This topic describes the impacts of overdue payments, resource status changes, and refund rules for VPN Gateway.
Overdue payment rules
Your account becomes overdue when the available balance — including your Alibaba Cloud account balance, vouchers, and coupons — is insufficient to cover outstanding bills. You will be notified by text message and email.
The impact of an overdue payment varies depending on the billing method of each resource.
Standard VPN Gateway instances (subscription)
A Standard VPN Gateway instance is a prepaid resource. An overdue account balance does not affect instances that are still within their subscription period. However, you cannot purchase new instances, upgrade configurations, or renew subscriptions. After an instance expires, its status changes as follows:
Stage | Time | Status | Impact |
Expiration | On the expiration date | Suspended | Traffic forwarding stops. Configuration is preserved and service resumes immediately upon renewal. |
Grace period | Within 7 days after expiration | Suspended | |
Release | More than 7 days after expiration | Automatically released | All configuration and data are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered. |
A reminder is sent by text message and email one day before the instance is released. Ensure that you renew the instance during the grace period. For details, see top-up and Renew a Standard VPN Gateway instance.
IPsec-VPN connection (pay-as-you-go)
When an IPsec-VPN connection is bound to an Enhanced VPN Gateway or transit router instance, it is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. If your account becomes overdue, the connection status changes as follows:
Stage | Condition | Status | Impact |
Overdue Payment Protection | The overdue amount is within your Overdue Payment Protection quota. | Normal service | Top up your account as soon as possible. For details, see Online top-up. |
Service suspension | The overdue amount exceeds your Overdue Payment Protection quota. | Suspended | Service resumes automatically once the outstanding balance is paid. |
Release | The outstanding balance remains unpaid for 15 days after service suspension. | Automatically released | All configuration and data are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered. |
Alibaba Cloud provides the extended suspension-free benefit. When a pay-as-you-go resource is overdue, you can continue to use cloud services for a certain amount or duration. Normal fees apply during the extended period. For more information, see Extended Suspension-Free Benefit.
A reminder is sent by text message and email one day before release. After the IPsec-VPN connection is released, all configuration and data are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.
If an IPsec-VPN connection is bound to a transit router instance and your account becomes overdue, the transit router instance is also affected. For details, see Overdue status of transit routers.
Refund rules
Standard VPN Gateway instance: If you no longer need a subscription instance, you can request a refund. For details about refund rules and procedures, see Refund rules and procedures.
IPsec-VPN connection (bound to an Enhanced VPN Gateway or transit router instance): Refunds are not supported.