What is a conversation?
Exactly what ShopAssist counts as a billable conversation, including blocks, idle time, the premium multiplier and what is never counted.
ShopAssist bills conversations, not messages or tokens. One billable conversation is:
- a block of up to 30 AI replies,
- within a conversation where messages are less than 24 hours apart.
How counting works
A conversation starts counting at the first AI reply that reaches the shopper. Every started block of 30 AI replies counts once: replies 1–30 are one conversation, the next reply starts the second.
If the shopper comes back after 24 hours or more without any message, the next AI reply starts a new billable conversation.
Premium models
With managed AI on a premium model, each block counts 3. If you switch to a premium model in the middle of a block, the current block stays at 1 and the next block counts the multiplier. With your own key (BYOK), every block counts 1.
Never counted
- Playground, preview and test-link conversations.
- Conversations from your staff IP addresses (Settings → Privacy → Staff IP exclusions, up to 10 ranges).
- Proactive messages, human agent messages and system messages.
- Replies that failed before anything reached the shopper, and repeated requests for the same message.
- Conversations blocked by abuse protection before a block started.
Handing off to a person never changes the count, and the assistant's resolution is never billed.
Examples
| Conversation | Counted |
|---|---|
| A shopper asks 3 questions | 1 |
| 45 AI replies in one sitting | 2 |
| 3 AI replies, an agent chats for 2 hours, then 40 more AI replies | 2 |
| 2 replies today, the shopper returns 2 days later for 2 more | 2 |
| 10 replies on a premium managed model | 3 |
Usage is counted in the month in which a block starts.
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