Platform Charges
Platform charges are amounts your shop owes TimberCloud for platform services you use — most commonly booking a shipment. They are billed to the card on file for your TimberCloud subscription and are completely separate from the payments your customers make for their orders.
This page explains what platform charges are, the types you might see, when they're charged, what each status means, and where to find them. If you're looking for how customer payments work (invoices, Stripe checkout, refunds), see Order Payments instead.
In one sentence: customer payments flow into your own Stripe account; platform charges flow out of your card to pay TimberCloud for services like shipping labels.
Platform charges vs. customer payments
These two things are easy to confuse, so here's the distinction:
| Customer payments | Platform charges | |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays whom | Your customer pays your shop | Your shop pays TimberCloud |
| Where the money goes | Directly into your own Stripe account (Stripe Connect) | Charged to your shop's card on file |
| What it's for | Goods/services on an order | Platform services (e.g. a booked shipment) |
| Where you see it | Order payments, invoices, transactions | The Platform Charges report |
TimberCloud never holds your customers' money — order payments go straight to your connected Stripe account. Platform charges are the only thing TimberCloud bills directly to you, and they're always tied to an action you took (like booking a label).
Note: The platform fee is a different concept. That's the small percentage TimberCloud deducts from each card payment your customers make through checkout (Commerce 1% / Build 0.5% / Production 0% / Enterprise 0%). See How platform charges differ from the platform fee below.
Charge types
Every platform charge has a type that tells you what it was for:
| Type | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Shipping | A booked small-parcel shipment (carrier rate + TimberCloud's platform markup). |
| Freight Shipping | A booked LTL freight shipment (pallet / oversized freight). Shown with the carrier and order number. |
| AI Document | AI document processing — e.g. using the AI Order Assistant to turn an uploaded document into an order, where applicable. |
| Premium Feature | A premium platform feature charge. |
| Other | Any platform charge that doesn't fall into the categories above. |
For most shops, the charges you'll actually see are Shipping and Freight Shipping from booking labels in-app.
When platform charges happen
At shipment booking
The most common platform charge is created when you book a shipment. After you shop live rates on an order and select one, clicking Book Shipment:
- Charges your shop's card on file for the shipment — the carrier rate plus TimberCloud's platform markup — through a single Stripe charge.
- Books the label with the integrated carrier network.
- Records a Shipping (or Freight Shipping for LTL) platform charge against the order.
- Returns your tracking number, a tracking link, and a label PDF to print.
If booking fails for any reason, the charge is automatically canceled — no money is taken. (See Failed and refunded charges below.)
Carrier Services (live rate shopping and label booking) are plan-gated: they're included on Build, Production, and Enterprise, and available on Commerce via the Carrier & Freight Services add-on. For the full booking walkthrough, see Booking a Shipment.
Other platform actions
Some other platform services can also generate a charge (for example, certain AI document processing or premium features). When they do, they appear in your Platform Charges report just like a shipping charge, with the matching type.
Charge statuses
Each platform charge carries a status. The four you'll see in the report's status filter are:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Succeeded | The charge went through. Your card was charged and the service was delivered (e.g. the label was booked). |
| Processing | The charge is in progress and hasn't finalized yet. It will move to Succeeded or Failed shortly. |
| Failed | The charge could not be completed (e.g. the card was declined). The associated action (such as a booking) did not complete. |
| Refunded | The charge was refunded back to your card, in full or in part. |
Note: Behind the scenes a charge may briefly pass through Stripe-style intermediate states (such as requires action or canceled) while a payment is being confirmed. The report rolls these up — a charge that needs your attention shows as in-progress, and a charge that was reversed before completing simply never lands as a succeeded charge. The four statuses above are what matter day to day.
Failed and refunded charges
- A failed charge means the service didn't complete. Most often this is a booking failure: if the carrier booking can't be completed, TimberCloud automatically cancels the charge so no money is taken, and no label or tracking number is created. Fix the issue (commonly an invalid or expired card, or a shipment detail that needs correcting) and book again.
- A refunded charge means TimberCloud returned money to your card — for example, if a booked shipment was voided. The refunded amount shows in the report's Total Refunds summary.
Tip: If a booking won't go through, the most common cause is no valid payment method on file. Make sure your subscription card is current under Settings → Company → Manage Subscription (Stripe Customer Portal), then retry.
How platform charges differ from the platform fee
It's worth repeating because it's the most common point of confusion:
- Platform fee — a percentage TimberCloud deducts from each card payment a customer makes through TimberCloud checkout. It's automatic, it scales with your plan (Commerce 1% / Build 0.5% / Production 0% / Enterprise 0%; Free can't accept payments), and it's separate from and on top of Stripe's standard 2.9% + $0.30 processing fee. You never get a "bill" for it — it's netted out of the payment. See Order Payments and Subscriptions & Plans.
- Platform charge — a discrete amount TimberCloud bills to your card for a service you used (a booked shipment, etc.). It shows up as its own line item with a type, date, amount, and status.
In short: the fee comes out of money flowing in from customers; a charge is money TimberCloud takes out of your card for a service.
Where to view your platform charges
Platform charges are listed in Reports → Transactions, in the Platform Charges report. There you'll find:
- Summary cards — Total Charges and Total Refunds for the selected date range.
- A filterable, searchable table with columns for Date, Type, Description, Order #, Status, and Amount. Charge amounts display in red (money out); refunds display as a positive credit.
- A status filter (All / Succeeded / Processing / Failed / Refunded) and a search box (search by description, order number, or type).
- A link from each charge to its order, so you can jump straight to the shipment or order that generated it.
Note: The Reports area (including the Platform Charges report) requires the Build plan or higher. Regardless of plan, every booked shipment is still recorded as a platform charge against its order.
Related pages
- Booking a Shipment — how rate shopping and booking create a shipping charge.
- Order Payments — customer payments, invoices, refunds, and the platform fee.
- Subscriptions & Plans — plan-by-plan platform fees and what each tier includes.
- Billing & Free Trial — your subscription card, the Stripe Customer Portal, and managing your plan.