Checkout Fees

#Overview

Checkout fees let you add a fixed amount or a percentage of the order to what a customer pays at checkout — for example a service fee, a processing fee or a convenience fee. Each fee applies only to the fulfillment methods you choose, appears at checkout by name and exact amount before the customer pays, and is saved with the order.

#Adding a Fee

1. Go to Store Settings and open the Checkout Fees tab.
2. Click Quick Add to create a fee, or Manage All to see and edit every fee in a list.
3. Fill in the fields below and save.

#How a Fee Is Calculated

• A Fixed fee is charged once per order.
• A Percent fee is a percentage of the full order amount: products, shipping, tax and tips, after discounts. Tax is calculated first and counts toward the amount. The fee itself is not taxed.
• When several fees apply to an order, each percentage is calculated on the same amount, so fees never stack on top of each other. The fees are then added together.
• Every fee is rounded to the nearest cent.

For example, with $100.00 of products, $10.00 of shipping, $8.00 of tax and a $5.00 tip, the order amount is $123.00. A required 3% Service Fee adds $3.69, so the customer pays $126.69.

#Required and Optional Fees

Required fees are always added for the fulfillment methods they cover, and the customer cannot take them off. Optional fees are not added until the customer selects them, so use them for extras such as an expedited-handling charge.

#Where You See the Fee

• The fee shows at checkout, on the order confirmation and on the order details page, by name and amount.
• On Ecommerce > Orders, an order with fees shows a Checkout Fees line between Tax and Total, itemized by fee. Orders without fees show no such line.
• The orders export has a Checkout Fees column, so Subtotal, Tax, Shipping, Discount and Checkout Fees add up to Total.
• When you partially refund an order, the fee is refunded in proportion, the same way tax is. A refund never exceeds what the customer paid.

#Fees and POS Order Export

If your store sends orders to a point-of-sale system, checkout fees behave differently depending on the system:

• bLoyal with POS Order Processing (SubmitCart): each fee is sent to bLoyal as its own line, on a product you create for that fee, so the order's totals balance and the fee shows by name. bLoyal does not create the product itself. The fee form shows a bLoyal product required notice with the details while this applies.

  1. Create the fee under Store Settings > Checkout Fees, saved as disabled (its Enabled switch is off until the fee is saved). Each fee gets a bLoyal product code, shown next to it in the fee list: CMSMAX-CHECKOUT-FEE- followed by the fee's number (for example CMSMAX-CHECKOUT-FEE-12 for fee #12).
  2. In bLoyal or RMH, create a non-inventory (or supplemental-fee) product with exactly that code, and tick Do not apply discounts to this product. Without it, bLoyal takes part of a coupon or other order discount off the fee. Give the product any name; orders show the fee's own name.
  3. Back in Checkout Fees, enable the fee. CMS Max checks that the product exists and does not accept discounts. If not, the fee cannot be enabled and the message names the code to create or the box to tick. bLoyal can take a minute or so to see a new or changed product, so if the check still fails right after you created or changed it, wait a moment and try again. If bLoyal cannot be reached at that moment, try again shortly.

  If you switch bLoyal to POS Order Processing (SubmitCart), or save its settings, while fees are enabled, CMS Max checks each enabled fee's product. Fees whose product is missing or accepts discounts are turned off, and a Checkout fees disabled notification lists the codes and what to fix; the same warning stays in your notification bell. Warnings on the main Dashboard and the POS Sync Dashboard also list the affected fees. Use Fix It on the main Dashboard or Review checkout fees on the POS Sync Dashboard to open Checkout Fees. Re-enabling or deleting the affected fees clears them from the dashboard warning. Fix the products, then enable the fees again. If bLoyal cannot be reached at that moment, your fees stay on and a Checkout fee products not checked warning asks you to make sure each fee's product exists and does not accept discounts.

  Fees that were already enabled on a bLoyal SubmitCart store when this feature was released are turned off once; create each fee's product and enable the fee again.

  A fee cannot be created already enabled on such a store, because its code is only known once it is saved. Saving an enabled fee checks its product again. If a product is later deleted, the orders that include that fee fail to export with the same message; create the product again and retry them from POS Order Exports. Likewise, if Do not apply discounts to this product is later unticked, orders with that fee and a coupon or other order discount fail to export until you tick it again and retry them. The fee line counts as a sale in bLoyal, so it earns loyalty points like any other item.

• bLoyal in Inventory Only mode, and other POS systems: fees work normally and no product is needed.

• LiquorBee: LiquorBee's order format has no place for a fee, so you cannot enable a fee while order export is on for it. Saving shows an error that names LiquorBee; turn off order export in the Nexus settings first. Turning on order export for LiquorBee automatically disables every enabled fee and shows a Checkout fees disabled notification, so review your fees afterwards. An order that still carries a fee, for example one placed just before a fee was disabled, is not sent to LiquorBee; it appears as a failed order export that you can retry once the fee is no longer a problem.

#Review Your Fees

Important: Every fee that is Enabled is charged on the orders it covers, including fees you created earlier and left on. Review the Checkout Fees tab and turn off any fee you do not want customers to pay.