An RCS message is charged for according to what it contains — not according to
which type you picked in the
[campaign](https://www.bulkgate.com/en/helpdesk/campaign/rcs-business-messaging-rbm-campaign/). There are three
rates and the portal decides between them on its own.

## The rates you are charged by

| Rate | When it applies |
|:--|:--|
| **Basic** | Plain text up to 160 characters, with no buttons |
| **Single** | Longer text, buttons, an image, a card or a carousel |
| **Session** | The recipient replies and opens a conversation |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> **A single button is enough to lose the basic rate.** The portal only applies
> it when the message has at most 160 characters **and** no buttons at all. The
> moment one of those fails, it is charged as a single message.

Prices per rate and country are in the [price list](https://www.bulkgate.com/en/helpdesk/general-information/using-price-list/).

## Message types in a campaign

When building an [RCS campaign](https://www.bulkgate.com/en/helpdesk/campaign/rcs-business-messaging-rbm-campaign/)
you pick from five types. The rate follows from them automatically:

| Type | What it holds | Rate |
|:--|:--|:--|
| **Text (Basic)** | A short plain message, 160 characters max | always basic |
| **Text (Single)** | Text up to 5,000 characters, formatting, buttons | basic, or single |
| **Rich Card** | A title, description, image or video, and buttons | always single |
| **Carousel** | Several cards side by side to swipe through | always single |
| **File** | A standalone image, video or document | always single |

### Content limits

| Field | Limit |
|:--|:--|
| Text (Basic) | 160 characters |
| Text (Single) | 5,000 characters |
| Card title | 200 characters |
| Card description | 2,000 characters |
| Button label | 25 characters |
| Carousel | at least one card |

The text supports accented characters, emoji and basic formatting (bold, italics,
underline).

## Message lifetime

Every message carries a lifetime — if the handset does not pick it up in time, it
is dropped. The default is **60 seconds** and it can be set anywhere from
**10 seconds** to **15 days**.

> [!TIP]
> A short lifetime suits one-time codes and time-bound offers. For an ordinary
> message set it longer, so the message waits until the recipient is back on the
> network.

## Conversations (sessions)

When the recipient **replies within 24 hours**, a conversation opens: one session
is charged and further messages sent inside its window are not counted
separately. The conversation lasts 24 hours from the first reply, after which it
can be started again the same way.

> [!NOTE]
> A conversation only arises for an agent registered in the **Conversational**
> billing category. With the Basic and Single message categories the recipient can
> still reply, but no conversation opens and every message you send is charged on
> its own.

> [!IMPORTANT]
> A message sent over RCS is charged as a 24-hour session first. If the recipient
> does not reply within 24 hours, it is re-charged as a single message and the
> difference is returned to your account. The recipient pays nothing for replying
> — only for data, so on Wi-Fi the reply costs them nothing.

## Agent billing category

You choose the category when
[registering the RCS sender](https://www.bulkgate.com/en/helpdesk/rcs/sender-registration-rcs/) and it should
match how the agent behaves:

| Category | Who it is for |
|:--|:--|
| **Basic message** | The agent mostly sends short text messages and expects no replies — typically an upgrade from SMS to RCS |
| **Single message** | The agent sends rich content and expects no replies |
| **Conversational** | The agent holds a two-way dialogue; a reply opens a 24-hour conversation |

The agent's category does not restrict what you may send — an agent in the Basic
message category can send a card too and will be charged the single rate for it.
It only decides whether a conversation can arise at all.

The conditions for registering agents are described in the
[Google documentation for RCS Business Messaging](https://developers.google.com/business-communications/rcs-business-messaging/guides/build/agents/).