How Credits Work

Credits are what you spend to run analyses. Your plan covers a set number of analyses each month, and you can buy extra Credits any time. Running something new uses Credits; looking back at work you have already done never does.

Each plan has its own monthly Credit allowance:

• Platinum, run your brand with the basics.
• Diamond, everything in Platinum, plus room to work.
• Scale, for agencies, large sellers and high-volume research.
• Enterprise, a custom option for tailored needs.

Every plan gives you all features. The only difference between plans is how many Credits you get each month.

Two things sit in your account, and they behave differently:

• Your monthly allowance, included with your plan. It is the level of use your plan covers for the month. It resets on your renewal date and unused Credits don't carry over. You're paying for access at that level of use, not buying a stock of Credits.
• Your Credit balance, Referral Credits you have earned, and Top-up Credits you have bought. These never expire while your account is active, and are never reset. Your account stays active for as long as it exists and hasn't been deleted, cancelling your plan, or dropping back to the free version after an unpaid renewal, doesn't change that.

Keeping them separate means the Credits you paid for on top are always protected.

Uses Credits today:

• Niche Discovery
• Viability
• Profitability
• Deep Dive
• Variation Analysis
• HTS Code finding
• Blueprint regeneration
• Skua agent messages
• CSV upload

Free today:

• Calculator+
• Editing numbers in Profitability
• Viewing past work: Recent Searches, saved analyses, history, and any scores or data you have already generated

In short: bringing new data in or creating something new costs Credits; looking at what you already have doesn't.

New features

We're always building. Some new features will use Credits, others will be free, we'll tell you which before you use them, and the app always shows the exact cost of anything before you run it.

Features labelled beta are ones you can try early, before they're finished. They may be rough, may change, and may disappear. We'll always say when something is in beta, and if a beta feature fails we return any Credits it used.

Adding a new feature never reduces your allowance or changes what you already have.

If we ever need to make something that's currently free start using Credits, that's a different thing: we'll tell you at least 30 days beforehand, it won't take effect in the middle of a period you've paid for, and if it meaningfully reduces what you get from SKUASCOUT you can terminate free of charge within 30 days, and we return everything you have paid in advance for the rest of your term, see Terms §8.

Optional add-ons

Some analyses have optional extras. They're all on by default, and you can switch any of them off before you run, the cost drops accordingly.

Inside Profitability:

• Find Suppliers, matches your product to suppliers and estimates sourcing cost
• HTS & Tariff research, identifies the HTS code and duty rate automatically

Inside Deep Dive:

• Patent & Compliance research, surfaces potentially relevant patents and the regulatory standards that may apply. Switch it off and you still get the competitor analysis, review mining, SWOT and verdict

Find Suppliers accounts for 15 credits of a Profitability run, HTS & Tariff research for 5, and Patent & Compliance research for 10 of a Deep Dive. Switch any off and the run costs that much less. Before you confirm, the app shows the total and how it breaks down, so you can see exactly what each part adds. If you'd rather set the tariff yourself, uncheck the HTS research and enter it manually.

HTS Code finding is also available as a standalone tool. Find Suppliers currently runs only inside Profitability.

What each analysis costs

Most analyses cost a fixed number of Credits. The few that vary do so with what you choose before the run: an optional extra left switched on, or how many listings you ask us to look at. Never with the size of your catalogue. Our Pricing page shows the figure for each type, and the range where there is one, so you know what your allowance buys before you subscribe.

Before you run anything, the app shows you the exact cost of that specific action. You are never charged for something you haven't confirmed.

If those costs change

Our own costs move, AI providers, data sources, Amazon's platform. If we need to increase what an analysis costs, we'll tell you at least 30 days beforehand by email.

An increase never applies in the middle of a period you've already paid for. On an annual plan that means your whole twelve-month term. It never affects Credits already in your balance, your plan's allowance, or an analysis you've already run.

If an increase meaningfully reduces what you get, you can terminate free of charge within 30 days, and we return everything you have paid in advance for the rest of your term, see Terms §8.

If an analysis needs more Credits than you have, you won't be able to start it, but you can buy a Top-up pack or upgrade. Nothing runs and nothing is charged unless you choose it. You'll never be surprised by an extra charge at the end of your cycle.

Credits are spent in order of expiry: whichever expire soonest are used first.

• Credits with an expiry date are used first: your monthly allowance, and your free signup grant while it lasts. Among these, the soonest to expire goes first.
• Credits with no expiry date are used after those: Referral Credits, then Top-up Credits, oldest purchase first.

That way the Credits you paid for are always used last.

Your allowance follows a use-it-or-lose-it rule: whatever's left resets to your plan's monthly amount on each renewal date. Referral and Top-up Credits are never reset.

All renewal and reset dates are shown in your local time zone.

• If the problem is on our side, a data source is down, a timeout, a server error, we return the Credits.
• If the problem is with your input, we check inputs before spending anything, so most of these are caught before you're charged. Where an analysis genuinely runs and only then hits a problem with the data supplied, the Credits are used and you get a clear error explaining what went wrong.
• If you cancel an analysis after it has started, the Credits are returned, as long as there was a live run to interrupt.

