Recharging Your Account
Your DartPro balance pays for every message you send, whether from the dashboard or through the API. This guide explains how to top it up.
How you recharge depends on your account's billing mode:
- Credits billing: you buy SMS units on an invoice. Each message page you send uses units.
- Currency billing: you add money to your Cecula Wallet in Naira or US Dollars. Each message page you send is charged to the wallet.
📖 Pre-requisites
- A Cecula account. If you do not have one, create an account.
- A verified email address.
- A completed profile, including your organization's billing information. You can't generate an invoice until it's done.
Step 1: Check Your Billing Mode
Login
- Go to Cecula DartPro and log in to your account.
Open SMS Settings
- Click Settings in the left sidebar, then select the SMS Messaging tab.
Find Billing & Currency Preference
- Credits (Standard Units): your balance is in units. Recharge by buying SMS units.
- Naira (₦) (Local Currency): your messages are charged to your Cecula Wallet. Recharge by funding your wallet. Only Nigerian accounts see this option.
- USD ($) (International): the same as Naira, in US Dollars. Only accounts outside Nigeria see this option.
The two modes compare as follows:
| Credits billing | Currency billing (NGN / USD) | |
|---|---|---|
| Balance shown as | DartPro Balance in units | Cecula Wallet in NGN or USD |
| How you recharge | Buy units on an invoice | Fund your Cecula Wallet |
| What a message costs | 1 unit per page, per recipient | The price of each page, taken from your wallet |
| Where you recharge | DartPro Billing page | Cecula Account Wallet page |
💡 Switching modes
Switching to currency billing does not delete the units you already bought. The Billing page shows how many unused units you still have. To spend them, switch your preference back to Credits for a while.
How units are counted
A standard SMS page holds 160 characters. A longer message is split into pages of 153 characters each. A message with any character outside the GSM character set (for example, emoji) holds 70 characters on one page, or 67 per page when it runs longer.
For example, a 200-character message sent to 1,000 recipients uses 2 pages × 1,000 = 2,000 units.
Option A: Buy SMS Units
Use this option if your account is on Credits billing.
1. Choose how many units to buy
- In DartPro, click Billing in the left sidebar.
- Open the Message Top-Up tab.
- Pick a quantity with the slider (100 to 100,000). For a different amount, type it into Or enter custom quantity.
- The smallest purchase is 100 units.
- The largest purchase on one invoice is 2,000,000 units.
- Check the Order Summary. It shows:
- Price Tier: the pricing band your quantity falls into. Larger purchases unlock cheaper tiers.
- Unit Price: the price of one unit in that tier.
- Quantity: the number of units you're buying.
- Total Payable: quantity × unit price, before VAT.
2. Generate an invoice
Click Generate Invoice. DartPro creates the invoice and opens it for you.
💡 Note
Your invoice adds 7.5% VAT to the Order Summary price, so the invoice total is higher than Total Payable. Click Download PDF on the invoice for your records.
3. Pay the invoice
The Payment Required panel on the invoice gives you two ways to pay.
Pay with Wallet Balance (instant)
The panel shows your current Wallet Balance.
- Click Pay with Wallet Balance.
- Check the amount in the Confirm Payment dialog, then click Confirm.
- The invoice is marked Paid and the units go into your DartPro Balance right away. A Balance Topped Up notification confirms it.
If your wallet can't cover the invoice, the button reads Insufficient Wallet Balance. Click Fund Wallet under it. This opens your Cecula Account in a new tab, where you can pay by card, bank transfer or USSD (see Option B). When you're done, come back to the invoice and reload the page.
Bank Transfer (Pay Direct)
- Click Bank Transfer (Pay Direct).
- Our Bank Details lists Cecula's receiving bank accounts. Send the exact invoice total by bank transfer, cash deposit or USSD.
- Fill in the payment form:
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Method | Transfer, Cash Deposit or USSD |
| Receiving Account | The Cecula account number you paid into |
| Your Bank | The bank you paid from (hidden for Cash Deposit) |
| Your Account # | The account number you paid from (hidden for Cash Deposit) |
| Sender Name / Depositor Name | The name on the transfer or deposit slip, at least 7 characters |
| Transaction Ref / ID | The reference from your transfer receipt or the deposit slip number |
| Notes (Optional) | Anything else our team should know |
- Click Submit Payment Proof.
Our sales team checks your payment against the bank record, usually within 24 hours. Once it's confirmed, the units are added to your DartPro Balance and you get a Balance Topped Up notification.
💡 Remember!
Keep your transfer receipt or deposit slip until the units show up. We match your payment using the transaction reference you submit.
Option B: Fund Your Cecula Wallet
Use this option if your account is on Naira or USD billing, or if you want to pay DartPro invoices from your wallet.
Your Cecula Wallet sits in your Cecula Account, and all Cecula products share it. To open it, do either of the following:
- On the DartPro Billing page, click Fund Wallet on the Cecula Wallet card.
- Log in to Cecula Account and click Wallet in the sidebar.
Understanding your wallets
- Main NGN Wallet or Main USD Wallet: your general wallet. It is created automatically in your country's currency and can pay for any Cecula product.
- Product wallets, such as a DartPro NGN Wallet: money set aside for one product.
