Billing and access questions
A failed payment, a lapsed plan and a refused write: what each one means and the fastest way back.
- Last updated
- 5 minute read
- Troubleshooting
- Billing
Signed keeps working for as long as it can when a plan lapses. Reads carry on, writes pause, and signatures stop being served last. That ordering is deliberate, so you have time to fix a card.
What each state means
| State | What still works |
|---|---|
| Trial | Every Pro feature, for 14 days |
| Active | Everything your plan includes |
| Past due | Everything, while the failed payment is retried. Fix the card now |
| Expired or cancelled | Reads and exports work. Writes pause, and signatures stop being served |
| Suspended | Nothing. Contact support |
Watch out: When signatures stop being served, messages that were already open keep theirs, so for a while it can look like an intermittent problem rather than a switch being thrown.
A payment failed
- Open Billing and choose Manage payment.
- Update the card, including the billing address. Address mismatches are a common reason a card is declined.
- Choose Refresh to pull the new state through straight away.
- If it still shows past due after a few minutes, the bank has not released the payment yet. That clears on its own.
Note: Only an owner can change billing details. If the Billing page looks read-only, you are an admin rather than an owner.
"Changes are paused" or a 402 from the API
That is the intended behaviour when a plan is not active. Reads keep working so you can still get your data out, and writes come back the moment a plan is active.
| Reason | What it means |
|---|---|
subscription_required | Writes are paused because the plan is not active |
upgrade_required | The endpoint needs a feature your plan does not include |
suspended | The organisation is suspended. Contact support |
The bill went up after adding people
Signed is priced per user, so the charge follows the number of active people. An import, a directory sync that brings in new starters or someone switched back on raises it for the rest of the billing period. Removing people or switching them off lowers it.
- Check who is active. Open Users and filter by status. Only active people are billed
- Check the last sync. A directory sync can bring in test or service accounts. Switch off anyone who doesn't need a signature
- Templates and team seats are unlimited on every plan, so they never change the bill
Related articles
- Plans, trials and billingTwo plans priced per user, a 14-day trial of Pro, and what happens when a payment fails.
- Team, roles and invitationsTwo roles, a short invitation flow, and how to make sure you are not the only owner.
- The audit logEvery change, who made it and when, including changes made through the API.
Something here out of date, or a step that did not work? Tell us and we will fix the article. Every page is checked against the running product, so corrections are welcome.