Credits & Refunds Policy

lavela — Credits & Refunds Policy

Last updated: October 3, 2026 Version: 2026-10-02

This policy explains how your lavela balance works: the welcome credit, adding funds, the top-up bonus, automatic top-ups, what happens when your balance runs out, and how to get a refund. It is part of the Terms of Service (see Section 6). If this page and the Terms ever conflict, the Terms control. A Korean summary appears at the top of this page for convenience; if it differs from this English text, the English text controls to the extent the law allows.

The short version. Your balance is in US dollars. Servers are paid from it by the second — a 512 MB server that sleeps when idle costs US$2 a month while it is asleep and US$7 a month while it is awake, so never more than the US$7 a month of keeping it always on (bigger sizes, open after your first paid top-up, cost more while awake or always on; see pricing) — with no subscription, and lavela takes 0% of your own sales. Eligible new accounts get a one-time US$5 compute credit — about three weeks of one 512 MB server that is always on or always awake, and up to about two and a half months of one that sleeps almost all the time — while the offer runs. You can add funds from US$10 — with a card from outside the US and Canada, through Stripe's Link checkout, which adds your local tax — and a paid top-up of US$20 or more earns bonus credit. Optionally, turn on automatic top-up with a US or Canadian card (US$10 when you fall below US$2, at most US$100 a month), or, with a Korean payment method, a monthly top-up through Link that you can cancel at any time. Unused paid balance is refundable on request; promotional credit (welcome and bonus credit) is not.

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1. Your balance

• Currency. Your balance is held and shown in US dollars (USD). If your card is in another currency, your bank converts the charge and may add a fee.
• Kinds of balance. Your balance can contain paid balance (money you added) and promotional credit: the welcome credit (Section 2) and top-up bonus credit (Section 3.1). Usage is taken from the welcome credit first, then from paid balance, then from bonus credit — oldest first within each.
• What it pays for. Servers (by size and by the second — the table in Terms Section 6.2 and at /pricing: a server that sleeps when idle pays its size's asleep price while it is asleep (US$2 a month for 512 MB) and its always-on price while it is awake, so it never costs more than kept always on; an always-on server pays its always-on price all the time (US$7 a month for 512 MB, up to US$92 for the largest size); a server you stop is not billed from the stop, and a server lavela pauses is not billed while it stays paused or while your account is paused — but if a pause does not take effect and the server keeps running while your account is active, the time lavela's metering observes it running is billed as awake time (Terms Section 6.2)), one-off and scheduled jobs (a one-off job still running after about three minutes continues on its own 512 MB server, billed until that server is deleted — at the always-on price while the job runs and at the asleep price after it ends; Terms Section 6.2), data transfer, disks, and any other resource that shows a price before you create it. The price is shown in the console or through the MCP server before you create a resource, and charges are deducted from your balance as they accrue. Your balance cannot currently be used to pay advertising platforms, buy domains, or pay other providers directly.
• Not money you can move. Your balance can only be used on lavela. It cannot be withdrawn as cash (except as a refund of paid balance under Section 5), transferred to another user, or sold.
• No expiry. Paid balance does not expire and there is no inactivity fee.

2. Welcome credit (US$5)

• What it is. While the offer runs, an eligible new account automatically receives a one-time US$5 promotional compute credit — about three weeks of one 512 MB server that is always on or always awake, and up to about two and a half months of one that sleeps almost all the time (at US$7 a month while awake or always on, US$2 a month while asleep; data transfer draws from it too). No card is needed to receive it.
• Who gets it. It is added automatically once an account has accepted the Terms and confirmed its email address, if the account is eligible. It is not given to an account created before the welcome program started, an account that has already run lavela compute or added funds, or is on the older monthly card plan, or an email address that has already received it (see "One per person"); we may also decline it where we can't confirm a new person (for example a disposable email address).
• Promotional offer. The welcome credit is a promotion. It may end, or change for future sign-ups, at any time without notice. If the offer has ended, you can still use lavela by adding funds. Credit already granted to you stays usable.
• One per person. Only one welcome credit per person, regardless of how many accounts, email addresses, or projects you have. We check your verified email address (including common variations of it) and may use other signals to enforce this.
• Compute only. It can be used only for lavela compute. While your account uses only the welcome credit — before your first paid top-up, or again once every paid top-up has been refunded in full — you can run one server of the 512 MB size; bigger sizes open after a paid top-up (after such a refund, the next one; a bigger server already running then keeps running, as Terms Section 6.2 says), and other paid resources need paid balance.
• Not cash. Promotional credit is not refundable, has no cash value, and cannot be transferred or sold.
• Expiry. In this version, the welcome credit does not expire. If we introduce an expiry later, it will not apply to credit already granted.
• Abuse. We may revoke the welcome credit, including any unused amount, if we reasonably believe it was obtained or used through multiple accounts, fraud, abuse, or a breach of the Terms.
• Account closure. Unused promotional credit ends when your account is closed.

