Credit System

Spartera uses a transparent, credit-based marketplace economy. This page explains how credits work for both buyers and sellers, across both product types (assets and endpoints).

The Basics

	Value
1 Credit	$0.50 USD
Credits expire?	No — credits never expire (though credit value may change over time)
Seller Revenue Share	80% of each transaction
Platform Fee	20% of each transaction
Payout Timing	Within 5 business days of month end

Two Billing Models — One Currency

Both product types use credits, but they bill at different points:

Product Type	Billed When...	Charged for failures?
Asset (Calculation or Visualization)	Asset is executed (per-run)	No
Endpoint	A request returns 200 OK (per-request)	No

A 1,000-row endpoint paginated 100 rows at a time costs 10 requests' worth of credits. A single asset execution returning the same insight costs 1 execution's worth.

In both cases, failed requests are never billed. If a request fails for any reason — bad input, seller-side database error, platform error — no credits are deducted. The spartera.billed field in every endpoint response confirms whether credits were charged.

For Buyers

How Credits Work

Credits are Spartera's currency for accessing paid products. The credit cost is clearly displayed before you process any product — no surprises.

Free products require no credits. Many products are available at no cost, including Spartera-provided content, partner content, and sample previews of paid items.

Paid products deduct credits from your balance when you process them. You are never charged credits for failed processing attempts.

Subscribe vs Process

These are two distinct actions for assets:

Subscribing adds an asset to your library for easy access. It's free and doesn't retrieve data or consume credits. Build a library of interesting assets without paying anything.

Processing executes the asset with current data and delivers results. This consumes credits for paid assets. Once processed, results are stored and accessible at no additional cost in your Purchases page.

For endpoints, the model is different:

The first time you fetch data, Spartera auto-provisions an API key scoped to you (free — keys are unmetered)
Each request you make against the endpoint deducts credits per-request on a successful 200 OK
The key persists across requests and across sessions until you (or the seller) revoke it

→ See Subscribing to Endpoints for the full buyer flow.

Purchasing Credits

marketplace.spartera.com → Account → Buy Credits

On-Demand

Buy any amount with no commitment. Best for occasional use or testing.

One-Time Bundles

Bundle	Credits	Bonus	Total
Starter	50	+5	55 credits
Professional	250	+32	282 credits
Enterprise	1,000	+150	1,150 credits

Monthly Subscriptions

Plan	Credits	Bonus	Discount
Startup	100	+13	5%
Professional	500	+75	7.5%
Enterprise	1,000	+175	10%

Annual Subscriptions

Plan	Credits	Bonus	Discount
Startup	1,200	+180	10%
Professional	6,000	+1,050	12%
Enterprise	12,000	+2,400	15%

Tracking Your Usage

curl https://api.spartera.com/companies/{company_id}/credits \
  -H "x-api-key: your-analytics-key"

{
  "data": {
    "balance_credits": 240,
    "balance_usd": 120.00,
    "total_spent_credits_30d": 285,
    "asset_executions_30d": 17,
    "endpoint_requests_30d": 412
  }
}

Refund Policy

All credit purchases are final and non-refundable. Credits never expire, though their USD value may change over time. You are protected against charges for:

Failed processing due to technical issues
Network or provider errors
Invalid parameters (requesting future dates, invalid filter values, etc.)
Any non-200 response from an endpoint

For billing disputes, contact [email protected].

Managing Your Subscription

Upgrade — takes effect immediately
Downgrade — takes effect at your next billing cycle
Cancel — stops automatic renewal; unused credits remain in your account
Unused credits are retained when you cancel and can be used anytime

For Sellers

Setting Your Price

You control the price for each of your products — assets and endpoints alike. Set your price in USD — Spartera automatically converts it to the equivalent credit cost for buyers.

For an asset, the price is per execution.
For an endpoint, the price is per request (each successful 200 OK).

# Set asset price
pricing_api.companies_company_id_assets_asset_id_prices_post(
    company_id,
    asset_id,
    {"price_usd": 5.00}  # You earn $4.00 per execution (80%)
)

# Set endpoint price
pricing_api.companies_company_id_endpoints_endpoint_id_prices_post(
    company_id,
    endpoint_id,
    {"price_usd": 1.00}  # You earn $0.80 per request (80%)
)

Price changes take effect immediately for new executions / requests.

Revenue Split

You earn 80% of every transaction. Spartera retains 20% as the platform fee.

Price	Your Earnings (80%)	Platform Fee (20%)
$0.50	$0.40	$0.10
$1.00	$0.80	$0.20
$2.50	$2.00	$0.50
$5.00	$4.00	$1.00
$10.00	$8.00	$2.00
$25.00	$20.00	$5.00

Pricing Considerations by Product Type

Assets are typically priced higher per unit because each execution is a discrete insight (one number, one chart). Buyers tend to use them sparingly.

Endpoints are typically priced lower per unit because customers will make many requests in a session — they're integrating your data into their app or pipeline. A common pricing strategy: price low ($0.05–$2 per request), expect high volume.

Monthly Payouts

Spartera processes seller payouts within 5 business days of month end for the prior month's earnings, paid via ACH directly to your verified Stripe-connected bank account.

You receive:

Direct bank deposit (ACH)
PDF payout report via email
Itemized breakdown in your Seller Dashboard, separated by product type

Minimum payout: $25.00 — earnings below this threshold roll over to the following month.

A connected, fully-verified Stripe account is required to receive any payouts. → See Connecting Stripe for Payouts for setup instructions.

Tracking Earnings

curl https://api.spartera.com/companies/{company_id}/earnings \
  -H "x-api-key: your-analytics-key"

{
  "data": {
    "pending_payout_usd": 840.00,
    "total_earned_usd": 12450.00,
    "asset_executions_30d": 420,
    "endpoint_requests_30d": 8200,
    "top_product": {
      "name": "Customer Churn Risk Score",
      "type": "ASSET",
      "transactions_30d": 312,
      "revenue_30d": 624.00
    }
  }
}

Dashboard → Earnings → Payout History

What the 20% Platform Fee Covers

API infrastructure, scaling, and 99.9% uptime SLA
Global content delivery and low-latency execution
Buyer acquisition and marketplace marketing
Payment processing and payout operations
Fraud detection and platform security
Seller dashboard, analytics, and tooling
Customer support for buyers and sellers

FAQ

Do credits expire?
No. Credits never expire once purchased, though their USD value may change over time.

Am I charged if a request fails?
No. You are never charged credits for failed asset executions or endpoint requests due to technical issues, network problems, or provider errors. For endpoints, the spartera.billed field in every response confirms whether credits were deducted.

Can I get a refund on credits?
No — all credit purchases are final. Credits never expire so there's no risk of losing them.

When do I get paid as a seller?
Within 5 business days of month end for the prior month's earnings, paid via ACH to your Stripe-connected bank account. See Connecting Stripe for Payouts.

What's the minimum payout?
$25.00. Earnings below this roll over to the next month.

Can I change my product's price?
Yes, at any time. New price takes effect immediately for future transactions.

What happens if a buyer disputes a transaction?
Contact [email protected]. We review logs and mediate disputes fairly.

What's the Minimum Number of Credits to Purchase?
You must purchase at least TEN (10) credits to use on insights, visualizations and data feeds.

An endpoint returned 0 rows but I still got billed — is that right?
Yes. The query ran successfully (200 OK), it just matched no rows. Refine your filters to avoid empty result sets.