Card fees come out of every payment, and some businesses would rather the client cover them. You can add a processing fee at checkout right in Check Cherry. It's set separately for each payment method and works with every processor you connect, so there's nothing to change in your processor's own account.
Turning on a processing fee
Each payment method has its own setting, so you can charge a fee on cards and leave bank transfers free, for example. Methods with a fee show "You are charging your customers a processing fee of..." in the Customer Payment Options list, so you can see at a glance which ones have one.
If you take payments through PayPal or Square, connect it first under Other Payment Processors on the same page. Once it's connected, the Connect button becomes Settings, and the fee question is on that page.
What your clients see
At checkout, the fee is added to the amount for that payment method, with a note under the total like "Includes $3.09 processing fee." If you offer a method without a fee, the client sees the lower total when they switch to it.
Once the payment goes through, the fee is added to the booking as a Payment Processing Fee line, so it shows on the invoice alongside the payment. It's marked paid with that payment, so it doesn't change the balance due, and it isn't taxed.
Clients who set up Auto Pay are told when they sign up that automatic payments with that method include the fee. Tap to Pay in the Check Cherry app for iOS and Android adds the fee too, using your Check Cherry Payments card setting.
How the fee is calculated
Your processor takes its cut from the full amount charged, fee included. So Check Cherry works backward from the amount you want to keep, and you still receive the full payment after the processor's share. With a 3% fee on a $100 payment, the client pays $103.09, not $103.00, because $3.09 is 3% of $103.09.
Where it doesn't apply
- Manual payment options like cash, check, Venmo, or Zelle. They don't run through a processor, so there's no fee setting.
- Payments you record yourself on a booking.
Before you turn it on
Plenty of businesses build processing costs into their prices instead, so clients see one clean number. Others prefer to show the fee. Either works. Surcharging rules vary by country and state, so check what's allowed where you operate.