3. Adding funds

• Minimum US$10. A card issued in the United States or Canada pays lavela, processed by Stripe; any other card or payment method pays through Stripe's Link checkout (below). The minimum is US$10; the maximum for a single top-up is shown before you pay.
• 1:1, no fee. Each US$1 you add becomes US$1 of paid balance. lavela charges no top-up fee.
• Tax. Amounts are stated excluding tax. If lavela adds tax to a payment, it is shown separately before you pay and added to the card charge — it is never taken out of the amount credited to you. Where lavela does not add a tax, that is not a statement that the purchase is exempt from it. For a Link checkout, Link adds and remits the tax (below).
• Card authentication. Your bank may ask you to confirm a payment (for example with 3-D Secure). The balance is credited only after the payment succeeds.
• Where available. A card issued in the United States or Canada pays lavela directly — for that payment the country that issued your card decides, not the billing address you type, and a direct top-up paid with a card issued elsewhere is not credited and is refunded in full. Cards and payment methods from other countries (for example Korean cards, Kakao Pay and Naver Pay) pay through Stripe's Link checkout instead.
• Stripe's Link checkout. Link, Stripe's merchant-of-record service, sells you the credit: Link's terms apply to that payment; it adds your country's tax (VAT, GST or sales tax — 10% in South Korea) on top of the credit and remits it; the checkout may show the price in your local currency (converted by Stripe — your credit is the US-dollar amount); your statement shows LINK.COM* LAVELA; and the balance-triggered automatic top-up (Section 4.1) is not available for it — the monthly top-up through Link (Section 4.2) is. Where Link does not handle the tax for your billing country, the payment is not credited and is refunded in full.

3.1 Top-up bonus

• How much. Each paid top-up that settles — one you make yourself, an automatic top-up or a monthly top-up through Link, paid to lavela or through Link — earns bonus credit: US$1 on a top-up of US$20 or more, US$4 on US$50 or more. Only the highest tier reached counts, never both; smaller top-ups earn none — automatic top-ups (US$10) are below the lowest tier.
• What it is. Bonus credit is promotional credit: it has no cash value, is not refundable, and cannot be transferred or sold. It can pay for everything the paid balance from that top-up can pay for, and it is used after your paid balance.
• No expiry. Bonus credit does not expire while your account is open; it ends when the account is closed.
• When it is taken back. The unused part of a top-up's bonus is revoked when you request a refund of that top-up (even if you later withdraw the request), when that top-up is refunded — by lavela, by Link or otherwise — or when a payment dispute is opened on it. Bonus credit you already used is not charged back.
• Changes. lavela may change or end the bonus for future top-ups at any time. Bonus credit already added stays (except as above).

4. Automatic top-ups (optional)

There are two kinds, both off until you choose them: a top-up when your balance runs low (a card issued in the United States or Canada), and a monthly top-up through Link (Korean payment methods).

4.1 When your balance runs low (US and Canadian cards)

It turns on only when you give separate, explicit consent in the console. Saving a card does not turn it on.

While it is on:

• When it charges: when your available balance falls below US$2.

• How much: US$10 credited per charge, plus any tax shown to you.

• Monthly limit: US$100 in card charges per calendar month (UTC), including tax.

• Daily limit: At most 3 automatic charge attempts per day (UTC), declined or canceled ones included.

• With welcome credit: the first automatic charge waits until the welcome credit is fully used.

