Pass-Through Fees

Pass-through fees allow the merchant to add a fee to the payor to offset the cost of processing. Payabli allows partners to submit a fee via API, or automatically calculate and apply the fee on Payabli’s hosted payment solutions, like payment pages and virtual terminals.

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Considerations

Keep these considerations in mind when working with pass-through fees in Payabli.

• Card networks govern fees. Before you decide on your fee strategy, talk with the Payabli team to learn about best practices.
• Payabli helps you configure fee structure during merchant boarding.
• You must contact Payabli support to change fees or configuration options.
• Fees are non-refundable. To prevent disputes, Payabli recommends letting your customers know this before they pay.

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Fee configuration

In addition to setting a percentage or dollar amount for fees, there are other configuration options. Contact Payabli to change these settings. See the API transaction examples section for examples of how these settings work.

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Fees with API transactions

To charge a fee when running transactions via an API request or an embedded component, you must include the serviceFee value and a totalAmount value that includes the transaction amount plus the pass-through fee. The serviceFee is always a dollar amount, not a percentage.

If Payabli API receives totalAmount and serviceFee, the system compares the values to the pricing configuration for the paypoint.

System compares these values with configuration settings based on calculated serviceFee amount:

• If serviceFee is equal to the calculated value from the pricing configuration, then the transaction goes through. Payabli compares to 2 decimals and accepts a serviceFee plus or minus 1 penny.
• If serviceFee is greater than the calculated value from the pricing configurations, and if “Accept Greater value allowed config” is true, the pass-through fee goes through. If false, then entire transaction is rejected with return code 5006.
• If serviceFee is less than the calculated value from the pricing configuration, and “Absorb difference?” is true then the pass-through fee transmitted is processed, but the merchant absorbs the price difference. If false, then entire transaction is rejected with return code 5005.

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API transaction examples

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Absorb fee example

In these examples, a 3% pass-through fee configured for the paypoint.

Example 1:

With the Absorb fee configuration option set to true, the merchant runs a transaction with a $100.00 subtotal, plus a $1.00 pass-through fee. The payor pays $101.00 total. This leaves the merchant to pay the $2.00 difference. $98.00 is transferred to the merchant when the batch is funded.

Example 2:

With the Absorb fee configuration option set to false, the merchant sends a pass-through fee of $1.00 with the transaction. The API returns a 5005 error code because the fee sent is less than the amount configured at the paypoint level. The system expects a 3% fee, which would equal $3.00 on the $100.00 subtotal, and the paypoint isn’t set up to absorb a fee difference.

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Fee greater than configured fee example

In these examples, a 3% pass-through fee configured for the paypoint.

Example 1:

The Accept greater value allowed for fee? configuration is set to true. The merchant makes a transaction via the API. The subtotal is $100. According to the paypoint’s fee setting, the fee should be equal to $3.00. Instead, the merchant adds a $5.00 pass-through fee, for a grand total of $105.00. This pass-through fee equals 5%. The fee is accepted and the transaction goes through. The merchant receives $100.00 when the batch is funded and the payor is charged $105.00.

Example 2:

The Accept greater value allowed for fee? configuration is set to false. You make a transaction via the API. The subtotal is $100.00. You add a $4.00 fee, for a grand total of $104.00. This fee equals 4%. The pass-through fee is rejected with a 5006 error code, and the transaction doesn’t go through.

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Fees with UI transactions

Configuring fees at the paypoint level automatically applies the fees to every transaction the paypoint runs using any of Payabli’s hosted payment solutions. You only need to explicitly send pass-through fee amounts when making transactions using the API or embedded components.