How does the pay-as-you-go pricing work for my handmade goods store?

Your shop’s busy during holidays and slow in the off-season. Chatref’s prepaid wallet aligns costs with how your business actually runs. Train an AI agent on your product descriptions, materials, shipping policies, and custom order FAQs. Embed the website widget on your storefront. Every time a visitor asks about sizing, turnaround times, or materials, the response deducts a few coins. During quiet stretches, your balance stays untouched.

Handmade goods stores often receive the same questions repeatedly – and hiring extra help isn’t always practical. The pay-as-you-go model keeps overhead low. No per‑seat fees, no fixed contract. You decide how much credit to load, and that’s your maximum exposure. As order volume grows, you simply top up. You only ever pay for conversations that actually happen, making it a genuinely cost‑effective way to automate customer support.

Every Chatref account includes unlimited AI agents, the embeddable website widget, custom branding, lead capture, and a shared inbox. You can spin up one agent for product inquiries and another for order tracking without hitting a bot limit or facing a "remove branding" upsell. That’s the pricing model – you pay for usage, not for features. It keeps your store’s chat experience clean, on-brand, and free of surprise add‑ons.

No credit card is needed. Every new account gets $50 in free credit that never expires. You can train your agent on your handmade catalog, drop the widget on your site, and see exactly how many conversations it handles before you ever spend your own money. When the free balance runs low, top up with a prepaid amount that fits your budget. There are no contracts, no automatic billing, and no forced plan upgrades.

Many chatbot platforms lock you into monthly costs regardless of whether customers chat. Chatbase, for example, charges $40–400/month, deletes your training data after 14 days of inactivity, and asks extra for branding removal and additional bots. That’s a rough fit for a handmade store with seasonal swings. Chatref’s pay-as-you-go approach means your AI agent’s knowledge stays intact forever, all features are included, and you only spend when a real visitor asks a question. You get the same 24/7 store support without the subscription overhead.

What are the billing options for my store?
Chatref offers a single, straightforward billing method: pay-as-you-go. You load a prepaid balance and the platform deducts coins for each AI response. There are no monthly subscriptions, no annual contracts, and no hidden setup fees. You can top up as little or as much as you like, whenever you need.

How can I manage costs effectively?
Start with the $50 free credit to gauge real usage before committing any money. Monitor your coin balance from the dashboard and set a personal replenishment reminder if you need one. Because costs are tied directly to customer-chat volume, natural cost control happens automatically during slower periods. This makes it easy to stay within any handmade-goods store budget.

Is there a flexible pricing model available?
Yes. Pay-as-you-go is inherently flexible. There are no minimum spending commitments, and you can adjust your top‑up amount any time based on how busy your store is. If a product launch generates a spike in inquiries, your AI agents simply use more coins that week, then taper back down afterward. You control the balance and the pace.