• Bank confirmation. If your bank asks you to confirm an automatic charge, we email you a link. If it is not confirmed within 72 hours, the charge is canceled — nothing is taken — and later automatic top-ups can go ahead.

• Turning it off. You can turn it off at any time in the console. This stops future automatic charges and cancels any automatic charge still waiting for your confirmation; a payment that is already being processed is not cancelled and may still complete. Any refund of a top-up — requested by you, or made by lavela or by Link — also turns it off, and so does a payment dispute (Section 5).

• If something goes wrong. If a charge is declined, is canceled unconfirmed, or the monthly limit is reached, we email you. Your servers then follow Section 6 if your balance runs out. If your card issuer declines a charge in a way that means the card can't be charged again, or 3 charges in a row are declined, or canceled because they were not confirmed with your bank within 72 hours, we turn automatic top-up off and email you; you can turn it on again in the console (with another card, if your card issuer declined that one).

• Refunds and the limit. Refunding a top-up does not restore the monthly limit for that month.

4.2 Monthly top-up through Link (Korean payment methods)

A subscription sold by Link (Stripe's merchant-of-record service), the one optional recurring charge on lavela apart from ad commissions (Terms Section 6.6A). Everything in Section 3 about Link payments applies to each monthly payment.

• Plans. ₩14,500 / ₩29,000 / ₩72,000 a month, plus the tax Link adds (10% VAT in South Korea: ₩15,950 / ₩31,900 / ₩79,200), adding US$10 / US$20 / US$50 of paid balance respectively each month; under Section 3.1, the US$20 and US$50 plans also earn the top-up bonus (the US$10 plan does not). The credit is fixed in US dollars whatever the exchange rate.
• When you are charged. When you subscribe, and then every month on the same date until you cancel. A payment is credited only after it succeeds.
• Reminder. We email you at least 7 days before each scheduled renewal charge with the amount (tax included), the date and how to cancel.
• Cancel at any time in the console (Billing) or at link.com. If Link has not confirmed the cancellation, lavela records your request and retries every 15 minutes. A payment taken after that request is refunded in full and is not credited; confirmed cancellation stops further charges. Past charges are not undone by canceling; the unused paid balance they added is refundable under Section 5.
• Failed payments. Link may retry a failed payment under its own schedule and we email you; if it is still unpaid after Link's last retry, lavela cancels the subscription and emails you. Nothing is credited for a failed payment.
• Price changes need at least 30 days' notice and your consent; without your consent the subscription ends before the new price applies.
• One at a time. One monthly top-up per account. Closing your account, requesting a refund of any wallet top-up, or a payment dispute cancels it. Withdrawing that refund request does not restart it; a new subscription needs your explicit choice.

5. Refunds

Unused paid balance is refundable on request. Promotional credit is never refundable.

