How Should a Reseller Bill Clients for AI Calls?

Short answer: bill on a prepaid balance. Clients pay you in advance through your own payment account, their usage is deducted at your prices, and automatic top-up refills the balance before it runs dry; add a monthly plan if you want a predictable fee as well. On ThinnestAI we charge your balance our rates as your clients use the service and you keep the difference. If your own balance runs out, every client's calls and campaigns stop until you top up, so keep it funded.

Why prepaid rather than invoicing at month end?

AI calls cost money the moment they happen. If you invoice in arrears, you carry that cost for a month and chase late payers, and one client's outbound campaign can run up a bill bigger than its retainer before you notice. A prepaid balance turns that around: the client funds the work first, and a campaign stops at the balance rather than at a surprise invoice.

What are the building blocks?

• Usage at your price. A markup on our rates for each kind of usage: voice minutes, phone numbers, WhatsApp messages and AI replies.
• Plans. An amount you set on the plans clients can buy from you, for a predictable monthly fee.
• A free trial you size. New clients start on a trial of the size you choose. Their trial usage is charged to you at our rates, so size it to win the client, not to give the service away.
• Automatic top-up. Clients can set their balance to refill itself when it runs low.

How does the money flow?

1. The client pays you through your own payment account: card checkout, or in India your own Indian payment account. The money is yours from that moment.
2. Their balance with you goes up by what they paid.
3. When their agent takes a call or sends a message, the cost at your prices comes off their balance.
4. At the same moment, we charge your balance with us our rates for the same usage.
5. The difference is your margin, already in your account. There is no payout to wait for.

The Clients list shows every client's balance, plan and your earnings, so you can see who is running low and who is worth a call.

What happens when credit runs out?

There are two balances to watch, and they fail differently.

• A client's balance runs out. That client's paid usage stops until they add money. Automatic top-up prevents this; turn it on for any client running campaigns.
• Your balance runs out. Every client's calls and campaigns stop until you top up, whatever their own balances say. You are warned before it happens.

The second is the one that loses clients. Keep enough in your balance to cover your busiest week, and top up before a big client launches a campaign.

Should you include minutes in a plan?

Bundles are easy to sell ("your receptionist, so many minutes a month") but leave you guessing usage. Usage-only pricing tracks cost exactly but makes the monthly bill unpredictable for the client. Many resellers do both: a plan for the service and its management, and usage on top at a price that already includes their margin. Whichever you choose, write down what happens at the limit before the client hits it.

What else should be in your client terms?

• Refunds. Decide your refund policy for unused balance and say it in your terms.
• Taxes and receipts. You are selling to your clients, so you are responsible for invoicing and tax on those sales. Check what your payment account provides.
• Price changes. Give clients notice before you change your rates.
• What stops when. Tell clients, in plain words, that calls and campaigns stop when the balance runs out.

Next step

The agencies page explains white label, and our own rates and plans are on pricing. White label works the same way for resellers in the US, UK, UAE and India.