Billing Guide

How Billing Works

Billing periods, renewal dates, plan changes, payment methods, cancellation, and refunds — exactly how each one behaves.

Billing periods Renewals & reminders Late or missed payments Reactivating a suspended service Upgrades & downgrades Switching payment method Cancelling a service Refunds Invoices & receipts Billing page & account credit

📅 Billing periods

You pick a billing period at checkout: monthly, semi-annual (6 months, 10% off), or yearly (12 months, 15% off). The discount applies to the whole term — a $10/month plan is $54 for 6 months or $102 for a year — and the full term is paid up front, not month by month. Every price on the site is in Canadian dollars, and there are no setup fees.

Note: The billing period itself can't be changed from the portal after signup — you can change your plan and your payment method yourself, but moving an existing service from monthly to yearly (or the reverse) needs us to do it. Contact us and we'll sort it out.

🔔 Renewals & reminders

Your service renews on the renewal date shown on its page in the portal. Three days before that date, we email you a reminder — what that reminder contains depends on how you pay:

Stripe (card): the reminder is informational only — your card is charged automatically on the renewal date, nothing is needed from you.
PayPal: also automatic — PayPal charges the subscription on the renewal date, and the reminder is just a heads-up.
Interac e-Transfer: nothing is automatic, so the reminder includes the exact amount, the recipient address, and a security-question message you must copy exactly. The request stays valid for 72 hours.
Cryptocurrency: also not automatic — the reminder includes a payment page (or an address and crypto amount) for the currency you chose. A crypto quote only holds for 24 hours because exchange rates move, so if yours lapses before you pay, ask us for fresh details rather than sending against an outdated amount.

Tip: Paying a day or two late doesn't cost you time. A renewal payment always extends your service from your existing renewal date, not from the day the payment lands — so your dates never drift earlier over time.

⚠️ Late or missed payments

Nothing happens the moment a payment is late — there's a full week of grace before anything is turned off, and your service keeps running normally the whole time. Here's the actual timeline:

Days 1–6 overdue: your service stays fully online. You get a daily email telling you the amount due and how many days remain before suspension — and you don't have to wait for the deadline to act: from the first day it's overdue, your service page already shows the same payment options it would after a suspension. On Stripe that's a "Pay Now" button that retries your card on file; on Interac e-Transfer or cryptocurrency it's a button that generates fresh, currently valid payment details. (PayPal retries its own subscription automatically, so there's no button to press.)
Day 7 overdue: the service is suspended. What that means depends on the type — a VPS is powered off, a Minecraft or FiveM server is stopped, WordPress sites stop serving, and email domains stop accepting mail. Nothing is deleted at this stage.
Days 7–37 (30 days of suspension): everything is still on disk exactly as you left it. Paying the outstanding amount at any point here brings the service straight back — if you pay by Interac e-Transfer or cryptocurrency, generate fresh payment details yourself from the service page first, since the ones you were originally sent have expired by now.
After 30 days suspended: the service is terminated permanently and its data is deleted.

Warning: Termination after 30 days of suspension is permanent — the virtual machine, container, site, or mailboxes are destroyed and there is no backup to restore from afterwards. If you know a payment is going to be late, contact us before the deadline instead of letting the clock run; we can extend the deadline on your account, but only while the service still exists.

🔄 Reactivating a suspended service

A suspended service comes back on its own as soon as the outstanding payment is received — the VPS is powered back on, the game server restarts, sites and mailboxes are re-enabled, and no ticket is needed. If you pay by Interac e-Transfer or cryptocurrency, open the service page and press "Get payment instructions": that generates a fresh, currently valid request — the amount plus the Interac message phrase, or the crypto address, amount and payment page — shows it right on the page and emails you a copy. Do not reuse the details from your original renewal reminder; those expire well before suspension, so a new set is always needed. If you pay by card through Stripe, your service page shows a "Pay Now" button that immediately retries the outstanding invoice against the card already on file, plus an "Update Payment Method" button that opens Stripe's secure billing portal for when the card itself is the problem; PayPal customers get a "Reactivate service" button that restarts the subscription directly.

