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Paying with Telegram Stars

Telegram does not let a website charge a card directly. Stars are the way round it: you buy them from Telegram with your card, then spend them here. Two purchases, a minute apart.

Why two steps

Stars are Telegram's own currency. Telegram sells them for money; we only ever take Stars. That means nobody here sees your card — the card details go to Telegram, or to Apple or Google, and never to us.

  1. Step 1 — buy Stars

    Open Telegram and message @PremiumBot, the official Stars bot. Choose an amount and pay with your card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. If you already have enough Stars, skip straight to step 2.

    Cheaper on a computer. Buying Stars in the iPhone or iPad app goes through Apple's in-app purchase, and Apple's cut is added to the price. The same Stars bought in Telegram Desktop or Telegram Web usually cost noticeably less.

  2. Step 2 — spend them here

    Back on our site, pick your plan and press the payment button. Telegram opens with an invoice from our bot. Confirm it, and the plan is on your account before you have switched back.

    This is the step people miss. Buying Stars is not paying us — the Stars sit in your Telegram account until you spend them. If your balance here has not changed, this is almost always why.

What happens next

The page you left open notices the payment by itself, usually within a couple of seconds, and your balance updates without a refresh. Nothing renews: when the period ends, it ends, and you will not be charged again.

If something goes wrong

I paid and nothing arrived
Give it a minute — a payment occasionally lands slowly. If it still is not there, write to @dkocokdfebot with the time you paid and we will find it. Every payment is recorded, so nothing is lost.
I was signed in as somebody else
The invoice is tied to the account that opened it, not to your Telegram username, so the credits go wherever you pressed the button. If you were signed into the wrong account, write to us and we will move them.
My card was charged more than the price
Telegram takes a fee on Stars, and on an iPhone Apple takes one too. The plan's price is what reaches us; the difference is theirs, not ours. Buying Stars on a computer avoids the second fee.
Can I get a refund
Yes, for a plan you have not used. Write to @dkocokdfebot. Telegram runs the refund itself and the Stars go back to your Telegram account.
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