You’ve finally launched your first Meta ad campaign – wahoo! But then you notice you have a multitude of ad receipts saying $3. $3. $5. $8. $12.
Don’t panic. It might look like Meta is charging you like a 2-dollar store, but this is exactly how Meta works when you’re starting a new campaign.
Let’s break it down so you can focus on your ads – not your mild heart palpitations!
Your Daily Budget Is Not Your Daily Charge
Setting your campaign budget to $40/day doesn’t mean Meta will send you an invoice for $40 at the end of each day.
Instead, Meta charges you based on a payment threshold (the amount you can spend before Meta bills your card).
Think of it like a trust exercise. Meta is letting you climb the ladder slowly before asking you to jump fully into their arms!
The Tiny Charges Are a Trust Test
When you create a new Meta ad account or use a new payment method, Meta doesn’t yet trust you, so they start charging your card in small bites.
Your campaign spends $2 → they charge $2
Then, you spend $5 → they charge you for $5
You spend $10 → yep, you guessed it, they charge $10 and so on.
Each time you pay successfully, they raise your threshold. Eventually, they’ll stop pestering you for pocket change and start billing in bigger, less frequent amounts.
Note: Even if you set your billing threshold to $250 when you set up your account, they will continue to charge you these small amounts.
Unfortunately, this also means your bank might suspect something unusual is happening and block your card. Make sure you regularly check in to Meta to make sure your campaign is running smoothly. You may need to contact your bank to give them the green light.
How Thresholds Grow (Without You Lifting a Finger)
Over time, as you prove you’re a reliable ad-spender, your billing thresholds increase automatically. It usually goes something like this:
$3 → $5 → $10 → $25 → $50 → $100+
Once you’ve built a good track record, you have more flexibility over setting your payment threshold (e.g. $250) so Meta only bills you when you hit that, or at the end of the month.
This makes things easier for you with fewer random charges, simpler bookkeeping, and less explaining to your accountant about why Meta charged you fifteen times in one week.
Why Meta Does It This Way
It’s all about risk. Meta processes billions in ad spend. If they let every brand-new account run wild from day one, they’d be swimming in fraudulent charges from stolen cards.
By starting small, they keep both their system and your budget safe.
In Summary
Those mini-charges you see early on? Don’t worry. It’s just Meta ensuring your payment method is secure before letting you run bigger campaigns.
Once the trust is there, your billing becomes simpler, cleaner, and way less chaotic.
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