# What counts as a send

> Which actions use up your monthly sends, which never do, and what still works when you reach your limit.

Source: https://support.billingmart.com/invoices/what-counts-as-a-send
Updated: 2026-10-17 · Applies to: Web, iPhone, Android · Section: Invoices & estimates

A send is an invoice or an estimate delivered to a customer, or a payment received through a payment link. Your plan allows a number of sends each calendar month. Drafts, edits, payments against an invoice and PDF downloads never count. When you reach the limit, nothing is locked or deleted. Everything you already sent stays live and payable, drafts still save, estimates still go out and count, and payments are never refused. Only a new invoice, or a new or reactivated payment link, waits until the next month or an upgrade.

## What counts

| It counts when | How |
| --- | --- |
| An invoice is sent | By you, by a recurring schedule, or by the Agent. It is counted at the moment it is numbered. |
| An estimate is sent | At the moment it is numbered. |
| A payment arrives through a payment link | When the payment succeeds and is recorded. |

An invoice is counted when it is sent, not when the email arrives. If the email cannot go out, for example because the customer has no email address, the invoice is still numbered and still counts. If the customer's address is not confirmed yet, the email is sent anyway and logged, and it counts as normal. The customer sees only that one document until they confirm the address.

## What never counts

- Saving or editing a draft, or creating an invoice you have not sent.
- Downloading or previewing a PDF.
- Emailing the same invoice or estimate again. It keeps its number.
- Payment reminders and receipts.
- A payment made against an invoice, or a payment that fails or is declined.
- Converting an estimate into a draft invoice. Sending that invoice later counts.
- A send that is refused, for example because a required detail is missing. No number is used and nothing is counted.
- The sample you send yourself while setting up. It is an email and a PDF marked SAMPLE, sent only to your own verified address. It is not an invoice, takes no number and is never counted. See [Send your first invoice](https://support.billingmart.com/getting-started/send-your-first-invoice.md).

## The month

The month is your workspace's own calendar month, in your time zone. It resets on the 1st. A trial can raise the limit while it runs. When it ends, your plan's own limit applies.

## When you reach the limit

Existing invoices stay live and payable, and payments are still recorded. These keep working:

- Saving drafts.
- Sending estimates. They are still sent and counted.
- Receiving payments through a payment link. Your payer is never turned away.
- Recording payments, and everything else on your existing invoices.

These wait until next month, or until your limit goes up:

- Sending a new invoice. A recurring invoice that comes due waits and goes out later. See [Recurring invoices](https://support.billingmart.com/invoices/recurring-invoices.md).
- Creating a new payment link, or turning an old one back on.

The screen says that your workspace has used its sends for the month, and when the allowance resets. An owner can move to a plan with more sends, and that lifts the limit straight away. A verified live BillingMart merchant account also lifts it, whatever plan you are on.

## See where you stand

Open **Plan & usage**. It shows what was sent this month, what remains, and how many sends were paused by the limit. The **What counted as a send** card splits the total into invoices, estimates and payment-link payments. A banner appears when you are close to the limit.

On your phone, a refused send shows the same message, and on iPhone a short code in brackets follows it. An owner sees an **Upgrade** button. Anyone else is told to ask the owner, because only the owner can change the plan.