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Tell HN: Anthropic expires paid credits after a year

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Re: Tell HN: Anthropic expires paid credits after a year

#51

Post by mrbungie »

msgodel wrote: post #46
mrbungie wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, obviously it does cost compute (to them) but customers are not paying for the compute per-se, but rather for correct results/outcomes. This is a big alignment and accountability problem, relevant enough to some make companies like Lovable refund credits to customers when errors and token/credit mishandlings are too serious to ignore. That seems unsustainable in the long run though. I expect this to become even b…

Users are charged for compute and whether the outcome is positive or negative doesn't cost more for the company. I don't see where you got the idea that there are incentives to waste tokens. EDIT (can't reply): Have you never run a business before? Dating apps are weird because you can't have repeat customers without failing to deliver. With literally everything else repeat customers are what you want to optimize for…

EDIT (can't reply): Have you never run a business before?

Hmm, yes?, and I've seen perverse incentives ruin things even when business-client alignment should be clear. Agency problems and stupid execs/investors are a thing.

And honestly, we're leaning into implied ad hominems here ("have you never run a business?"), so I'm not engaging with you anymore.

Re: Tell HN: Anthropic expires paid credits after a year

#52

Post by jkaplowitz »

yial wrote: post #40
jkaplowitz wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Exactly, now you’re a bank (or maybe selling unlicensed securities, either way it’s jeopardy). This seems unlikely - after all, a US federal law (the Credit CARD Act of 2009) requires closed-loop (store/brand-specific) gift cards to be valid for at least 5 years after activation and some states like Florida and California don't allow them to expire at all, so for simplicity national companies don't usually let them…

With gift cards you end up creating a liabilities account and tracking the outstanding value of your issued gift cards. This is almost easier if you have a gift card processor who holds the funds for you, but most I’ve worked with either just facilitate transferring money (as in franchises ) or simply processing the initial payment. This means you then have to track your outstanding. Depending on the state, if you ce…

Yeah, having to track (and under certain circumstances resolve) the liability is what I meant by financially worse on the accounting statements. An entirely real downside that’s valid to choose to avoid, but which is also not the kind of jeopardy that compares to operating a bank or selling securities without the proper regulatory approvals. That was my main point to the other commenter.

Re: Tell HN: Anthropic expires paid credits after a year

#53

Post by verdverm »

Here's an idea, bill me for usage and let me set limits, instead of this pay upfront and if you don't use it we keep it model

Anthropic tried to charge my card a few weeks back, but fortunately it was declined by my card. I haven't used their service in 6+ months, but they still want to try and take my money

Re: Tell HN: Anthropic expires paid credits after a year

#54

Post by ethan_smith »

backprop1989 wrote: post #6

Accounting rules. If the credits last indefinitely, any unused credits cannot be counted as revenue. Ran into this at my last company when we signed a big contract and gave them hundreds of thousands of dollars in non-expiring credits. Our accountant went nuts when we told him.

This is specifically about revenue recognition under accrual accounting - unexpired credits are considered "deferred revenue" (a liability) until used or expired. Companies prefer definite expiration dates to avoid carrying growing liabilities on their balance sheets indefinitely.

Re: Tell HN: Anthropic expires paid credits after a year

#55

Post by ksec »

backprop1989 wrote: post #6

Accounting rules. If the credits last indefinitely, any unused credits cannot be counted as revenue. Ran into this at my last company when we signed a big contract and gave them hundreds of thousands of dollars in non-expiring credits. Our accountant went nuts when we told him.

What about Starbucks top up card or Apple iTunes Credit?

How would those work?

Re: Tell HN: Anthropic expires paid credits after a year

#57

Post by bpavuk »

ksec wrote: post #55
backprop1989 wrote: post #6

Accounting rules. If the credits last indefinitely, any unused credits cannot be counted as revenue. Ran into this at my last company when we signed a big contract and gave them hundreds of thousands of dollars in non-expiring credits. Our accountant went nuts when we told him.

What about Starbucks top up card or Apple iTunes Credit? How would those work?

unlike Anthropic, iTunes and Starbucks are profitable.

suppose iTunes gets $1 from every $5 spent there. if Apple sold a $50 gift card, it can pocket $10 and not worry about it. Anthropic, OTOH, sells their API at loss, so unused credits mean losses that await to be materialized. it is unprofitable for them to let you keep the compute bucks forever.

Re: Tell HN: Anthropic expires paid credits after a year

#58

Post by aldousd666 »

I got a notice like this about my credits. It was only $30, so it was a good reason to try out claude code for the first time. I probably would have kept putting it off if I hadn't run into the threat of expiring credits. I know that isn't why they do it, but it had that effect on me.

Re: Tell HN: Anthropic expires paid credits after a year

#59

Post by richwater »

OutOfHere wrote: post #42
georgel wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lost my free credits they were giving away a couple years back, but when you pay they make it fairly clear they will expire. I see no issues here from any provider doing this, as long as it is made clear.

Even though they do make it clear, one should still have an issue with providers doing it. The reason is that various providers like Uber, Lyft, Namecheap, and some cloud vendors, etc. do not do it at all. As such it is a fairly unethical practice.

> Even though they do make it clear

> As such, it is theft, plain and simple

What?

Re: Tell HN: Anthropic expires paid credits after a year

#60

Post by [deleted] »

richwater wrote: post #59
OutOfHere wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even though they do make it clear, one should still have an issue with providers doing it. The reason is that various providers like Uber, Lyft, Namecheap, and some cloud vendors, etc. do not do it at all. As such it is a fairly unethical practice.

> Even though they do make it clear > As such, it is theft, plain and simple What?

[deleted]
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