DeepSeek API Top-Up: Payment Methods, the Extra 6%, 402 Insufficient Balance, Card Declined Fixes, and Paying with a Prepaid Virtual Card (USDT / USDC) — 2026

DeepSeek API top-up, short answer: the DeepSeek API is prepaid. You add balance on the Top Up page of platform.deepseek.com, and every request is deducted from it; when it reaches zero the API returns 402 Insufficient Balance. The English FAQ lists four ways to pay: PayPal, bank card, Alipay and WeChat Pay. Expect the charge to be 6% higher than the amount you pick: on our own cards every DeepSeek top-up was exactly the round amount × 1.06 ($20 became $21.20), which matches the 6% VAT rate DeepSeek states for its invoices. If your local card or PayPal does not work, a prepaid virtual card bought with USDT or USDC, such as Pink Card from pinkcard.cc, can be used directly or added to your own PayPal.

Written by the Pink Card team (pinkcard.cc). DeepSeek rules are taken from the DeepSeek API docs (pricing, error codes, balance API), the DeepSeek FAQ and the DeepSeek Open Platform terms as of October 2026 and may change; the Top Up page shows the exact amount. Pink Card fees are those shown on the purchase page on 2026-10-17. Pink Card is not affiliated with DeepSeek.

How DeepSeek billing works

• Prepaid balance: you top up first, usage is deducted per token. The pricing page says fees are taken from your topped-up balance or granted balance, “with a preference for using the granted balance first”.
• Topped-up balance does not expire (DeepSeek FAQ). Granted (free) balance can expire.
• Prices per 1M tokens (October 2026, USD): deepseek-flash input $0.15 off-peak / $0.30 peak (cache hit $0.003 / $0.006), output $0.60 / $1.20; deepseek-v4-pro input $0.66 / $1.32, output $1.98 / $3.96. Peak is 01:00–04:00 and 06:00–10:00 UTC on weekdays; off-peak is half price.
• Balances exist in USD or CNY (the balance API reports either currency). The English site prices in USD.
• Refunds: unused balance can be refunded from Billing → Refunds. Per the terms, the whole remaining balance is refunded at once (no partial refunds), minus handling fees; amounts already spent are not refunded.

Why the charge is 6% higher

Every DeepSeek charge we have seen on our cards is a round number times 1.06: $4.24 ($4), $12.72 ($12), $21.20 ($20), $76.32 ($72). DeepSeek’s Chinese invoice FAQ states a 6% VAT rate on its “technology service fee”, and other users report the same 6% on top-ups. The English pages do not spell this out, so treat it as our observation rather than an official rule, and load 6% more than the balance you want, plus any card fee.

Why a DeepSeek top-up gets declined

1. The issuing bank refuses a foreign online charge. Many local cards block cross-border payments to Hong Kong or China-based merchants by default.
2. The balance covers the amount you typed but not the amount plus 6%. A card holding exactly $20 cannot pay a $20 top-up, because the charge is $21.20.
3. Billing details do not match what the issuer has on file.
4. The card is frozen, expired or over a limit. On our cards, a locked card got “Card Blocked” on seven attempts in three days, and one card hit its monthly limit.
5. Too many attempts in a row. Retrying the same card, or switching between direct card payment and PayPal every minute, triggers risk checks; waiting a few hours is usually the fix.
6. PayPal refuses the funding card. Through PayPal the charge shows a PayPal merchant name, and PayPal applies its own checks to the card you linked.

What 402 Insufficient Balance means

DeepSeek’s error code page: 402 Insufficient Balance, “You have run out of balance”, fix it by checking your balance and adding funds on the Top up page. It is not a card problem and it does not retry anything on your card. The terms also allow DeepSeek to suspend service when the balance is insufficient, so for apps in production keep a buffer and watch the balance endpoint (GET /user/balance returns total, granted and topped-up balance).

Fix it in this order

1. Stop retrying. Check Billing to see whether any top-up actually went through before paying again.
2. Work out the real charge: top-up amount × 1.06, plus about $1 if your prepaid card charges per transaction.
3. Check card number, expiry, CVV and billing address exactly as the issuer has them.
4. Pay once, either by card directly or through PayPal, not both in a loop.
5. If the same card fails twice, wait several hours or use a different card.

Does a prepaid virtual card work for DeepSeek?

We checked DeepSeek charges on our own cards. Seven top-ups succeeded on four different Pink Cards between May and September 2026: three charged directly (merchant “DeepSeek HONG KONG” / “DeepSeek HK”: $4.24, $4.24, $12.72) and four through PayPal (merchant names “SHENDUQRWEA …” and “PAYPAL *DEEPSEERWEA …”: $21.20, $5.30, $2.12, $76.32). Eight attempts failed: seven on one card that was locked at the time (“Card Blocked”, $53.00 to $99.64), and one that went over the card’s monthly limit. That same card later paid $76.32 through PayPal once it was unlocked. The sample is small, so we cannot promise every card and every charge will pass.

Top up DeepSeek with a prepaid virtual card (USDT or USDC)

1. Open pinkcard.cc/en and choose an amount: presets start at $110 ($110, $220, $500, $1000), or enter a custom amount from $100.
2. Pay with USDT on BEP-20 (shown as BSC or BNB Smart Chain on most exchanges; network fee usually under $1) or ERC-20, or with USDC on ERC-20. Send exactly the amount shown, on exactly the network you picked.
3. Enter your email twice. No account and no sign-up are needed.
4. The card number, expiry, CVV and billing address arrive by email about 1–2 minutes after the payment confirms (check spam).
5. On platform.deepseek.com open Top Up, choose the amount, pay by bank card with the card and billing address from the email (or add the card to your own PayPal first), and submit once.
6. Top up the same card when it runs low. The number does not change. Card top-ups usually arrive within about 30 minutes, so top up the card before your DeepSeek balance hits zero.

How much to load (worked examples)

• One $20 DeepSeek top-up: $21.20 charged + $1 per transaction = $22.20 from the card.
• A $110 card: about four $20 top-ups (4 × $22.20 = $88.80) with room for the $2.50 monthly fee, or one $90 top-up ($95.40 + $1).
• Fewer, larger top-ups cost less in per-transaction fees than many $2–5 ones. Topped-up balance on DeepSeek does not expire.
• Paying for a $110 card: ($110 + $10) × 1.03 = $123.60. Topping up $100 later: $5 + ($100 + $5) × 5% = $10.25 in fees, $110.25 in total.

Pink Card fees (as of 2026-10-17)

• Card issuance: $10 one-time, plus a 3% service fee on (card amount + $10).
• From the card balance after activation: $1 per transaction and $2.50 per month.
• Failed authorizations are charged $1 too (at most 3 failed charges per card per month), so do not retry a declined top-up in a loop.
• Top-up of the same card: $5 plus 5% of (top-up amount + $5), usually on the card within about 30 minutes. Full fee table: pinkcard.cc/en/fees.
• Once the card details are emailed, the order cannot be cancelled, so double-check your email address before paying.

Routing DeepSeek and other models through OpenRouter instead? See: OpenRouter payment methods and card declined fixes

Paying OpenAI or Anthropic API credits too? See: Pay OpenAI and Anthropic API credits with USDT or USDC

Hosting the app that calls the API on Cloudflare? See: Cloudflare payment failed: fixes and paying with a prepaid card

Related guides: a comparison of prepaid virtual cards at pinkcard.cc/en/guides/prepaid-virtual-cards-for-ai-subscriptions-compared. Fees: pinkcard.cc/en/fees. The Pink Card Android app (Google Play: cc.pinkcard.app) shows the balance and every transaction.

FAQ