Credit card processing fee

Requires.

• Invoice Billable Item Management with Modify to set or change the company percent.
• Invoices with Create or Modify to add the fee on an invoice.

A credit card processing fee (also called a CC fee, convenience fee, or card surcharge) is a percentage of the amount due, added as its own invoice line. Two different people do two different jobs:

1. An admin turns the fee on by setting the percent on a catalog item that every company already has.
2. Staff add that line on an invoice with Quick Add before they take a card over the phone. Customers who click Pay Now can get the same line automatically.

Do not create a new billable item for this. Do not type $3.00 as the fee.

Who sets it up

Someone with Invoice Billable Item Management Modify sets the percent once for the whole company.

1. Go to Admin → Invoice Billable Items.
2. Open the row whose Code is PP-CC-FEE-PERCENT. Every company already has this row — search the list by that code if you don't see it at the top.
3. Read the banner: the Code cannot be changed, and the default value is a percent, not a dollar amount.
4. Set Default Fee Percent. 3 means 3% of the amount due, not $3.00. The list page shows this as 3.00%.
5. Leave Active checked.
6. Click Save.

Set Default Fee Percent to 0 (or uncheck Active) to turn the fee off. You cannot delete this catalog row.

Full field list: Billing Admin — Invoice Billable Items.

How to add the fee on an invoice

After the percent is greater than 0 and the catalog item is active:

1. Open the customer and create or open the invoice (or quote, or an unlocked recurring invoice).
2. Add the other charges first — equipment, labor, monitoring, and so on.
3. Click Actions → Quick Add → Credit Card Fee (N%). N is the catalog percent, for example Credit Card Fee (3%).
4. SecurityTrax adds one Credit Card Processing Fee line and calculates the dollars: the percent of the amount due excluding the fee itself (other lines' quantity × unit cost, plus their tax, minus anything already paid), rounded to the nearest cent. There is no fee-on-fee.
5. Click Save or Save & Stay.

Quantity, Item, Unit Cost, and Tax % on that line are locked. You can still edit Description or delete the line. There is no manual override of the dollar amount — delete the line and Quick Add it again to recalculate.

A fee you added this session updates live as other lines change. A fee that was already saved, or copied with Duplicate, stays at the stored dollars until you delete it.

When Quick Add does not show Credit Card Fee

The Credit Card Fee (N%) item is missing when any of these is true:

• Default Fee Percent is 0, or PP-CC-FEE-PERCENT is not active — an admin must turn it on (see Who sets it up).
• The invoice already has a credit card fee line — only one is allowed. Delete the existing line if you need a new calculation.
• You are on a refund receipt — the fee is never offered there.
• You are on a locked recurring invoice (line items disabled after generation has begun). Unlocked recurring templates can Quick Add; generated invoices copy the stored dollar amount and do not re-apply the percent.

Credit Card Fee is not included in All the above.

What not to do

• Do not look for PP-CC-FEE-PERCENT in the invoice Item dropdown. That catalog item is hidden from the picker on purpose. The picker treats every default as dollars, so a percent of 3 would stamp $3.00 instead of 3%. Always use Quick Add.
• Do not type a dollar fee by hand as a regular line. Use Quick Add so the percent is applied correctly.
• Do not expect recording a payment to add the fee. Record Payment charges the card against the invoice as it stands. Add the fee on the invoice with Quick Add before you take the card.
• Do not add the fee on a refund receipt.

Pay Now (customer pays online)

When Customer Payment Portal is on and the catalog percent is greater than 0:

• The customer sees the percent on the credit card form and must acknowledge it.
• If the invoice does not already have a fee line, Pay Now adds Credit Card Processing Fee and uses that same percent of the amount due.
• If staff already Quick Added the fee, Pay Now leaves that stored dollar amount alone.
• ACH (bank) payments never get the card fee.
• If the card is declined, SecurityTrax removes only a fee line that Pay Now attempt just added. A fee that was already on the invoice stays.

Related

• Invoice Billable Items — where an admin sets Default Fee Percent.
• Invoices (per-customer) — the invoice form and Quick Add menu.
• Payments — recording a card payment does not add this fee.
• Customer Payment Portal — Pay Now can add the fee when the invoice does not already have one.