Email, texts & calls
Texting balance and auto-recharge
The prepaid balance that pays for your texts (and the AI receptionist) — top it up, keep it topped up automatically, and what happens at $0 or when a card is declined.
- 2 min read
- Checked against MoveBoard
- For owners & admins
On this page
Texts are paid from a prepaid balance. When it runs out, texting stops until you add money — so most companies switch on auto-recharge.
Find it in Settings › Payments & billing › Balance & usage — Manage prepaid balances for Texting and the AI Receptionist. Services pause when the available balance reaches $0.
The balance
Balances shows what's left. Choose whether Texting and the AI receptionist share one balance or keep separate ones.
At $0 or below a tile turns red: Services paused — Texting is unavailable until funds are added. No text goes out — not from an order, not from a workflow — until the balance is above $0. A text tried in the meantime is held with the texting balance is used up.
Add a card
Card on file — Add Payment Method (or Replace card). The card is used for top-ups and auto-recharge. Remove asks Remove the card? first.
Top up now
- In Top up, pick the Balance to top up.
- Pick $25, $50 or $100, or type an amount from $5 to $5,000.
- Confirm Charge $…?
Auto-recharge
For each balance, switch on Auto-recharge, then set:
- Charge — the amount billed and added each time.
- When the balance is below — the minimum that triggers it.
Press Save in the footer. Auto-recharge keeps a balance from running out: when it drops below the minimum, the card on file is charged once.
When the card is declined
Each declined automatic charge is counted on the card. After 3 declines auto-recharge pauses — Declined 3 times — update the card or top up — and the card stays on file. A successful charge (a manual top-up, or a new card) starts it again. Texts keep going until the balance reaches $0.
Who hears about a low balance: people with the Text balance notification on (managers, finance and admins by default).
What you're spending
This month lists what was used and what it cost; History lists every top-up and charge. Settings › Communication › Text messages shows the month's texts, number rental and forwarding, and its Buy SMS button opens the same auto-charge settings.
If something goes wrong
- Card payments are currently unavailable. — top-ups and auto-recharge can't be set at the moment; try later.
- Amounts outside $5 to $5,000 aren't accepted.
Related guides
- Email, texts & callsTexting registration (A2P 10DLC)Why US carriers require your company to be registered before you can text customers, what MoveBoard does about it, and how to tell where your registration stands.
- Email, texts & callsText a customerSend a text from the order or the Messages page — to one number or several, with pictures and files — and what stops a text from going.
- Email, texts & callsCall forwarding to your numberWhen a customer calls your texting number, ring a phone of your choice — how to switch it on and set the number.
- Email, texts & callsStaff notificationsChoose which of your team hear about what — new leads, bookings, payments, customer replies — and whether by the bell, email or text; one event is one message, never a pile.
Still stuck? A person will help.
Open a ticket from Support inside MoveBoard, or email us — we usually reply within one business day.