Note: Reactivation restores the service exactly as it was — same IP address, same server data, same plan. You're not charged a new setup or reconnection fee; you only owe the payment that was already due.

Note: This only applies to a suspension for a missed payment. A service suspended by our team for another reason (for example an Acceptable Use Policy issue) can't be reactivated by paying — its page shows no payment buttons. Contact us to resolve it.

📈 Upgrades & downgrades

VPS, Minecraft, FiveM, and WordPress plans can be changed yourself from the Change Plan card on the service page in your portal (under the Billing tab for VPS, Minecraft, FiveM, and WordPress) — no ticket required. Email plan changes aren't self-service yet, so contact us and we'll move you.

An upgrade takes effect as soon as the prorated difference is paid. Proration is the price gap between the two plans, multiplied by how much of your current billing period is left — so upgrading halfway through a month costs about half the monthly difference, and your renewal date doesn't move. How that amount is collected depends on your payment method:

Stripe: the prorated amount is charged to your card immediately and the new resources are applied right away.
PayPal: you're sent to PayPal twice — once to approve the one-time prorated payment, then once more to approve the new recurring price. The upgrade applies after both.
Interac e-Transfer: you get an email with an amount and a message phrase to send. The upgrade applies automatically once that transfer is received — not before.
Cryptocurrency: same as Interac — you get payment details for your chosen currency, and the upgrade applies once the payment confirms on-chain.

A downgrade is never charged and never refunded. It's scheduled to take effect on your next renewal date, you keep the current plan's resources until then, and the lower price starts from that date. On Stripe, Interac e-Transfer, and cryptocurrency you can cancel a scheduled downgrade yourself at any point before it applies, straight from the same card in the portal. PayPal works differently: scheduling the downgrade requires approving the new recurring price on PayPal first, and once you have approved it the portal can no longer undo it on its own — contact us and we will revert it for you.

WordPress extra storage ($1/GB/month) and additional email mailboxes ($1/mailbox/month) work differently from a plan change: on Stripe, Interac e-Transfer, and cryptocurrency the new quota is applied immediately with nothing charged today, and the higher recurring amount simply starts on your next billing cycle. On PayPal there is one extra step — you are redirected to PayPal to approve the new recurring amount, and the quota only takes effect once you have approved it (still with nothing charged today). Add-ons follow the same discount as your billing period.

Warning: Two limits worth knowing before you plan a change. VPS plans are upgrade-only — a virtual disk can't be shrunk, so there's no VPS downgrade path at all (SSD to NVMe is allowed as an upgrade if the new disk is the same size or larger), and applying new CPU/RAM needs a short reboot. WordPress downgrades are refused if your site is currently using more disk than the smaller plan's quota allows, so free up space first.

🔁 Switching payment method

You can move an existing service between Stripe, PayPal, Interac e-Transfer, and cryptocurrency yourself, from the Payment row on its service page. Your renewal date is preserved exactly and the switch itself never charges you — the new method simply takes over from your existing renewal date. How long it takes depends on where you're switching to:

To Interac e-Transfer: instant. Pick it, tick the confirmation, submit — done in one step.
To cryptocurrency: also instant. Pick your currency (Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, or USDC) at the same time.
To Stripe: a short card step. A card form opens so we can store your card with Stripe — it is authorized, not charged, and the first real charge happens on your existing renewal date.
To PayPal: a short approval step. You're redirected to PayPal to approve a new subscription that's set to start on your existing renewal date, so nothing is charged when you approve it.

Note: A few situations block the switch, and the portal simply won't offer the option: the service has to be active (not suspended or cancelled), it can't have a plan change already scheduled, and Stripe and PayPal aren't offered once your renewal date has already passed. Switching to Stripe is also unavailable while a WordPress storage, extra-mailbox, or VPS backup add-on is active on the service.

