A payment card surcharge, also known as a checkout fee, is an additional percentage-based fee that a merchant adds to a transaction when a credit card is used for payment. You can add surcharges to credit card payments to offset the cost of processing the transaction. Surcharges are only valid for credit card transactions and cannot be applied to debit cards, prepaid cards, or ACH transactions.
Initiating Surcharges:
The card brand must be notified 30 days in advance of beginning the surcharge. Consult the surcharge rules for each card brand accepted. On the registration forms, it is important that you list:
“MerchantE” as the “Acquirer/Payment Service Provider”
“Brand” as the “Type of Surcharge.”
Some states prohibit surcharging. Consult your legal counsel to ensure that you are in compliance with relevant state laws. The table shows states and US territories where surcharging is prohibited or prohibited but unenforceable due to pending litigation (October 2022).
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Configuring Surcharging
Enabling Surcharging
Navigate: NetSuite → Setup → Accounting → Payment Processing Profiles
Note: If Do Not Auto Calculate Surcharge is enabled, all surcharges will have to be entered manually.
Caution: You are responsible for entering a surcharge rate that is in compliance with surcharging guidelines. You may be contacted by the MerchantE compliance team if you violate these guidelines.
In the Accounting submenu of the Setup menu, select Payment Processing Profiles. The Payment Processing Profiles list appears.
Select Edit for a Payment Processing Profile or click New Payment Processing Profile.
Fill out the surcharging fields in the Authentication Options section.
Enable Surcharging for Backoffice – Add surcharging to Backoffice.
Enable Surcharging for SuiteCommerce – Add surcharging to SuiteCommerce.
Do Not Auto Calculate Surcharge – Do not calculate surcharges.
Surcharge Rate – Percentage rate to add for surcharges. For guidelines on the surcharge rate, see Guidelines for Surcharges.
Item Used for Surcharging – Select the item to be used for displaying a surcharge.
Surcharge Item Tax Code – Select the tax code to apply to the surcharge.
Surcharge Tax Rate – Enter the tax rate applied to the surcharge.
Surcharge Error Notification Employee – Select an employee to receive surcharge error notifications.
Click Save.
Exempting Customers from Surcharging
Navigate: NetSuite → Lists → Relationships → Customers
In the Relationships submenu of the Lists menu, select Customers. The Customers list appears.
Select Edit for a Customer or click New Customer.
Select the Custom tab.
Check the box for MerchantE: Surcharge Exempted.
Click Save.
Surcharge Transactions
Generating a Sales Order with Automatic Surcharging
Navigate: NetSuite → Transactions → Sales → Enter Sales Order
In the Sales submenu of the Transactions menu, select Enter Sales Order. The Sales Order screen appears.
Enter the Sales Order information. When entering the payment options in the Billing tab, choose the Payment Processing Profile with surcharging enabled.
Click Save.
The Surcharge Item line item will appear in the confirmed Sales Order.
Generating a Sales Order with Manual Surcharging
Navigate: NetSuite → Transactions → Sales → Enter Sales Order
In the Sales submenu of the Transactions menu, select Enter Sales Order. The Sales Order screen appears.
Add Surcharge Item in the Items tab and select a Tax Code.
Enter the Sales Order information. When entering the payment options in the Billing tab, choose the Payment Processing Profile with surcharging enabled and Do Not Auto Calculate checked.
Click Save.
The Surcharge Item line item will appear in the confirmed Sales Order.
Viewing a Surcharge Invoice
Navigate: NetSuite → Transactions → Customers → Accept Customer Payments → Lists
In the Customers submenu of the Transactions menu, select Accept Customer Payments. Select Lists from the popup menu. The Payment list appears.
Select the Payment to View or Edit from the list.
Multiple invoices will be created for each Payment. One of the invoices will contain the Surcharge Item as the only item.
Refunds and Credits
For a full credit of all items, credit the full surcharge amount.
For a partial credit of the items on the invoice, the amount of the partial surcharge credit will have to be calculated based on the items being credited and applied to the surcharge.
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