• What you can get back. The unused paid balance from top-ups whose payments have settled, minus:
  • usage you have already incurred that has not yet been deducted, and any tax on it;
  • amounts held for resources that are running or reserved, and for payments still in progress;
  • amounts already refunded or under a pending refund request; and
  • amounts subject to a payment dispute or chargeback.
• How to ask. Use the refund section on the billing page in the console, or contact support@lavela.dev or console.lavela.dev/support. If you want a full refund, turn off automatic top-up and stop the resources you no longer need first — running servers and stored data keep using balance until they are stopped or removed. Each request covers one top-up, and a top-up can have one open request at a time; a request must be at least US$1 (unless less than that is left to refund on that top-up), and an account can make up to 5 requests in 24 hours. The billing page asks for the whole refundable amount of a top-up in one request.
• How it works. When you ask, the requested amount is set aside so it can't be spent. A person reviews the request, confirms the amount once usage is settled, and refunds it to your original payment method. A request is not an instant refund. After we send the refund, your bank's processing time varies (often 3–10 business days).
• No fee, no deadline. lavela charges no refund fee and does not impose a fixed deadline for requesting a refund of unused paid balance. We cannot send refunds to a different card, a bank account, or another user.
• Link purchases. A refund of a top-up bought through Stripe's Link checkout — one-time or monthly (Section 4.2) — returns the refunded credit plus its share of the tax you paid. Link may also refund such a purchase itself within 60 days of it, under its own policy (for example to resolve a support request); that refund takes the credit out of your balance, which can go below zero if you already used it.
• Bonus credit. Bonus credit is never refundable. Requesting a refund of a top-up revokes the unused part of the bonus it earned, even if you later withdraw the request (Section 3.1).
• Automatic top-ups. Requesting a refund of any top-up turns off automatic top-up (Section 4.1) and cancels a monthly top-up through Link (Section 4.2); you can turn automatic top-up back on, or start a new monthly top-up, afterwards. A monthly top-up through Link that you cancel stops future charges only; the unused paid balance from past charges is refundable like any other top-up. An automatic charge canceled unconfirmed (Section 4.1) takes nothing, so there is nothing to refund.
• Used services. Usage already consumed is generally not refundable. We will review and correct billing errors, duplicate charges, and services we did not provide.
• Disputes. If you dispute a top-up with your card issuer instead — a chargeback, or an inquiry the issuer opens before one, whether you paid lavela or bought the credit through Link — we may hold your whole wallet while the dispute is open and until we resolve it with you after its outcome, which can take weeks: your servers stop without a grace period, even if balance is left (the email we send may say your balance ran out and suggest adding funds — while the hold lasts, funds you add are held too, so contact support@lavela.dev instead), your balance can't be spent, refund requests for your account are held, automatic top-up is turned off and a monthly top-up through Link is canceled (Terms Section 7.3). We never pay the same amount back twice. Balance unrelated to the disputed payment stays yours: once the dispute is resolved, you can use it or have it refunded.
• Closing your account. Closing your account does not forfeit your paid balance. After outstanding usage and obligations are settled, the unused paid balance is refundable as above.
• Your legal rights. Nothing in this policy limits a refund right you have under law that cannot be waived. If you are in South Korea, this includes the right to withdraw, within 7 days, from a purchase of credit you have not used; the refund of unused paid balance above stays available after those 7 days.

6. When your balance runs low or runs out

1. At US$2 or less remaining, we send you an email (not when an automatic top-up is already on its way to refill it).
2. When your balance runs out, we email you with the exact time your servers will stop, and remind you about 12 hours before it. They keep running for a 48-hour grace period — or they stop right away instead, and we email you why, if the unpaid amount during the grace period grows beyond US$5 or half of your paid top-ups after refunds, whichever is larger. While your account is using only the welcome credit, that time is at lavela's cost. If your account has paid balance, grace-period usage (and usage recorded late by metering) may take your balance below zero; that amount is settled from your next top-up — an automatic top-up (Section 4.1) included — and we will not otherwise charge your card to collect it. A top-up during the grace period that brings your balance back above zero keeps them running; a smaller one only reduces the unpaid amount.
3. After the grace period (or once the unpaid amount passes that limit), your servers stop (a stopped server is not billed while it stays stopped — Terms Section 6.2). Your data, volumes, and databases are kept, and you can start the servers again after adding funds.
4. Stopped servers are kept until you delete them — with their disks and data; lavela does not delete them automatically. Their disks keep being billed while they exist, so delete what you no longer need (Terms Section 7.1).

Servers stop at once, without the grace period or its emails, in the cases Terms Section 7.1 lists — for example when you dispute a top-up with your card issuer (Section 5 and Terms Section 7.3), or when the account's servers are already stopped or restricted.

7. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. Changes to prices or promotional terms apply going forward and never to usage that has already happened. Material changes that affect you are versioned with the Terms, and we will ask you to accept them before lavela provisions, deploys or starts anything billed, adds funds, or starts or raises ad spend at your request. Without accepting them, you can still stop or delete your servers, delete a disk, turn daily snapshots off on a plain disk or release a public-port or static-egress IP (where those features and resources are available), turn always-on off on a public app server or change a server back to 512 MB (a stopped or paused server must be started first, and a running build of its service must finish first), turn off automatic top-up, cancel a monthly top-up through Link and request a refund of your unused paid balance (Terms Section 14.3). Always-on cannot be turned off for database or cache servers; you can stop or delete those servers instead.

8. Contact

Billing and refund questions: support@lavela.dev or console.lavela.dev/support. Legal questions: legal@lavela.dev.

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This policy is provided for your reference and is not legal advice.