InkSoft Payments - Understanding Surcharges

Learn to implement credit card surcharges to recover costs and enhance profit margins

Using InkSoft's Surcharging feature, you have the ability to enact a percentage-based surcharge on credit card transactions to account for the processing fees that are charged as part of the transaction, with the flexibility to disable it on specific stores and proposals if needed!

IMPORTANT

Proper surcharging registration must be submitted to Mastercard at least 30 days before enabling the Surcharge feature. For a detailed guide on this, please look here. Surcharges are governed by state law and card brand rules (like those published by Visa and Mastercard), each of which are subject to change. We recommend you check with your local and state laws and/or reach out to your legal and finance teams to understand any specific rules that may be applicable.

To get started we will need to enable Surcharges on your account. Click the Payments section in your InkSoft sidebar. Next, click the Preferences tab.

While this article will be specifically discussing surcharges, there's plenty of other settings in the Preferences tab that you can learn more about here.

Scrolling a bit down the page, you should see a Payment Options section:

Simply flip that toggle next to "Credit Card Surcharges" on, and you'll be asked to confirm that the proper surcharging registration has been submitted, before enabling. 

You will then be able to enter a percentage surcharge up to but not exceeding your current processor percentage rate (3%). Once you have entered the desired amount, be sure to the click the blue "Save Changes" button at the top of the page! Surcharges are now enabled on your account!

NOTE:

Current regulations require that shoppers be made aware that a surcharge is being applied. Shoppers will subsequently see in-platform disclosure any time a surcharge will be applied (proposals, store checkout, etc), along with the surcharge amount. 

Disabling Surcharges on Specific Stores

Once surcharging is enabled on your account, you can subsequently opt specific stores and proposals out of the feature. For stores, you will want to navigate the the Store Admin section of the store you would like to disable surcharges for. From there, you will click on "Checkout Settings" in the navigation menu on the left.

You should then see the "Disable Credit Card Surcharges" toggle there. Toggling it to on will opt the store out of applying the surcharge. Again, remember to click the blue "Save & Publish" button to save your changes!

Disabling Surcharges on Specific Proposals

Disabling surcharges on specific proposals is similarly easy. On the proposal in question, you will need to expand the "Payment Details" on the left hand side of the proposal.

There you will see the "Disable Credit Card Surcharges" toggle.

How Surcharging Impacts Your Bottom Line

While this feature will help offset costs involved in accepting credit card transactions, its important to note that it doesn’t eliminate costs entirely. At a minimum you’d still pay the per transaction fee. Below are some examples of what to expect while using the Surcharging features.