The registration fee for a country on request

Some countries only allow texts from a sender name that has been registered there first. You can ask for one. The first business that asks pays the registration fee; every business that asks after that pays nothing.

Sixteen countries are on request (the list is in Countries for text messages). Fifteen of them need a sender name registered with that country’s registry before a text can go there. The sixteenth, Japan, needs a turnda phone number instead of a registration. turnda does the registration once, for everyone. The business that pays for it is the one that asked first.

Mei’s café has a second branch in Singapore. The form for Singapore says the registration costs US$660 for the first year, then US$195 a year, charged when turnda starts the registration. It also says that if the registry refuses, she would get back only about US$4, because once the registry has been paid it keeps everything it was paid (about US$617). If the registry refused before anything was filed, she would lose only the card fee. Mei ticks and sends. Nobody else has asked, so she is first in line and becomes the business that pays.

turnda charges her card, then files with the registry. About two to four weeks later the registry says yes, she gets an email, and the chip says Ready. Her friend Kofi asks for Singapore a month later. His chip says Mei’s Café is paying — you won’t be charged, and when it is ready he can switch on at no cost for the registration.

These amounts are an example. The form always shows the exact amounts for the country you pick.

If the fee amount is not known yet, nothing is charged. The form says so, and turnda tells you the exact amount in the app. You then press Approve the fee. You have 30 days to approve it; after that the request closes by itself and you pay nothing.

• The registry’s decision. turnda files the request. Whether it says yes, and when, is up to the registry.
• The registry’s own fee and the card fee on a refusal. They are not returned by the registry or the payment provider, so they cannot come back to you.
• Your bank. Declines and confirmation requests are your bank’s.
• The date a registry closes a country. It is theirs to set.