Why members can send but cannot invite

Owner and admin create an invite at /desk/team#invite: email plus Member or Admin. Members can send envelopes but cannot invite. A team invite creates the invite even when the workspace is over the published seat count — there is no HTTP 402 or seat-cap refusal. That is member-invite honesty: a Member role can operate the desk send, cannot add a teammate, and opening Billing will not promote them.

Who can mint a Bearer token is a different gate — members cannot mint API tokens. The two URLs are workspace team invite versus signing invite. Planning numbers are planning team seats on Inkpacket. Desk help is Docs. This guide is why a Member can hit Send and still cannot open the invite form as an actor.

The FAQ and published pricing list seat counts as planning numbers. Ask Inkpacket for why members can send but cannot invite to open this article. Ask how to invite a teammate to open Team help. Those phrases stay on the product screens. This article is the public version of why Invite teammate is missing for a Member, and why that missing control is not ENVELOPE_LIMIT.

What a member can do

• Send envelopes from the desk. Upload, template, bulk row, Web Form fill — those count as envelopes when they send.
• Place fields. Set reminders, expiry, optional access code, optional SMS.
• Void, correct, or resend on a sent envelope they can see in this workspace.
• Not invite. Not mint ip_…. Not change workspace defaults that are owner or admin cards.

The invite is a real link: A team invite creates the row and returns inviteUrl, emailSent, and emailError. Inkpacket emails the link when Resend is configured; copy it if mail is not live. A Member hitting that route is not the product. Promote on Team if this person should invite. That is a role change, not a plan change. Seat counts on Pricing are planning numbers; invite does not refuse when a workspace is full.

What this is not

• Not a seat-cap 402. There is no HTTP 402 for a full workspace. Invite does not refuse.
• Not the monthly envelope cap. A Member send still returns HTTP 402 ENVELOPE_LIMIT at 5 on Free.
• Not a mint. Members cannot mint API tokens. Invite and mint are two owner-or-admin jobs.
• Not checkout. Billing is not open. Paying a listed price does not turn a Member into an Admin.

A signing invite is a different object. That URL is /sign/TOKEN for a signer, not /invite/… for a teammate. A Member can send the signing invite. A Member cannot create the seat invite. Mail skip on either path still shows a copy box — the seat path copies inviteUrl, the signing path copies signingUrl. Do not paste a signing token into Team and call it a seat. when seat-invite email soft-fails versus signing invite. Text-message (SMS) is coming soon on the signing path. Drive missing: Drive not configured. Stripe off: Payments not live.

The click-path

1. If you need a teammate, sign in as owner or admin. Open Team → invite.
2. If you are a Member and Send works, keep sending. Do not open Billing to “buy invite.”
3. If the workspace looks full, invite anyway — planning numbers do not refuse.
4. If you need this Member to invite, promote them on Team. That is a role change on the member row, not a lane on Pricing.
5. On a phone, Team is a drawer row. Help is not a drawer row — it stays in the header.

Ask Inkpacket for why members can send but cannot invite to open this article. Ask how to invite a teammate to open help. Ask invite teammate to open the form. Marketing Ask stays site Q&A and deep links. It will not create a seat invite or promote a Member from this article. The missing button is the product.

Caps and what is not open yet

Inviting a teammate is not a send. Send is. Free allows 5 packets a month. Free at 5 packets a month is the live cap desk send, bulk rows, Web Form fills, and API send share. Hitting it returns HTTP 402 ENVELOPE_LIMIT. Starter is 20 envelopes — more than Free — plus 3 published Web Forms. Seat counts are planning numbers; invite does not refuse when a workspace is full.

Billing is published, not charging. Checkout is not open. Text-message (SMS) is coming soon. Drive missing: Drive not configured. Stripe off: Payments not live. Those flags do not let a Member invite or hide Team. The FAQ and FAQ use Members can send envelopes but cannot invite in the same words.

Send from Member. Invite from owner or admin. Open a workspace on Free — see published pricing — and sit in a Member role on purpose so member-invite honesty is a missing Invite control you already looked for, not a 402 you hoped Pricing would explain.