Tip: Switching voids any payment instructions from your old method — an unpaid Interac phrase or crypto invoice from before the switch is no longer valid, so don't pay it. If your renewal happens to be very close, fresh instructions for the new method are emailed to you right away; otherwise they arrive with the usual reminder three days before renewal.

🛑 Cancelling a service

Cancelling stops all future payments right away, but doesn't cut the service off: it stays fully usable until the end of the period you've already paid for, and its status shows Active until that date. You can cancel from your service page (the Cancel Subscription card — under the Billing tab for VPS, Minecraft, FiveM, WordPress, and Email). If the subscription is cancelled on your payment provider's side instead — for example from the automatic payments settings of your PayPal account — the service is handled the same way. On the end date, the service is torn down automatically and completely: a VPS is destroyed along with its disks and its backups, and its IP is released afterwards; a Minecraft server is deleted along with its world and files; a FiveM server is deleted along with its files and its database; WordPress sites are removed with their files and databases; and email domains are removed with every mailbox on them.

Until the end date, the service works exactly as before: you can still start, stop and restart your server, reinstall or restore it, use SFTP, and keep managing your WordPress sites and your email domains, mailboxes and aliases. Only purchases stop — plan changes, add-ons and payment-method switches aren't offered on a cancelled service.

Warning: There is no recovery window after that teardown runs and we keep no copy of your data afterwards. Download anything you want to keep before your paid period ends — Minecraft world downloads, database dumps, site files, and mail all have to come off the service while it's still running.

Note: Changed your mind before the end date? Use the Keep my service button on the “Keep your service” card at the top of the service page — it works whether you cancelled in the portal or with your payment provider. Interac e-Transfer and cryptocurrency services simply go back on their usual renewal schedule. On Stripe, your subscription is resumed (or recreated with the card already on file) — no new card step, and nothing is charged today. On PayPal, the button reads Keep my service — approve on PayPal: you approve a new subscription there; nothing is charged today and your first payment is on your renewal date, as before.

Note: The card isn't shown when the cancellation was made by our team, when the service was suspended at the time, when a plan change is still pending on Stripe or PayPal, when a Stripe service has an add-on, or in the last few hours before the end date on PayPal. In those cases, contact us before the end date and we'll see what can be restored.

💳 Refunds

Once a service is provisioned and active, payments are non-refundable except for SLA credits or a genuine billing error — see our refund policy for the full terms. There's no refund button in the portal; if you believe you qualify, email [email protected] with what happened. An approved refund can come back either to your original payment method or as account credit on your NordServ account — credit shows on your Billing page and is applied automatically to your next renewal, except on PayPal, where it has to be applied manually (email [email protected] and we'll take care of it). Downgrades never generate a refund or a credit for unused time on your old plan.

Warning: A refunded service is torn down promptly rather than kept until the end of the period, since the money for that period has been returned. Take a backup of anything you still need before asking for a refund, not after.

🧾 Invoices & receipts

Every payment is recorded in your portal. The Invoices page lists them all with a PDF for each one and a CSV export of the full history, and each service page has its own Payment History card (under the Billing tab for VPS, Minecraft, FiveM, WordPress, and Email) showing the date, amount, type, and transaction reference for that service alone.

💰 Billing page & account credit

The Billing page in your portal is the one place that answers "what do I owe, on what, and when". It lists every service with its amount, renewal date, and status — anything overdue is flagged with how many days it's been overdue and a "View & Pay" link straight to that service's payment options.

The same page shows your account credit balance and the history behind it. Credit can come from a refund issued as credit, an overpayment, or a goodwill adjustment on our side, and you don't have to redeem it — it's applied automatically against your next renewal, reducing what you owe for that cycle. The one exception is PayPal: PayPal's API can't alter a cycle's amount, so email [email protected] and we'll apply it for you.

Still have a billing question? Check the FAQ or contact us — we'll answer directly.

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