Forms of Payment
Getting Started
There are a few different ways you can pay for your mailings, as explained in the sections below.
For starters, it is important to remember that LetterStream needs payment in advance. This is for two main reasons; first, we are required to pay the Post Office at the time of mailing, so we are immediately paying the postage fees just as you would be. Second, we are producing the product generally within a few hours of your request. This isn't some old-school manufacturing process, instead, we make your product real time and get your mail sent out very quickly.
Payment Information
Accepted Forms Of Payment
Current payment options include:
Credit and Debit Cards. Card payments are immediate and will be available right away. Accepted cards are:
- MasterCard
- Visa
- AMEX
- Discover
- Virtual credit cards (such as Visa Virtual credit cards)
- PrePaid credit cards (if a refund is required we can only send funds back to the card that was used, so you'll want to keep the prepaid card just in case)
We also accept the following, but these options take longer for your funds to become available:
- Check payments
- Cashiers Checks
- Money Orders
- Bank Wire
- Company Checks
- ACH
Unaccepted Forms Of Payment
We don't currently accept gift cards, Paypal, or any form of Cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin. We also cannot accommodate a direct bank transfer at this time nor are we currently able to offer payment terms.
Additionally, if you use our services to send mail on behalf of your own customers, you will not be able to use their credit cards to pay as that goes against our user agreement. You must use your own credit cards to send mail through your LetterStream account.
How to Pay
Pay with the PrePay option
You can prepay in bulk to keep money on account with us for future mailings.
This option will become available on the Billing Information page (under the My Account tab). This option will only become available once at least one job/mailing has been paid for and mailed out. After that, the PrePay option will become available within your account.
If you use the PrePay option we recommend that you use the Low Balance Alert option, that way you can be automatically notified any time your balance falls below your specified amount. There is a $20 minimum for funding your prepay, so if you're going to send less than that value of mail you might be better off not pre-funding your account. Otherwise, we recommend this option for anyone who will be sending mail consistently. You can request a refund of your available account balance at any time.
Pay As You Go
If you'd like to pay each time you create a mailing, simply continue the job-making process and pay for your job(s) directly within the shopping cart.
To learn more about the Balance Information page, click here.
Important: using a credit card that does not belong to you or your company is against our payment policy. Please do not use someone else's credit card (such as your client's card) as this could prevent your mailings from going out as well as disable the account indefinitely.
Pay by ACH or Wire transfer
ACH and Wire transfers are available for pre-approved companies that spend $5,000 or more in a single transaction. A double-verification process for all ACH and Wire transactions occurs via phone and email.
Most customers who consider paying via ACH or Wire find that using the PrePay option is better, as the funds are added to your account automatically whereas with ACH and Wire, you'll need to be pre-approved and wait for the funds to enter your account.
Pay by Check or Money Order
If you'd like to send us a check or money order, please find our mailing address for payments on the Billing Information page. Additionally, please add a description to the check or money order that includes your LetterStream username. Please allow up to 14 business days for these payments to be applied to your account as there are many variables involved with receiving the payment, primarily that they are going through the mail delivery system which has slowed down in recent years. Therefore, we cannot apply the payment(s) until we've physically received the check or money order. If you cannot wait that long for your payment to be added to your account, we recommend either the "PrePay" option or the "Pay As You Go" option described above.
Minimum and Maximum Payments
There is no maximum payment, but there is a minimum credit card charge of $.50. Within your shopping cart, in the rare event that your total cost reflects less than $.50, our system will not be able to accept payment.
A couple of workarounds to this would be to increase the job cost, add more mailings to your shopping cart, or use the PrePay option and add $20 to your account.