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Note: This article is intended for practices using Worldpay as their payment vendor. For those using Stripe, please refer to the Stripe Surcharge Setup and User Guide.
Feature Overview
The surcharge feature allows practices to pass on credit card processing fees to pet owners. When this option is enabled, a calculated payment processing fee is added to the total invoice cost. Pet owners can review the surcharge amount and decline the fee from payment devices. The practice can waive the surcharge fee during checkout by clearing the Include surcharge option.
Credit card surcharges may be restricted or prohibited in some states. Before enabling this feature, please review the relevant laws in your state to ensure compliance. For more information on Surcharge, visit https://empower2.fisglobal.com/rs/092-EMI-875/images/Merchant%20Surcharging%20Guide%20External%2001132023.pdf
Mandatory Notifications
Merchants MUST register with Mastercard and notify their processor within a minimum of 30 days before assessing a surcharge for any card brand. The surcharge rate must be the same across all card brands and cannot exceed 3%.
- Mastercard Registration website
Merchant Surcharge Disclosure Webform | Credit Card Surcharges (mastercard.us)
Helpful tips for filling out the Mastercard Surcharge form:- Enter "Worldpay" for Processor Name
- Select "Brand" for Type of Surcharge
- Select "Retail (face-to-face)" for Payment channels
- Contact Pulse Support to notify your processor (Worldpay)
Surcharging with Debit cards
The surcharge only works for Credit type cards. Due to card brand regulations, surcharges cannot be applied to payments with debit cards. This includes payments using Debit cards that are processed as credit. The processor will identify the debit card and remove the surcharge automatically.
Enabling Surcharge
This feature is available with Worldpay integrated payment. You can enable the Surcharge feature under WorldPay Integrated Payments Settings.
- Go to the Menu > Settings > Billing > Payments.
- Enable the option Use Covetrus Payment Processing (WorldPay Integrated Solution).
- Scroll down to the WorldPay Integrated Payments Settings.
- Fill in the fields for the Worldpay integration.
- To apply a surcharge for credit card payments, check the box for Enable Surcharge.
- A message appears for you to be aware of relevant laws in your state.
- Click Proceed to enable the surcharge.
- A new field will appear after enabling the surcharge.
- For the Surcharge Percentage Fee, enter the percentage to charge the client. For example, if Visa charges 3%, enter 3 as the Surcharge Percentage Fee. Please note that the surcharge rate is applied to all card brands and cannot exceed 3%.
- Save changes.
Process Credit Card Payment with Surcharge
As a reminder, a surcharge is only applied to credit card payments, not debit cards.
- Go to the client record.
- Under Account Balance, click on Make Payment.
The option, Include surcharge on invoice, will show with a message indicating the client must approve this charge to complete the credit card payment.
Note: To waive the surcharge for a client, click on No for the Include surcharge on invoice.
- Click Process Payment.
The Payment Amount Confirmation shows the amount of the payment, the surcharge, which is a calculated amount of the payment times the percentage of the surcharge, and the total amount to be processed.
- Click Yes to proceed.
Accepted Payment
If the client accepts the surcharge and total amount being charged to their credit card, the payment processes as normal.
Declined Payment
On the card terminal, if the client declines to pay the surcharge, the payment is cancelled on the device and shows the card declined on the client page in Pulse.
Processing Receipt
The credit card processing receipt will include the surcharge. Below is an image of a sample receipt with surcharge:
Refund with Surcharge
Void payment with a refund
If a payment includes a surcharge, the entire amount, including the surcharge, will be returned to the cardholder.
Partial surcharge refund with Returned items
The prorated surcharge amount is included in the refund amount. For example, with a 3% surcharge, a $30 surcharge was applied to a $1000 invoice for a total payment of $1030. A $100 item was returned, the total refund amount is $103 which includes $3 surcharge.
If the returned item (s) amount is less than the invoice's balance, the refund amount will not include surcharge.
End-of-Day Reconciliation
Credit card payment reconciliation can be done by comparing the total payments from Pulse and Worldpay.
Obtain data from Pulse
From the Pulse Sales report, locate the total amount and count of the credit card credit card payments for the day from the Cash Summary section.
Obtain data from Worldpay
Log on to IQ, select Reconciliation from left navigation bar to access Worldpay reports.
For next-day reconciliation:
Choose Daily totals. From Daily Total, Select Transaction Date and enter the date you wish to reconcile, which is the same date used to run the Pulse Sales report. Select the Search link to populate data.
Locate the Total transaction amount (1) under Payment Type Summary and Cardholder Surcharge amount from Credit Payment Type.
Compare the totals from WP with the total credit card payments and from Pulse Sales report.
Worldpay Total Payment (1) - Surcharge total (2) = Pulse Total Credit Card Transactions.
In this example:
Worlpay Total Payment (1) $1915.47
- Surcharge total (2) $18.01
= Pulse Credit Card Total $1897.46
Reconciliation formula:
Worldpay Total Payment (1) - Surcharge total (2) = Pulse Total Credi Card Transactions.
If (1) - (2) = Pulse total, the credit card payments are reconciled. Otherwise, there may be a discrepancy that caused the mismatched numbers. Please review and compare the transaction details from Worldpay and Pulse to identify the discrepancy.
For same-day reconciliation:
Choose Transaction Research and select Today, then click the Search link
The Authorization report will be generated. Locate the Cardholder Surcharge field. Note: you will need to add this field and save the first time. To add the Cardholder Surcharge, select Edit Columns from the right side of the report, find the column names using the text search and select the column.
To close out the Edit Columns section, click on the Edit Columns again.
After the fields are added, they can be repositioned by using the mouse to select the column name and drag/drop. Select Save View to persist the changes.
[Optional steps] - Add Card Product Type and Card Type columns. These fields help explain why Cardholder Surcharge is not collected. TriPOS does not collect surcharges when debit card is detected. Select Save View to persist the changes.
Export the report by clicking “Export” link next to Save View link.
If the transactions are on multiple pages, navigate to the last page when exporting to ensure all transactions are included in the export file. Once it is ready to download, the document will appear in the files tab (accessible at the top right of the web page).
If the Data Export dialog appears, select All Rows and Export.
Add Payment amount total and Surcharge total
Open the downloaded export file in Excel and add totals for payments and surcharges.
Compare the totals
Compare the totals from the Worldpay export file and the Pulse Sales report.
Worldpay Total Payment (A) - Surcharge total (B) = Pulse Total Credi Card Transactions.
In this example:
Worlpay Total Payment (A) $4280.24
- Surcharge total (B) $60.91
= Pulse Credit Card total $4219.33
If (A) - (B) = Pulse total, the credit card payments are reconciled. Otherwise, there may be a discrepancy that caused the mismatched numbers. Please review and compare the transaction details from Worldpay and Pulse to identify the discrepancy.