Payment and billing¶

This guide provides an overview of our payment and billing processes.

Payment¶

Transactions are securely processed through Polar, our Merchant of Record payment provider, which supports multiple payment methods to accommodate your organization's preferences:

Credit card (VISA, MasterCard, American Express)
Cash App Pay
US bank account

Our Zensical Spark tiers are billed in US Dollars (USD). If your account uses another currency, the final charge will be converted by your bank or card issuer, which may include a foreign exchange fee. We recommend confirming these details with your financial institution beforehand.

During the subscription process, you'll be prompted to provide billing information necessary for payment processing and account setup.

Troubleshooting payment issues

Should you encounter difficulties during the payment process, we recommend first verifying that your selected payment method is valid and has sufficient authorization for the transaction amount. If the issue persists, attempting an alternative payment method often resolves the problem. Temporary service interruptions with our payment provider may occasionally occur. In such cases, please retry your transaction after a brief delay.

For ongoing payment issues or questions that cannot be resolved through these steps, please contact us at members@zensical.org with a detailed description of the problem. We will work to resolve your issue promptly.

Billing cycle¶

Your billing cycle is established based on your initial subscription date. Your selected payment method will be charged monthly or annually, depending on your chosen billing interval.

While the billing date cannot be modified, you can switch between yearly and monthly payment schedules at any time through your account settings. Payments will be prorated based on the remaining time in your current billing cycle. When switching from annual to monthly billing, the monthly cycle will begin when your current annual period ends.

Taxes¶

VAT / sales tax is not included in the listed prices for our Zensical Spark tiers. The applicable rate, which is determined by your organization's location, will be added to the total amount during checkout to ensure full tax compliance with local regulations.

Payment failures¶

As outlined in our cancellation guide, subscriptions may be automatically suspended if your payment method becomes invalid, such as when a credit card expires or reaches its limit. When a payment fails, you'll receive an email notification from our payment provider with detailed instructions for updating your payment information and reactivating your subscription.

Refunds¶

Refund requests may be submitted within 14 days of the original payment. Once approved, refunds are typically processed within 3-5 business days, after which access to Zensical Spark services for the refunded period will be discontinued.

After the 14-day window, no refunds are available until the end of the current billing period, as our subscription model ensures continuous access once payment is processed. If you are unhappy with our service at any time, we encourage you to contact us – we are always open to discussing your situation and exploring potential solutions on a case-by-case basis.

For any questions or to initiate a refund, please contact us at members@zensical.org. We believe this policy balances flexibility, fairness, and clarity for our valued customers while supporting a sustainable service model.

Invoice management¶

Invoices are automatically generated for all transactions and delivered to the email address provided during checkout. Please make sure to provide complete billing information – business name, billing address, and tax ID – to guarantee accurate invoice generation.

If you need to make adjustments to an invoice or in case an invoice is missing, please don't hesitate to reach out to members@zensical.org.

Discounts¶

Annual billing¶

We provide a 17% discount for annual subscriptions.

Discount codes¶

If you received a discount code from us – such as through our newsletter or special promotions – you may apply it during checkout. Simply enter the code and click Apply.

Switching tiers¶

You can upgrade or downgrade your subscription tier at any time through the customer portal. If you upgrade, the price difference is calculated and billed on a pro-rata basis for the remainder of your current billing cycle.

Vendor registration¶

Organizations requiring vendor registration for procurement processes should select either the Professional or Enterprise tier, which include vendor registration support at no additional cost. Contact us to start the registration process at members@zensical.org.