Completing Elite checkout

Upgrading to the Elite plan is a short, self-service flow. This article walks you through the steps from the Billing area to a confirmed Elite account, what each step is doing behind the scenes, and how to recover if something goes wrong.

Before you start

• Make sure you are signed in as the Investigator account that will hold the subscription. If multiple people share a workspace, the Owner of the account is usually the right person to upgrade.
• Have your card details ready. NearbySpy uses Authorize.Net as the payment gateway, so the card is collected through Authorize.Net's secure form, not stored in NearbySpy's database.
• Decide on monthly or annual. The annual plan is one charge for twelve months and is typically less than twelve monthly charges.

Step 1 — Open the upgrade page

From your Investigator dashboard, open the Billing area and choose Upgrade to Elite. You can also reach this flow from any Elite-gated feature — for example, opening DocuVault on a non-Elite account will route you here. See Why DocuVault requires Elite for context on which features trigger the upgrade prompt.

Step 2 — Confirm the plan and price

The checkout summary shows the plan name, the renewal cadence (monthly or annual), the amount you will be charged today, and the date the next renewal will hit. If you have any active credits or promotions, they are applied here before payment. If the price looks wrong, stop and check Pricing information for Investigators before continuing.

Step 3 — Enter payment details

The card form is hosted by Authorize.Net. NearbySpy receives a token and the metadata it needs to display your billing history (card brand, last four digits, expiration). The full card number does not pass through NearbySpy's servers. If your bank requires 3-D Secure or a one-time verification code, you will be prompted on this screen.

Step 4 — Confirm and submit

Press the confirm button to authorize the charge. The page will show a brief in-progress state while the gateway processes the payment. Do not refresh during this step — duplicate submissions are blocked, but waiting is faster than recovering from a half-completed flow.

Step 5 — Verify Elite is active

You will land on a confirmation screen with the new plan, the renewal date, and a receipt summary. The same details appear immediately in Billing. Elite-gated features turn on right away — refresh DocuVault, Featured placements, and Scout to see the new tier reflected.

If something fails

• Card declined — try a different card or contact your bank. Issuing banks often block large or unusual charges.
• 3-D Secure timed out — start the checkout again. The original attempt is automatically voided when a new one starts.
• Confirmation page never loads — check the Billing area. If the upgrade went through, your plan will already show as Elite. If it does not, you can retry safely; you will not be double-charged.