You can buy extra Credits any time, on any plan. Top-up packs come in three sizes, and a bigger pack costs less per Credit. Each pack has one flat rate for the whole pack; the rate does not change part-way through. Every pack, its price and its rate are shown on the Pricing page.

Top-up is always available, never counts as a plan change, and Top-up Credits never expire. They stay in your account, including after a cancellation or an unpaid renewal.

You can also buy a Top-up during a payment retry period, one way to keep working while you sort out your card.

Upgrading

Upgrades happen immediately. When you upgrade:

• You're charged the difference between the two plans for the rest of the current period, right away. Not the full price of the new plan: you have already paid for the days you have used.
• You immediately receive the new plan's full monthly allowance.
• Any allowance Credits you had left are added on top of the new allocation.
• Your billing date does not move. If you were billed on the 1st, you are still billed on the 1st, and your Credits still reset then.

Everything stays on the reset date you already had. If you were on Platinum from July 1 and upgrade to Diamond on July 10, you pay the difference for July 10 to August 1, you get Diamond's full allowance immediately, and your leftover Platinum allowance Credits are added on top and run to the end of the period. On August 1 your next Diamond allowance arrives, as it always would have. Top-up and Referral Credits are separate and are never part of a reset.

Downgrading

Downgrades take effect at your next renewal, not immediately. Until then you stay on your current plan and keep everything you have. At renewal you're charged the new, lower price and your allowance resets to the smaller amount.

The one-change rule

You can make one plan change per billing period, a change of tier, or of billing frequency. On an annual plan that means one change per credit month, counted from your billing date, not one for the whole year.

This keeps billing dates, allowances and proration predictable.

These never count as a plan change:

• Cancelling your subscription
• Buying Top-up Credits
• Cancelling a scheduled downgrade before it takes effect
• Billing events, a failed payment, a late-but-successful payment, automatic retries

Neither do these. If we announce a price increase, a change to Credit costs, or a material change to the Service, any change you make in response doesn't count against your one change. Nor does exercising your right of withdrawal under Terms §7, or your right to leave under Terms §8 when something is wrong or we change the Service to your detriment.

Changed your mind about a downgrade?

Cancel it any time before it takes effect. Since the change never happened, it doesn't use up your one allowed change.

Nothing changes right away. You keep your allowance until the end of the period you've paid for. After that the subscription expires and its monthly Credits go with it.

Your Referral and Top-up Credits stay in your account, because those never expire.

Nothing happens abruptly. You enter a 7-day retry period, during which our payment processor retries automatically and we email you to update your method.

During that time:

• Your monthly allowance resets on the original renewal date as usual, so until payment goes through you won't have allowance Credits for the new cycle.
• Your Referral and Top-up Credits stay active.
• You keep full access to your account. We don't lock you out, you just can't run new analyses unless you have Credits in your balance.

Once payment succeeds you receive your new allowance. If your Subscription is continuing, your billing date also shifts to the day the payment went through: if renewal was due on the 10th and payment succeeds on the 14th, future renewals land on the 14th, so you don't lose days over a payment hiccup. We never move it in a way that would shorten the period you have already paid for. If you had already asked us to cancel, the date stays where it is, the period you have paid for runs to its original end, and nothing renews after it.

If payment doesn't succeed within 7 days, your subscription ends and your account reverts to the free version, you keep your access and any Credits in your balance, and can resubscribe any time.

During the retry period you can't upgrade or downgrade, update your payment method first. Cancellations and Top-ups remain available.

New accounts start with 250 free Credits, no card required. They work like any other Credits. If you signed up through someone's referral link, you get 250 bonus Credits on top, 500 in total, double the standard grant. See the Referral Program Terms.

They're valid for your first 30 days after registering, running on UTC from the moment you sign up. Anything unused expires. To keep going after that, pick a plan or buy a Top-up.

We never ask for a card and never charge you at the end of the trial. If you buy Top-up packs during the trial, those Credits stay in your account afterwards.

Annual plans use exactly the same Credit logic: Credits are allocated every month and reset every month, use-it-or-lose-it. The differences are price (annual is cheaper) and how you pay (once a year, upfront).

On an annual plan, Credits refresh on the same day of each month as your original subscription date. Subscribe on July 15 and your Credits reset on the 15th of every month.

If you subscribed on a day that doesn't exist in a given month, the 29th, 30th or 31st, your Credits reset on the last day of that month instead, then go back to your usual date the following month. Subscribe on January 31 and your February reset falls on the 28th, with March back on the 31st.

Switching from monthly to annual

Works like an upgrade, immediately. You're charged the full annual price upfront. If the switch also changes your tier, the new tier applies straight away.

Leftover monthly Credits merge into your first month's annual allowance. Your annual cycle starts on the switch date: next renewal 12 months later, monthly reset on that same day each month.

Switching from annual to monthly

Works like a downgrade, at the end of your paid annual period. You keep your annual plan and all its benefits until then. There's no refund for unused months.

Upgrading within an annual plan

Instead of paying the full new price, you pay only the prorated difference for the time left in your term, roughly (new plan per month minus old plan per month) times the months remaining.