When DartPro charges your wallet, it takes the money in this order:
- A single active DartPro wallet that can cover the full amount.
- Otherwise, all your active DartPro wallets together.
- Anything still unpaid comes from your Main wallet in the same currency.
The charge only goes through if your wallets can cover the full amount together. Deactivated wallets are skipped. Invoice payments by wallet always use your NGN wallets.
1. Open the Top Up page
On the Wallet page, find the wallet you want to fund and click Top Up.
⚠️ Top-up limits
- Only NGN wallets can be topped up right now. To fund a USD wallet, contact [email protected].
- The Top Up button is disabled on deactivated wallets. Reactivate the wallet first.
- The minimum top-up is ₦100.
2. Choose a payment method
The Top Up page has two tabs: Paystack and Pay Direct.
Paystack: card, bank or USSD (instant)
- Enter the Amount to Add.
- The Payment Summary shows the amount, the Paystack Charges and the Total you'll pay.
- Click Pay ₦… and complete the payment in the Paystack window.
- Your payment is verified, your wallet is credited, and you're taken back to the wallet's page.
Your wallet is credited with the amount you entered. Paystack charges are paid on top of it. They are:
- 1.5% of the amount, plus ₦100.
- No ₦100 fee on amounts below ₦2,500.
- A maximum of ₦2,000 per transaction.
| Amount to Add | Paystack Charges | Total You Pay | Wallet Credited |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₦1,000 | ₦15.00 | ₦1,015.00 | ₦1,000 |
| ₦2,500 | ₦137.50 | ₦2,637.50 | ₦2,500 |
| ₦10,000 | ₦250.00 | ₦10,250.00 | ₦10,000 |
| ₦100,000 | ₦1,600.00 | ₦101,600.00 | ₦100,000 |
| ₦200,000 | ₦2,000.00 (capped) | ₦202,000.00 | ₦200,000 |
Pay Direct: bank transfer, cash/cheque deposit or USSD (confirmed manually)
Pay Direct has no Paystack charges, but an administrator has to confirm your payment before your wallet is credited.
- Send the money to one of the bank accounts shown on the tab.
- Under Confirm Payment Details, fill in:
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Payment Method | Bank Transfer, Cash/Cheque Deposit or USSD |
| Transferred Amount | The exact amount you sent (minimum ₦100) |
| Your Bank Name | The bank you paid from (hidden for Cash/Cheque Deposit) |
| Your Account Name | The account holder's name. It is labelled Depositor Name for deposits and Payer Name / Phone Number for USSD |
| Your Account Number | The account you paid from (Bank Transfer only) |
| Transaction Reference / Narration | Your transfer reference or deposit slip number |
- Click Submit Payment Proof.
The top-up appears in your wallet's transactions with the status Processing. Once an administrator confirms the payment, the status changes to Completed and the amount is added to your wallet.
3. Move funds between wallets (optional)
To move money into a product wallet such as your DartPro NGN Wallet, or back to your Main wallet:
- On the Wallet page, click Internal Transfer. You can also open a wallet card's menu and choose Transfer Funds.
- Choose the Source Wallet, the Receiving Wallet and the Amount.
- Click Confirm Transfer.
Transfers are instant, but both wallets must use the same currency.
Tracking your top-ups
Every top-up shows in the wallet's transaction history with one of these statuses:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pending | A Paystack payment was started but has not been verified yet |
| Processing | A Pay Direct payment is waiting for an administrator to confirm it |
| Completed | The payment was confirmed and your wallet was credited |
| Failed | The payment was declined, or the Paystack payment failed or was abandoned |
Confirming Your New Balance
- Credits billing: the DartPro Balance card on the Billing page shows your units.
- Currency billing: the Cecula Wallet card on the Billing page shows your total wallet balance. DartPro can take up to a minute to show a new top-up.
- Invoices: your past invoices are listed at the bottom of the Billing page.
- API: call the Check Balance endpoint. On credits billing,
currencyisUNITS. On currency billing,currencyisNGNorUSDandbalanceis your total wallet balance.
Troubleshooting
The "Generate Invoice" button is disabled. Verify your email address and finish your profile setup, including your billing information.
"No Matching Price Tier for … sms units. Kindly increase the volume." Your quantity is below the smallest price tier. Increase the number of units.
The invoice says "Insufficient Wallet Balance".Fund your Cecula Wallet with enough to cover the invoice total, including VAT. Make sure your wallets are active, then reload the invoice.
I paid with Paystack but my wallet was not credited. Do not pay again. The top-up stays Pending until it's verified. Email [email protected] with the transaction reference (it starts with PAYSTK-) so we can check it with Paystack.
My Pay Direct payment has not been confirmed. Invoice payments are usually reviewed within 24 hours. If it has taken longer, email [email protected] with your invoice number or wallet transaction reference and your proof of payment.
The API returns "code": 1804 with "status": "Insufficient Balance". Your live API key tried to send more than your balance covers. The response includes available_balance and min_required_balance. Recharge by the difference and try again. Sandbox keys don't check your balance.
{
"code": 1804,
"status": "Insufficient Balance",
"available_balance": "1,250.00 NGN",
"min_required_balance": "4,000.00 NGN"
}