What does a card top-up cost?
Card top-up service fees are charged separately and tiered by calendar-month cumulative top-up volume: under $1,000 at 2%, from $1,000 at 1.5%, from $5,000 at 1%, from $10,000 at 0.8%, from $50,000 at 0.5%. The tier reached applies for the whole month and any amount overcharged at a higher tier is refunded automatically. The card is credited with exactly the amount you enter; the fee is deducted separately from your platform balance, effective instantly.
Topping up a card and topping up your platform balance are two separate movements of money at two different points in the funding chain, and they carry different fees — separate them first and this fee becomes clear at a glance. Funds first enter your platform balance (that step charges a flat 0.5%), and then funds move from your platform balance into a specific card's limit; the latter is what we mean by topping up a card. Many people confuse the two, assuming they need to make another transfer, but you don't.
The service fee for topping up a card is identical in nature and rate to the limit service fee charged when opening a card — tiered by calendar-month cumulative top-up volume: 2% under $1,000, 1.5% from $1,000, 1% from $5,000, 0.8% from $10,000, 0.5% from $50,000; the tier applies for the whole month, any overcharge is refunded automatically, and the counter resets on the 1st of each month. The only difference: opening a card creates a new card from scratch, so beyond the service fee there is also a one-time card issuance fee; when you top up an existing card, the card already exists, so you are charged only this service fee — no issuance fee, no second fee layer, and no monthly fee.
Funds pass through three stages, and each stage charges a different fee
| Stage | Money movement | Fee at this step | Time to credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top up platform balance | Funds enter your platform balance | Flat 0.5%, no tiers | Usually 1–5 minutes on TRC20, 1–30 minutes on other networks |
| Open a card | Funds leave platform balance to create a new card limit | Limit service fee (tiered 2% → 0.5%) + from $1 issuance fee per card | Usually a few seconds |
| Top up a card | Funds move from platform balance into an existing card limit | Limit service fee (tiered 2% → 0.5%, by calendar-month top-up volume) | Instant |
Worked example: adding $30 of limit to a card deducts $30.60 from your platform balance
- Suppose you want to add $30 of available limit to a card.
- The system charges the service fee at the 2% tier: $30 × 2% = $0.60.
- $30.60 is deducted from your platform balance in one go ($30 principal + $0.60 service fee).
- The card's limit increases by $30 instantly, your platform balance drops by $30.60, an accounting entry is recorded, and it is available for use on the spot.
A card's limit is a one-time total pool, and topping up a card simply adds to it
A card's limit is a one-time total pool, not a monthly limit that resets each month; every successful purchase is deducted from it, and once it is used up, it is gone. Topping up a card means adding money to this total pool, and the service fee applies to whatever limit you add (from 2%, tiered by monthly volume down to 0.5%). When the limit is nearly exhausted, or when a single payment is larger (an annual subscription, an advertising top-up, and the like), you can simply top up and keep using the card — there is no need to open a new card for that.
Key points for topping up a card: your platform balance must cover the principal plus the service fee, and the internal transfer credits instantly
The money for topping up a card comes from your platform balance; it is an internal transfer within the platform, requiring no additional transfer, so no extra transfer network fee is incurred. The prerequisite is that before the transfer your platform balance holds at least the 'principal + service fee' ($30.60 at the 2% tier in the example above); if it is not enough, top up your platform balance first — that step is the one that involves the 0.5% deposit fee. Because it is an internal transfer that follows standard double-entry accounting (an entry is recorded only when debits equal credits) and does not go through network confirmation, topping up a card takes effect instantly, unlike topping up your platform balance, which has to wait for the transfer to be credited; once the transfer is done, the new limit is reflected on the card details page and can be used immediately for your next purchase.