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Managing Convenience Fees

Convenience Fees in OPS-COM allow administrators to add an additional flat-rate charge directly to user payments, managed entirely within the OPS-COM system. This feature provides flexibility to offset processing costs, incentivize certain payment methods, or cover administrative burdens, distinct from any transaction fees imposed by external payment providers.

Difference Between Transaction Fees and Convenience Fees

It's crucial to understand the distinction between these two types of fees:

  • Transaction Fees: These are charges applied by your payment provider (e.g., credit card processor) for processing a payment. They are independent of OPS-COM's internal settings. Depending on your setup, OPS-COM and end-users may not be directly aware of these fees as they are managed solely by the payment provider.
  • Convenience Fees: These are additional charges that are managed and applied directly through OPS-COM. For example, your OPS-COM system can add a $5 convenience fee onto a payment. This fee amount is visible within OPS-COM and is added to the grand total before being sent to the payment provider.

It is possible for a system to utilize both Convenience Fees (managed by OPS-COM) and Transaction Fees (managed by the payment provider), but recognizing their distinct origins and management is important.

Using this Feature

The Fees Page allows you to set up various convenience fees. 

You can only use Convenience fees if you have Bambora/Worldline as your payment provider.

Fee Limitations:
Limitations

Before configuring, understand these limitations:

  • Applied Once Per Order: Fees are applied once per fee type per order. This means if a fee is set for permits, only a single fee is applied to the order, regardless of whether it contains one permit or five permits.
  • Flat Rate Only: Fees are currently a flat rate. There is no percentage-based fee option at this time.
  • Grand Total Sent: Fees are not sent to the payment provider as a secondary item. Only the grand total (item price + convenience fee) is sent for processing.

Fee Examples and Setup:
Setup

1.

Admin Collected Fee for Collecting Cash and Cheques (Deterrent Fee)

  • Scenario: The administrator wants to encourage online payments. A fee is set up as a deterrent when users pay with cash or cheque, covering the increased administrative burden.
  • Setup: The fee would apply to all item types but only to payment types of Cash and Cheque.

2.

Admin Collected Fee for Permits

  • Scenario: Permits are sent to a third party for enforcement, and that third party charges $0.50 per permit they enforce. The client wishes to pass this cost onto the user.
  • Setup: The fee would apply to all payment types, but only to Permits and Temp Permits. The setup would specify $0.50 as the fee amount.

3.

Admin Charges a Convenience Fee to Cover an OPS-COM Collected Transaction Fee

  • Scenario: There's an agreement with the payment provider that all permits will incur a $2.95 transaction fee paid to OPS-COM. The client still wants to receive the full $150 for a purchased permit, so they set up a convenience fee to cover this cost.
  • Setup: The convenience fee will be charged when selecting the specific payment type that incurs the $2.95 transaction fee. For example, the setup would apply to the relevant payment provider and define the convenience fee as $2.95.

4.

Admin Includes the Transaction Fee in the Price of the Item (No Fee Setup in OPS-COM)

  • Scenario: An agreement exists where all permits incur a $2.95 transaction fee paid to OPS-COM. However, the client chooses to absorb this fee by increasing the item's price. If a permit costs $150, then $2.95 of that will be sent to OPS-COM, leaving the client with $147.05.
  • Setup: There is no specific setup for fees in this scenario within OPS-COM, as the fee is already embedded in the item's base price. If you want to inform users that a transaction fee is included in the final amount, you will need to update a relevant footer message (e.g., in email templates or on the user portal) stating this.

Setting Up the Fees

You can access the Fees page to accommodate any of the scenarios above.

  1. Hover over System Configuration, Payments, and click Fees.
  2. Click Add Fee and follow the diagram below.
  3. Click the Update button to save.
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Best Practices & Considerations

  • Clarity for Users: Clearly communicate any convenience fees to your users before they complete a transaction. Transparency builds trust.
  • Strategic Application: Use convenience fees strategically. They can deter cash payments, offset third-party costs, or cover transaction fees, but ensure they align with your overall pricing strategy.
  • Flat Rate Limitation: Remember that fees are flat rate, not percentage-based. Plan your fee amounts accordingly.
  • Impact on Grand Total: Be aware that OPS-COM adds the convenience fee to the item's price to form the grand total before sending it to the payment provider.
  • External Transaction Fees: Distinguish between OPS-COM's convenience fees and any external transaction fees imposed by your payment gateway. Understand where each fee is applied and how it impacts your revenue.
  • Reporting: Consider how convenience fees will be reported and accounted for in your financial reconciliation processes.


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Fees Page Explained:

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Fee Limitations:

  • Fees are applied once per fee type per order. This means if a fee is for permits, that if it is one permit or five permits, a single fee is applied to the order.
  • Fees are flat rate. There is no percentage based fee at this time.
  • Fees are not sent to the payment provider as a secondary item. Only the grand total is sent.

Fee Examples:

Admin collected fees:

In these scenarios, the admin charges a fee and keeps the full amount. The fee is to cover their own cost. OPS-COM does not collect on any of these fees as the client receives the full amount charged including the fee.

3997c6e4-a297-461f-924d-47808e25ab43.png

Admin collected fee for collecting cash and cheques:

The admin wants users to use online payment providers to collect payment. When a user pays for an item with cash or cheque, this puts an increased burden on the admin and this fee is set up as a deterrent. The setup would apply to all item types but only apply to payment types of cash. The following is how you would set this up:

1b90fe34-8404-4bb2-ab44-8b9c427b96e6.png

Admin collected fee for permits

In this scenario, we will assume that permits are sent to a thirdparty for enforcement, but the third party charges $0.50 per permit they have to enforce. The client wishes to pass this cost onto the user. The fee will apply to all payment types, but only on permits and temp permits. The setup will look as follows:

fa0387e9-9d0e-4a42-9806-ad1b02eeccd5.png

OPS-COM collected transaction fees

In these scenarios, there is a transaction fee that is set up on the payment provider that will deduct a specific amount from every transaction. At the time of this writing, it is a flat rate per account. Different fee rates based on different items (violations, permits, lockers, etc) will require different accounts to be used per item type.

Admin charges a convenience fee to cover the transaction fee

The agreement that all permits will incur a $2.95 transaction fee to be paid to OPS-COM is set up with the payment provider and the client. The client still wants to receive the full $150 for the permit that is purchased so they set up a convenience fee will be a charged when selecting this payment type.

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Setup as follows:

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Admin includes the transaction fee in the price of the item

The agreement that all permits will incur a $2.95 transaction fee to be paid to OPS-COM is set up with the payment provider and the client. The difference here is that the client will include the fee in the cost of the item. If a permit costs $150, then $2.95 of that will be sent to OPS-COM leaving the client with $147.05. There is no setup for fees in this scenario. If you want to inform the users that there is a transaction fee and that it is included, you will need to update a footer stating that the final amount includes the transaction fee.

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