Card payments come with processing and platform fees. If you'd like your buyers to help cover them, you can add a service fee: a percentage of the price that the buyer pays on top, as a separate line at card checkout.
How to turn on the service fee
In your Administrator Panel, go to Settings > Payment Accounts.
In the Payment Settings card, turn on Pass processing and platform fees to the buyer.
Enter your Service fee (%). The screen shows an example as you type, for instance: "On a price of 100.00, the buyer pays 102.00."
Click Save. The switch and the percentage are saved together.
How the service fee is calculated
The fee is the percentage you set, applied to the price. With a 2% fee, a 100.00 ticket costs the buyer 102.00.
You can set up to 3%, with at most two decimals. 3% is the maximum card networks such as Visa and Mastercard allow for surcharges in the US.
The percentage is the same for your whole organization, but you can switch the fee off for individual tickets and plans (see below).
Choosing per ticket or plan
Each paid event ticket and each paid membership plan has a Service fee option in its settings:
Use the organisation setting (default): the item follows your organization's service fee.
Pass to the buyer: the item charges the service fee whenever your organization has it turned on.
We cover it: the item never charges the service fee, even when your organization has it turned on.
A few rules apply:
The percentage always comes from Payment Settings. A ticket or plan can't set its own percentage, and it can't turn the fee on if your organization has it turned off.
An order carries one service fee for its whole amount. If an order mixes items, the fee is waived only when every paid item in it is set to We cover it.
The option only appears on paid items, and only when the service fee is turned on for your organization.
Which fees apply to a card payment
Two fees are deducted from every online card payment:
Stripe fee: charged by Stripe for processing the card. It depends on your country and the card. For example, for a US card it is 2.9% + $0.30 per charge. See Stripe's pricing page for your country.
Raklet fee: depends on your Raklet plan. It ranges from 4% + $0.60 per charge on the Free plan to 1% + $0.60 on Premium, for example 2% + $0.60 on Professional. Enterprise plans can have custom fees. See our pricing page.
With the service fee turned on, the two fees are calculated like this:
The Stripe fee is calculated on the full amount the buyer pays, including the service fee.
The Raklet fee is calculated on the price only. Raklet takes no fee on the service fee itself.
What you receive: an example
A 100.00 USD ticket, paid with a US card, with a 3% service fee, on the Premium plan:
The buyer pays 103.00 USD (100.00 price + 3.00 service fee).
Stripe fee: 2.9% + 0.30 on 103.00 = 3.29 USD
Raklet fee: 1% + 0.60 on 100.00 = 1.60 USD
You receive 98.11 USD. Without the service fee, you would receive 95.20 USD.
The same 100.00 ticket with a 3% service fee on other plans:
Professional (Raklet fee 2% + 0.60 = 2.60): you receive 97.11 USD, instead of 94.20 without the service fee.
Free (Raklet fee 4% + 0.60 = 4.60): you receive 95.11 USD, instead of 92.20 without the service fee.
So the service fee covers a large part of the fees, but usually not all of them, because the fixed amounts per charge (0.30 and 0.60) don't scale with the percentage. On lower prices, the fixed amounts weigh more.
Why a fixed percentage? The exact Stripe fee is only known after the payment. It depends on the card's country, the card brand, any currency conversion and your own Stripe pricing. A percentage you choose keeps the price simple and predictable for your buyers. Depending on the card, what you receive can be slightly different from the example above.
What buyers see
At card checkout, the service fee appears as its own Service fee line, added to the price.
The payment receipt shows the total with the price and the fee itemised, for example "102.00 USD (100.00 USD + 2.00 USD Service fee)".
Reports and refunds
In Reports > Payments, a payment with a service fee shows the fee under the amount, and the payments export includes a ServiceFeeAmount column.
Membership balances and revenue totals are based on the price, so the service fee does not change a member's balance.
When you refund a payment, the buyer gets back the price plus the service fee, everything they paid. As with any refund, Stripe does not return its own processing fee.
Where the service fee is not available
EU, EEA and UK: card surcharges are banned by law there, so the service fee is never added on a payment account based in these countries. Raklet checks the country of the Stripe account that receives the payment.
If none of your payment accounts can add the fee, the Payment Settings card is not shown at all. If you have accounts both inside and outside these regions, the card is shown, but no fee is added on the EU, EEA or UK account.
Other limits: card networks and some US states also restrict surcharges. Check the rules that apply to your organization before turning the fee on.
The service fee applies to card payments through Raklet's Stripe checkout. Other payment methods, such as PayPal, are not affected.
Things to Know
Renewals: the service fee is added when the buyer pays at checkout. Automatic renewals of a recurring membership plan are charged at the plan price, without the service fee, so a member's first payment can be higher than their renewals.
If the switch is on but no percentage is saved, no fee is added.
The service fee is off by default. Turning it off removes the fee from new checkouts right away.
Surcharge rules differ by country and change over time. This article explains how the feature works and is not legal advice.