There are business use cases where you may want to charge a transaction convenience fee or surcharge. 

Surcharges are typically meant to cover the merchant's costs for processing credit card payments, while convenience fees are for providing a convenient payment or service option. Surcharges are subject to rules and regulations, and may be prohibited or restricted in some states, while convenience fees are legal in all 50 states.

Need help making a decision? Contact PayPack Support and we will guide you through the process!

Recover on Payment Link

When you send a direct Payment Link to a customer, you can choose to automatically apply a surcharge to help offset your processing costs. This ensures that the final amount paid by the customer includes the fee, allowing you to recover the full value of your transaction without manual calculations.

Key Features

• Automatic Calculation: The system calculates the surcharge in real-time based on your account settings.

• Transparent Breakdown: Your customer will see a clear line item for the fee at checkout, ensuring full transparency before they complete the transaction.

• Toggle Control: You can enable or disable surcharge recovery for individual links or set a default preference for all future requests.

See how it works in the 1-minute video below.

Recover on Charge Tab

When processing a transaction directly within the NetSuite UI via the PayPack Charge Tab, you have the flexibility to apply surcharges manually or automatically to a card-not-present transaction. This is ideal for scenarios where you are handling a payment over the phone or applying a balance to a customer's record on their behalf.

Key Features

• In-App Application: Unlike Payment Links where the customer sees the fee at checkout, the surcharge is calculated and displayed directly on the PayPack Charge Tab for your team to review before charging.

• Real-time Fee Updates with InterPayments: As you select a payment method (e.g., Visa vs. American Express), the surcharge amount updates dynamically to reflect the specific fee associated with that card type.

• Accounting Integration: Once the payment is captured, the surcharge is recorded as a separate line item within the NetSuite transaction record, keeping your reconciliation clean and your books balanced.

Check out the demo below to see it in action.

Configurable Settings

When enabled, the fee can be applied across any PayPack charge on the customer, quote, sales order, invoice, or invoice group. The fee can be configured to apply globally or specifically to a transaction.

On successful charge, a separate NetSuite invoice transaction is created with a new line item to track the surcharge without impacting the original transaction details.

• Flat Amount Surcharge – Enter a static value (i.e. 5 for $5)
• % Amount Surcharge – Enter a static value (i.e. 3 for 3%)
• Surcharge Form Label – This form label only appears on the payment link page. Typical labels are Surcharge or Convenience Fee. The default label is Surcharge.
• Surcharge Item – Recommend setting up a non-inventory or payment item to collect surcharge totals.
  
  
• Surcharge Invoice Mappings – When needing to populate required fields on an invoice transaction, enter metadata in JSON format to satisfy the requirement.
• Enable Card Only – In certain scenarios, a fee may be applied to only the card payment method and not others such as ACH Direct Debit or Cash App.

Reconcile Surcharge Invoices

PayPack utilizes a dual-transaction architecture to handle surcharges. This approach ensures that the primary sale remains "clean" for accounting and reporting, while the additional fee is processed as a distinct event.

Watch this video explanation for more details on how surcharge invoices work with PayPack.

Here is a brief description of that process:

1. The Trigger & Separation

When a customer initiates a payment through a PayPack link and selects a credit card, the system automatically calculates the applicable surcharge. Instead of editing the original invoice or "bundling" the fee into the line items, PayPack generates a secondary, unique transaction ID specifically for the surcharge amount.

2. Independent Processing

The original transaction (the core sale) is authorized for its exact initial amount. Simultaneously, the surcharge is processed as a separate "Administrative Fee" or "Service Charge" transaction. This means the primary revenue account in your G/L remains untouched by the fee, preventing "noise" in your sales volume reports.

When you pass a surcharge on to a customer, it is considered Revenue or a Contra-Expense, depending on how your accountant prefers to track it.

• Other Income / Miscellaneous Revenue: This is the most common placement. Since the surcharge isn't your "core" product or service, it’s tracked as secondary income to offset the cost of processing.

• Credit Card Fee Offset (Contra-Expense): Some businesses apply the surcharge directly against their Bank Service Charges or Merchant Fee Expense account. This reduces the total "expense" shown on the books, effectively bringing the net cost of processing closer to zero.

• Surcharge Revenue (Specific Account): High-volume businesses often create a dedicated G/L account specifically labeled "Surcharge Revenue" to track exactly how much they are collecting from these fees for transparency and tax reporting.

3. Tracking via Charge Logs

Because these are separate transactions, the PayPack Charge Logs provide granular visibility.

• Original Transaction: Linked to the customer’s invoice or order number.

• Surcharge Transaction: Linked back to the original via a "Parent ID" or reference code.

This structure allows you to recoup processing costs with 100% accuracy. You can reconcile your primary sales against your inventory or service logs, while the surcharge logs allow you to audit your merchant fee offsets without impacting those original records.