Label add-on first (see steps above) — leaving it active during a downgrade can cause it to persist on the new plan.
4. Select Change Plan and choose the Growth plan from the options presented.
5. Confirm the downgrade. Your PRO plan will remain active until the end of the current billing period, and Growth will begin at renewal.

If the downgrade confirmation appears successful but your plan does not update in the Customer Tab or account dashboard, this is a known display issue. Do not attempt to resubscribe. Contact support to confirm the change was applied correctly on the backend.

⏰ Acting Before Your Renewal Date

If your renewal is approaching (for example, September 26), prioritise these actions in order to avoid being charged for another full cycle at the higher rate:

1. Deactivate white-label child accounts.
2. Remove the White-Label add-on from billing.
3. Initiate the plan downgrade to Growth.
4. Confirm ownership transfer details with support if needed.

Changes made after the renewal date will take effect in the following billing cycle and charges already processed cannot be automatically reversed — acting early gives you the best outcome.

🙋 Still Need Help?

If you encounter an un-deletable child account, a billing discrepancy that persists after removing the add-on, or any issue completing the ownership transfer, our team can resolve these directly. 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.