Monthly allowances, purchase packs, and the surprisingly simple math of turning photographs into metadata.
How Credits Work
Every AI scan — whether you're creating a new book via AI Book Scanning or enriching an existing one via AI Enrich — costs exactly one credit. One credit per book, regardless of whether you submit one photo or three.
This is intentional. You're scanning one book, not one photo. The AI reads all your images together to build one coherent record. Charging per photo would penalize thoroughness, and we'd rather you included the colophon.
Where Credits Come From
Monthly Allowance
Your subscription tier includes a monthly allocation:
| Tier | Monthly Scans |
|---|---|
| Collector (free) | 0 |
| Collector Pro | 10 |
| Dealer | 50 |
Monthly credits reset on the first of each month. Unused monthly credits don't roll over — use them or lose them. This isn't an airline miles program.
Purchase Packs
Need more? Buy credit packs in Settings → Billing:
| Pack | Scans | Price | Per scan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 25 | €2.50 | €0.10 |
| Regular | 100 | €7.50 | €0.075 |
| Bulk | 500 | €29.00 | €0.058 |
Purchased credits never expire. They're yours until you use them. The more you buy, the less each scan costs — standard volume pricing, no tricks.
Payments are one-time charges through Mollie, the same payment provider handling subscriptions. After purchase, you're redirected to Settings with a confirmation.
Which Credits Get Used First
Shelvd uses your monthly credits first, then dips into purchased credits. This maximizes the value of credits you paid for separately — they're only consumed when your free monthly allowance runs dry.
You can see the breakdown at any time:
- Scan page — balance shown at the top before you scan
- Settings → Billing — full breakdown of monthly remaining + purchased balance
Low-Credit Warnings
Shelvd nudges you when credits are running low:
- 3 or fewer remaining — an info toast after each scan: "3 AI Scan(s) remaining"
- 0 remaining — a warning toast: "No AI Scans remaining. Buy more in Settings."
The scan button disables at zero. No overdrafts, no surprise charges. You see the wall before you hit it.
Checking Your Balance
Three places:
- Scan page (
/books/scan) — your balance is displayed prominently above the upload area - Settings → Billing — shows monthly included, monthly remaining, and purchased balance
- After every scan — the response includes your updated balance
What Happens on Downgrade
If you cancel your Pro or Dealer subscription:
- Monthly credits stop — no more free monthly allocation after your subscription ends
- Purchased credits remain — they never expire, even on the free tier
- But you can't use them — AI Scanning requires the
ai_scanningfeature, which is gated to Pro and Dealer
So: your purchased credits are safe. They'll be waiting if you resubscribe. But you can't spend them without an active paid subscription. Think of them as money in a savings account at a bank that's closed on weekends.
Why Credits Exist
Each AI scan sends your photos to a vision model (Claude by Anthropic), which charges per image analyzed. The cost to Shelvd is real and per-scan. Credits are the mechanism that makes this sustainable without hiding the cost in a higher subscription price that everyone pays regardless of usage.
If you never scan, you don't subsidize those who scan fifty books a month. If you scan a lot, you can buy exactly as many credits as you need. The math is transparent and the pricing is printed above.
See also: AI Book Scanning · AI Enrich · Tiers & Plans · Settings Guide