Example: Diamond annual at $79.99/month, Scale annual at $159.99/month. You're 3 months in, so 9 months remain.

• Scale for those 9 months: $1,439.91
• You've already paid for them as Diamond: $719.91
• You pay the difference: $720.00

The example uses whole months to keep the arithmetic readable. The amount you are actually charged is prorated to the moment you upgrade, so if you are part-way through a month it will be a little lower than the figure above.

Your allowance switches to Scale for the rest of the term. Leftover Diamond Credits are added on top of the new Scale allowance, which arrives immediately.

Unlike a monthly upgrade, your annual renewal date stays where it is.

Upgrading in the last month: the charge is prorated to the moment you upgrade, so with 5 days left you pay about a sixth of a full month's difference. If you'd rather start the new plan on a fresh period, wait and upgrade at renewal instead.

Stripe calculates the exact amount and we always show it before you confirm.

Downgrading within an annual plan

Takes effect at the end of your current annual period. You keep everything until then.

Automatic annual renewal

Your plan renews automatically for another 12 months at the same price, unless we tell you otherwise at least 30 days beforehand. We'll email you 30 days before renewal with the date and the exact amount.

You can turn renewal off any time in your account settings, in no more steps than it took to subscribe.

If an annual payment fails

Same as monthly: a 7-day retry period, automatic retries, and your Referral and Top-up Credits stay available throughout.

If you refer someone new to SKUASCOUT and they subscribe using your link, you earn 500 Referral Credits straight away and can use them immediately. Someone who has had an account with us before doesn't count as a new referral, even if they deleted it and signed up again. They're provisional for 14 days, if the person you referred changes their mind and withdraws in that window, we remove them again. We only ever take Credits from your Referral balance, never from your allowance or from Credits you paid for.

Referral Credits aren't refundable and have no cash value.

Referral Credits are their own balance. They don't expire while your account is active, and they're spent after your monthly allowance but before any Credits you paid for. Because you didn't pay for them, they aren't part of any refund.

Reward amounts, who qualifies, monthly limits and the fair-use rules are in our Referral Program Terms.

A failed payment or a cancellation never costs you access. You can still log in, view previous analyses, browse your scores and data, and use any Referral or Top-up Credits you have.

The only time we close an account you haven't asked us to close is if you stop using SKUASCOUT entirely, after 24 months without a sign-in, and only after emailing you 30 days beforehand. Signing in is enough to keep it open.

Your 14-day right to change your mind, how refunds are calculated, and what happens afterwards are all in Terms of Service §7.

The short version:

• First 14 days, you can withdraw and get your money back, less the Credits you actually used.
• After 14 days, your plan runs to the end of its term. Annual plans aren't refunded partway through, but you keep full access until the term ends.
• If something's wrong with the Service, or we change it to your detriment, you can leave and we return the part of the price you paid for the rest of your term, Terms §8.

You can delete your account any time from settings.

You have 30 days to change your mind. During that window your account and any unused Referral and Top-up Credits can be restored. After 30 days, deletion is permanent and unused Credits are lost. We'll show you your balance before you confirm.

If you stop using SKUASCOUT entirely. If you don't sign in for 24 months we may close your account. We'll email you at least 30 days before that happens, and signing in is enough to keep it open. If it is closed, the same 30-day recovery window applies.

Deleting your account is different from asking us to erase your personal data. How we handle personal data, retention and your rights under GDPR is in our Privacy Policy.

Enterprise offers a custom Credit allotment with volume pricing and dedicated support, under a separate agreement. Contact us if you need higher limits or a tailored arrangement.

• Allowance vs balance: your monthly allowance resets each period; Referral and Top-up Credits never expire.
• Spending order: whatever expires soonest goes first; among Credits that share an expiry, allowance, then Referral, then the Credits you paid for, which are always last.
• Monthly reset: unused allowance Credits don't carry over.
• Costs shown up front, every type's cost on the Pricing page before you subscribe, exact cost before every run. 30 days' notice of any increase, or if a free feature starts using Credits.
• New features may be free or may use Credits; we say which before you use them, and adding one never reduces your allowance.
• No surprise charges, never charged for anything you didn't confirm.
• Failed analyses: returned if the fault is ours; charged if the analysis ran and your input was the problem; returned if you cancel a run in progress.
• Upgrades (monthly) are immediate, you pay the prorated difference now, get the full new allowance, keep leftover Credits on top, and your billing date stays where it is.
• Downgrades take effect at next renewal.
• Annual upgrades are prorated for the time remaining in your term; the annual renewal date stays put.
• One change per period, one tier or billing-frequency change, counted per credit month on annual plans too. Cancellations, Top-ups, reversing a downgrade, billing events, and anything you do in response to a change we made don't count.
• Free trial: 250 Credits (500 if you signed up through a referral link), no card, 30 days, never converts to a paid plan.
• Cancelling keeps your access and allowance to the end of the paid period; Referral and Top-up Credits remain afterwards.
• Failed payments: 7-day retry, access never blocked.
• Account deletion: 30 days to recover, then permanent.