Managing Convenience Fees

The Managing Convenience Fees feature allows administrators to add an additional flat-rate charge directly to user payments, managed entirely within the system. Its primary purpose is to provide flexibility to offset processing costs, incentivize certain payment methods, or cover administrative burdens, distinct from any external transaction fees. This article is intended for OPS-COM administrators responsible for financial configurations and system pricing strategies.

Setup and Configuration

This feature is a core administrative tool used to establish additional charges applied to specific transactions or payment methods.

Admin Side: Administrators must have the appropriate system role permissions enabled to access the payments configuration menus and manage fee settings.

You can only use convenience fees if your system is currently configured to use Bambora or Worldline as your hosted payment provider.

User Side: End-users do not interact directly with the backend configuration of these fees. However, this fee amount is visible within the user portal and is added to their grand total before the final checkout screen.

Transaction Fees versus Convenience Fees

It is crucial to understand the distinction between these two types of fees before configuring your system:

• Transaction Fees: These are charges applied directly by your payment provider (e.g., a credit card processor) for processing a payment. They are independent of OPS-COM internal settings and are managed solely by the payment provider.

• Convenience Fees: These are additional charges that are managed and applied directly through OPS-COM. This fee amount is added to the grand total before being sent to the payment provider.

Using this Feature

Administrators can use the following instructions to navigate the management interface to seamlessly add and configure various convenience fees.

Accessing the Management Interface

1. Hover over System Configuration, click Payments, then Fees.

Setting Up Fees

1. Click the Add Fee button.

2. Configure the fee parameters based on your specific use case or scenario.

3. Click the Update button to save the new convenience fee.

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

Configuration Scenarios

Administrators can configure fees to accommodate a variety of operational scenarios:

Admin Collected Fee for Collecting Cash and Cheques

The administrator wants to encourage online payments. A fee is set up as a deterrent when users pay with cash or cheque to cover the increased administrative burden of manual processing.

• Setup: The fee would apply to all item types but only to payment types of Cash and Cheque.

Admin Collected Fee for Permits

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 exact 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.

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

There is an agreement with the payment provider that all permits will incur a $2.95 transaction fee. The client still wants to receive the full $150 for a purchased permit, so they set up a convenience fee to offset this cost.

• Setup: The convenience fee will be charged when selecting the specific payment type that incurs the $2.95 transaction fee. The setup would apply to the relevant payment provider and define the convenience fee as $2.95.

Admin Includes the Transaction Fee in the Price of the Item

An agreement exists where all permits incur a $2.95 transaction fee. However, the client chooses to absorb this fee by increasing the item's base price instead of adding a separate line item.

• 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.

Best Practices and Considerations

• Ensure clarity for users: Clearly communicate any convenience fees to your users before they complete a transaction. Full transparency regarding extra charges builds trust with your user base.

• Apply fees strategically: Use convenience fees strategically to align with your overall pricing strategy. They can be highly effective tools to deter manual cash payments, offset third-party costs, or cover transaction fees.

• Remember the flat rate limitation: Remember that fees are a flat rate, not percentage-based. Plan your fee amounts accordingly to ensure they adequately cover costs regardless of the total cart value.

• Understand the impact on the grand total: Be aware that OPS-COM adds the convenience fee to the item's price to form the grand total. This combined total is what is ultimately sent to the payment provider for authorization.

• Distinguish external transaction fees: Distinguish between internal convenience fees and any external transaction fees imposed by your payment gateway. Understand exactly where each fee is applied and how it impacts your final revenue.

• Plan for reporting: Consider how convenience fees will be reported and accounted for in your financial reconciliation processes. Ensure your accounting team is aware of how these fees alter total transaction amounts.