Credits and Value Adds

Credits and Value Adds are free budget that your Criteo account team may apply to your account. They don't appear on your invoice, but they do count as spend in your reporting. If you've ever noticed your invoice is lower than your reporting shows, a Credit or Value Add is likely the reason.

Credits

A Credit is free budget applied to a specific line item. Credits are typically issued as compensation when something went wrong — for example, bot activity, a technical error, or a human error that affected spend on a specific campaign or line item. You may also hear them referred to as a make-good.

How Credits work:

• A Credit is tied to one line item and does not affect other campaigns in your account.

• The Credit spends before any of your paid budget on that line item, until it is used up.

• Credits follow the pacing settings of the campaign and line item they are applied to.

• Credits are free. They appear in your reporting as spend but are not billed to you.

Value Adds

A Value Add is free budget added to your account balance, typically offered as an incentive — for example, as part of a larger campaign commitment.

How Value Adds work:

• A Value Add applies to all campaigns funded by the balance it is added to, not just one line item.

• It spends alongside your paid budget at a 1:1 ratio — for every dollar of paid budget spent, one dollar of Value Add budget also spends. It is not depleted separately before your paid budget.

• Value Adds follow the pacing settings of your campaigns and line items.

• Value Adds are free. They appear in your reporting as spend but are not billed to you.

How Credits and Value Adds Affect Your Invoice

Because Credits and Value Adds are free, they reduce what you're charged without reducing what appears in your reporting. If your invoice is lower than your reporting shows, check whether a Credit or Value Add was applied to your account during that period.

For more on billing and reporting differences, see Why Is My Invoice Not Aligned with My Reporting?.

Questions About a Credit or Value Add on Your Account?

Credits and Value Adds are applied by your Criteo account team. Contact them if you have questions about a Credit or Value Add on your account, or if you believe you are owed a make-good.