💡 What this charge means
A white-label client charge (labeled as "Whitelabel Subscription Increase" or "Child Customers Billing") is billed on your Search Atlas subscription. An amount such as $208.60 is the total for that billing period, calculated from the active child customer accounts on your agency dashboard based on their plans and your agency's white-label plan price percentage (typically 70%). It is not a random fee and does not mean your payment method was charged twice for the same invoice.
Seeing this after months with no extra fee is confusing, but it usually means the billable count or the rate changed for the current cycle, even if you did not intentionally edit a client that day.
📊 Why it can appear after no extra fees
White-label billing is recalculated each cycle from the clients on your account. A charge can start when one of these happens:
- A client became billable. A pending invite may have been accepted, a disabled client may have been reactivated, or a client on a free trial or Free tier may have been assigned an active paid plan.
- A child client was assigned a paid plan. Child accounts on Free or trial plans incur no fee, whereas active child accounts assigned to paid plans (such as Starter, Growth, or Pro) contribute to the white-label subscription increase.
- The plan or rate changed. A plan update, renewal, or price change can make the same client count cost more than it did before.
- Billing caught up to an earlier change. Because white-label subscription adjustments apply without mid-cycle proration, a client added or upgraded during a prior cycle first appears as an updated recurring charge on the next renewal invoice.
- More than one client is included. The invoice total is one line. It can cover several clients rather than one new purchase.
🛠️ How to check the charge
- Open Billing and select the Invoices tab to find the invoice that shows $208.60.
- Note the invoice date, billing period, and the white-label line description.
- Open Agency Whitelabel from the top menu, go to the Customers tab, and review the child customers that were active during that same period.
- Check the plans assigned to your active child clients. Child accounts on the Free plan or on a trial do not incur white-label fees, while active non-affiliate clients on paid plans are billed at your agency's fee percentage.
- Check whether a client was invited, activated, reactivated from disabled status, or upgraded to a paid plan during the period.
- Save the invoice number and a short note of which clients you believe should not have been billed.
If the charges on the invoice match the calculated fee for your active child accounts and their plans, the charge is expected for that cycle. If the billable client accounts or plan tiers listed do not match what you used, the invoice should be reviewed.
🚀 Refunds and account credits
A refund or credit is not applied automatically. Our team can review the invoice against your client history and, when the charge does not match billable clients, issue a refund or an account credit. Keep the disputed invoice unpaid only if your account terms allow it. Otherwise, a review can still result in a credit after payment.
Have this ready before you contact support:
- The invoice number and the exact amount, $208.60.
- The billing period on that invoice.
- The client names you believe were unchanged or should not be billable.
- The approximate date you last changed white-label clients.
⚙️ How to avoid another surprise
- Review active white-label clients before each renewal date.
- Deactivate clients you no longer manage before the next cycle starts.
- Watch for clients that sit above your included allowance.
- Read each invoice line for white-label quantity, rate, and period.
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and send your message. A member of our support team will reply in the chat.