Balance Runs Out: What Happens to Your Campaigns

What happens when your balance runs out?

Your balance is never overdrawn. When it gets too low, Sharklio stops sending new users to your campaigns: a campaign disappears from the offerwall once your available balance cannot cover its price, and it is paused automatically when it cannot cover the next result, with a notification in your dashboard. Completions users already sent stay covered, and offer steps your server reports are recorded and charged as soon as your balance allows.

To get going again, you top up and resume each paused campaign. Nothing restarts by itself, which gives you a moment to check bids and caps before you spend more.

What happens, in order

Running out is rarely sudden. It usually happens in three stages, and each one leaves a sign in your dashboard.

1. The low balance warning

After a charge, if your balance is below twice the highest country price among your active and paused campaigns, or below $3 if that is more, you get a notification titled Your balance is running low. It says how much you have left and warns: “Campaigns stop showing to users when your balance cannot cover their price, and they pause when it cannot cover the next result. Top up to keep them running.” It is sent at most once a day.

2. Hidden from the offerwall

Every time the offerwall loads, it checks your available balance, which is your balance minus the amount on hold for completions that are not decided yet. If that amount is lower than your price for the user’s country, the campaign is not shown to that user. Because prices differ by country, your most expensive countries drop out first. In your campaign list, an active campaign in this state shows Low balance: it is active, but it gets no new completions until your available balance covers one.

3. Paused automatically

The campaign is paused when a result cannot be paid. That happens when a user who started your task earlier sends proof and your available balance cannot cover it, or when a charge itself fails because the balance is too low. You get a notification titled Campaign paused: low balance, which says the campaign “was paused because your balance cannot cover the next completion. Top up, then resume it.” The campaign then shows the alert Paused: your balance ran out. in your campaign list and on the campaign page.

The amount on hold matters here. Holds on your balance, explained shows why a campaign can pause while your total balance still looks healthy.

What happens to work users already sent

Task completions that arrived before you ran low are safe. Their price was set aside when the proof came in, so you can still approve them, reject them with a reason, and answer disputes as usual. If you do nothing, they are approved automatically when your review window ends, just as on any other day.

This is the point of holds: a user who did the work is never left unpaid because the advertiser’s money ran out afterwards.

Offer campaigns: steps waiting for balance

Offer campaigns are paid when your server reports a step with a postback. If your balance cannot cover a reported step, the step is still recorded, the campaign is paused, and the postback response returns the result waiting_for_balance with the message: “The conversion was recorded. It is charged and credited as soon as your balance covers” the price of the step.

• The campaign page shows these steps under Waiting for balance, and the Balance page lists them as offer steps waiting for balance, with their total.
• They are charged and credited to the user automatically once your balance covers them. You do not need to resume the campaign for that.
• Steps from users who clicked before the pause are still recorded while the campaign is paused, as long as the click is not older than 30 days.
• An offer step is charged only if your balance covers it after everything held for your task campaigns, so task completions users already sent are always paid first.

Keep in mind that part of your next top-up may go straight to these waiting steps. Multi-step offer campaigns covers how offer steps and postbacks work in general.

What users see

• New users simply do not see your campaign on the offerwall. Nothing tells them why.
• A user halfway through your task who sends proof after you ran low is told “This offer is not available right now.” If the campaign is already paused, they see “This offer has ended.” Either way, the work they did is not paid, which is frustrating for them.
• A user who reached an offer step while the step waits for balance sees it as Pending review in their History, not as credited. The offerwall tells users that offer steps are usually credited instantly but can take up to 24 hours, and to email support if one is still missing after that.

The second and third groups are the reason to avoid running dry, even briefly. Users remember tasks that ended under them.

How to top up and resume

1. Click Balance in the sidebar. Under Top up with crypto, pick or type an amount of at least $10 and click Pay with crypto. Your balance is credited automatically once the payment is confirmed. How to top up your balance walks through each step.
2. Check Available to spend on the Balance page. That is the amount your campaigns can actually use.
3. Open Campaigns and click Resume on each paused campaign, either in the list or on the campaign page.

If your available balance still cannot cover the lowest country price of that campaign, resuming fails with: “Your balance is too low to run this campaign. Top up your balance first, then resume it.” A campaign marked Paused by our team is a different case: it was not paused for balance, and only our team can resume it.

How to avoid running out

• Treat the warning as your cue. The low balance notification arrives while your campaigns are still running. Top up then, not after the pause.
• Keep room above On hold. Your campaigns spend from Available to spend, not from your total balance. Leave enough for several completions at your highest country price.
• Set daily spend caps and budgets. A daily cap spreads spending over time, and a total budget per campaign stops one busy campaign from using the money meant for the others. Campaign budgets and caps explained shows how. A campaign that reaches its budget shows Completed, not Paused.
• Review on time. Deciding completions releases the money held for rejections, so more of your balance is available.
• Check before busy periods. If you raise bids or add countries, check that your available balance can carry the extra volume.

Frequently asked questions