Add Transaction Fees to Credit Card Payments

The payment integrations offer form owners the ability to collect payments with their order forms. By connecting to the payment processor, collecting payments makes online transactions much safer. Most services add a small processing fee to each transaction (although Formsite doesn’t), and some form owners ask how to add transaction fees to each order.

Most payment processing services charge around 3% for each transaction. While that’s not a large amount on individual amounts, those fees add up with many transactions. Other times the organization’s funding or reimbursements only cover the amount of the order. These cases may not be able to absorb extra fees.

Add Transaction Fees

The easiest way to add any fees is to add the appropriate pricing item to the form. For example, if the transaction fee is 3%, adding a Radio Button Percent item is needed. The percentages use a decimal format so add 3% as .03. Also be sure the item is set to apply the percentage as an addition, not a discount.

Multiple Payment Methods

To allow customers the choice to pay via credit card or check, those customers who choose to pay by check should not include the extra fees. To add transaction fees to only credit card payments, one method is:

1. Use a Radio Button item asking how the visitor wants to pay (credit card or check)
2. Add a Page Break item to the bottom of the form
3. Move the Radio Button Percent item to the last page, along with any other credit card specific items
4. Go to Form Settings -> Success Pages and make a Pay By Check success page
5. Do not enable the Pay By Check payment integration. Add the Pay By Check information to the success page.
6. Go to the Rules page and make a page rule on the next-to-last page to skip to the Pay By Check success page when the payment method question is answered Pay By Check
7. Test the form

Note that this technique bypasses the payment process so if a Notification’s conditional logic sends after a successful payment, another Notification will need to be made without that logic.

Interested in seeing one of our forms? Check out our online credit card order template today.

For an example, take a look at our online payment form by check.