Cut-Off Process
Cut-Off Process
This guideline is the explanation of the cut-off process that will be carried out to meet the monthly usage costs. We'll also explain how the cut-off process affects your account’s status. Read more in the following guideline.
What is the Cut-Off Process?
The cut-off process is deducting the balance of the registered Sequence account to pay the monthly usage. This process is run automatically every 28th of the month, starting at 00:00 UTC.
Our system will check the balance you have and send a reminder to top up the balance if it is found that the balance is less than the usage fee, subscription fee, and 11% tax. If the balance is sufficient, the system will run the cut-off process and your account status will remain active
After the cut-off process is successful, you will receive an invoice via email containing your payment status and your team's status (active, suspended, or deactivated). We also attach an invoice file with a .pdf extension containing details of the services cost in your team for the past month.
If the user adds a new keyword during the cut-off process, the bill will be added to the following month's usage fee. The usage fee starts from the time of the last cut-off until the next D-1 cut-off (until 23:59 on the 24th of the following month) according to the time zone set on each team the user belongs to.
If the user deletes the tracked keyword, the keyword will be added in the recycle bin and this does not reduce the current month's usage fee. However, if the user deletes a keyword less than 30 minutes before the cut-off (above 23.30 in the time zone set by the team owner) until the cut-off begins, the system will delete the keyword permanently.
Consequences of the Cut-Off Process on Account Status
The concern in this process is the account status before the cut-off process takes place. If you do not have a sufficient balance for usage fees and renewal of subscription packages, then your account status may be affected. In this guide, you will find out how the cut-off process affects account status in Sequence.
Account Status “Active”
If the account status before the cut-off process is active, then the owner and all team members can use all services in Sequence starting from Rank Tracker (adding domains and keywords), Page Audits, and Keyword Research. All team members can access the latest data until the next cut-off period.
If your account status is active, all members of the team can take action according to their respective roles. We have provided a guideline containing the division of roles and user access rights which will help you to know the Team Management System in Sequence.
If your account status is active, but the system detects that the balance you have is less than the billing fee (usage fee, subscription fee, and 11% VAT) for the next cut-off period, the system will send a weekly reminder so that you top-up to prevent account status changes to 'suspended'.
Weekly reminders will stop if the balance is sufficient or exceeds the usage fee, subscription fee, and 11% VAT for the next cut-off process. If your balance is still insufficient, learn more about the top-up process here.
Account Status “Suspended”
Account status will be suspended if the balance you have is insufficient for usage fees, subscription fees, and 11% VAT in the cut-off process. If this happens to your account, then you will still be able to view the tracking data until the last cut-off. However, you do not have access to view the latest keyword tracking data.
As long as the account status is suspended, you cannot access Rank Tracker services (add domains and keywords), Page Audits, and Keyword Research. Our system will continue to crawl on the keywords added, but the data is not displayed temporarily until your account status is reactivated.
In addition, when the team owner's account status is "Suspended", the entire team owned will also be suspended. In a team, the team owner is characterized by the “owner” role. If you are a team owner and the account status is “suspended”, then your team cannot use the Sequence service until the account and team status is reactivated.
You must immediately top up the balance of a number of usage fees in order to access the latest data. If you don't top up for two consecutive cut-offs, then you should be ready for account deactivation.
For example, in the cut-off period of January 28, 2022, your previous account status was still active but the balance was insufficient so the account status after the cut-off changed to suspended. If the next cut-off period is February 28, 2022, and you still haven't made a top-up, then your account previously suspended status will change to deactivated. The explanation regarding the status of the deactivated team will be discussed next.
Account Status “Deactivated”
Account status will be deactivated if your account status before the cut-off was suspended and your balance was insufficient to pay bills, subscription fees, and 11% VAT in the last cut-off process. If the account status is deactivated, you cannot access all data and services in Sequence. Users will only see a page that displays a deactivation message.
If you experience this, please contact the Sequence team to reactivate your Sequence account. The account status will remain deactivated if the balance you have is insufficient for the unpaid bill (including usage fees, subscription fees, and 11 percent VAT). Even if you have sufficient balance, the cut-off process will not be executed automatically until you contact the Sequence team.
That is an explanation regarding the cut-off process and its effect on team status. Make regular balance additions so that you avoid the possibility of team suspension by Sequence. If you don't understand how to top up your balance, please read the following guide we provide: How to Top Up your Balance.