Credits, Empty Results, and Timeouts: Billing Semantics Buyers Should Demand
Credits, empty results, and timeouts: billing semantics buyers should demand – found-only Credit B, free empties, no spend on timeouts or errors.
Buyers evaluating enrichment APIs should demand written billing semantics before they demand a feature list. The question is not “how many credits is a pack?” alone – it is what happens on empty results, timeouts, and errors. Invenitor’s frozen rule is Credit B. Connecting people; a lookup API, not a sales cloud.
This is the billing-semantics pillar. Honesty sibling: Empty Means Not Found – Why Guessed Emails Break Hiring. Response shape: One Primary Contact, Never Invented.
The three outcomes every buyer should name
- Found – email, phone, or both returned → 1 credit.
- Empty completed – find finished, no useful contact fields → free.
- Timeout / error – did not complete as a successful find → do not spend.
If a vendor cannot write those three lines, your finance model is fiction.
Why empty-must-be-free matters
Soft mesh coverage varies. We do not publish hit-rate percentages. If empties billed like finds, honesty would be punished: desks would pressure invent-on-empty to “get their money’s worth.” Free empties align incentives with truth.
Category: What a Contact Lookup API Actually Does. Hub: LinkedIn or GitHub Profile URL → Contact Lookup API.
Why timeouts must not spend
Timeouts are infrastructure and client-path failures, not contact outcomes. Charging them turns outages into revenue. Demand: errors and timeouts do not debit. Product integration notes: REST Enrichment Inside a Hiring Product: Auth, Credits, Rate Limits, Adding Contact Lookup to an ATS.
How to put Credit B in a procurement note
Copy: prepaid credits; 1 credit only when we return an email, a phone, or both. Empty completed finds are free. Timeouts and errors do not spend. Packs expire in 30 days (Invenitor). Soft mesh; no public hit-rate %. No sequencing required to unlock lookup. Live tiles: /pricing. Docs: /docs.
India buy path: INR Credit Packs, UPI to API Key. PAYG: Pay-As-You-Go Contact APIs. Seat contrast: Seat Subscriptions vs Pay-Per-Lookup Credits. Free-plan traps: The Hidden Cost of "Free Plan" Enrichment Tools. Global INR rail: US Price Arbitrage.
Agent and MCP workloads
Agents must inherit the same semantics. Teach Claude/Cursor: empty ⇒ not found; do not invent; credits only on found. /mcp.md, Claude / Cursor Agents, What Is an MCP Server?, MCP for Recruiting Agents.
Desk SOPs that match billing
Freelance: Freelance Recruiter Workflow. Contract: Contract Recruiters in India. Agency: Agency Desk Playbook. Screening: Screening Calls Faster. Recruiter language: Contact Enrichment Explained for Recruiters. Definition: What Is a LinkedIn Profile URL Lookup?.
Cost models without invented hit rates
Illustrative only: take last month’s shortlist size, run a sample, count found vs empty, apply Credit B, compare to seat invoices. Empties free means honesty does not inflate COGS. GitHub leads use the same rule: GitHub Profile URL Contact Lookup.
What should you do next?
Ask every vendor to write the three outcomes. Prefer found-only Credit B. Try Invenitor free lookups, then a pack on /pricing, and verify ledger matches found outcomes via /docs. Demand semantics – then features.
Refusal list (buyer red flags)
- “Empty completed finds still spend.”
- “Timeouts may debit depending on provider path” with no written rule.
- Invented emails labeled as enrichment.
- Hit-rate % as the primary sales artifact.
- Lookup locked behind sequencer seats.
Boutique India context: India Boutique IT Staffing. Keep Connecting people – without billing fiction.
Ledger reconciliation exercise
After a week of lookups, export found vs empty vs error counts from your sheet or ATS. Match credit spend to found count under Credit B. If they diverge, fix the integration – do not make up contacts. Builders: REST Enrichment Inside a Hiring Product, Adding Contact Lookup to an ATS. Agents: Claude / Cursor Agents, /mcp.md. Desks: Contract Recruiters in India, Screening Calls Faster. Commercial rails: INR Credit Packs, US Price Arbitrage, Pay-As-You-Go Contact APIs. Definition: What Is a LinkedIn Profile URL Lookup?. Free-plan: The Hidden Cost of "Free Plan" Enrichment Tools. /pricing · /docs.
Questions
What billing semantics should buyers demand?
Clear rules for found, empty completed, and timeout/error – Invenitor uses Credit B found-only.
What is Credit B?
1 credit only when we return an email, a phone, or both. Empty completed finds are free. Timeouts and errors do not spend.
Do empty completed finds spend a credit?
No. Empty completed finds are free.
Do timeouts spend a credit?
No. Timeouts and errors do not spend.
Why not publish a hit-rate %?
Soft mesh coverage varies by person and source. Sample your shortlist instead of a brochure %.
Where is pricing?
/pricing – prepaid packs; 30-day expiry.
Do MCP agent calls follow the same rules?
Yes – same Credit B as REST. See /mcp.md.
How does this differ from seat subscriptions?
Seats tax access over time. Credits meter found outcomes – see the seat-vs-credit cost model.
More in this cluster
One Primary Contact, Never Invented: How Honest Lookup Responses Should Look
Honest lookup responses: one primary contact when found, never invented. Empty fields mean not found – how products and desks should render the API.
Read
Empty Means Not Found – Why Guessed Emails Break Hiring
Empty contact fields should mean not found – not a guessed mailbox. Invented emails waste recruiter time, burn trust, and poison ATS data.
Read
Screening Calls Faster: Contact Lookup in the India IT Staffing Funnel
Screening calls faster in the India IT staffing funnel: look up contacts from profile URLs before you dial – empty means not found, INR credits.
Read