Offset Credit Card Processing Costs With Surcharges

While there are benefits to accepting credit cards, it's essential for businesses to carefully manage associated expenses, such as processing fees. Surcharging in Jackrabbit can help!

Surcharges provide a transparent way to recover costs. Instead of absorbing credit card processing fees into the overall pricing of your goods or services, you can clearly communicate the costs associated with credit card transactions to customers who choose to pay with credit cards.

Before implementing surcharging, it is important to understand the facts about surcharges and how to adhere to the regulations that govern them. For more information and to get set up to surcharge credit card transactions, review Surcharging in Jackrabbit.

How Do Surcharges Work in Jackrabbit?

Once you are set up for surcharges, Jackrabbit does all the work!

There are two reserved drop-down values added to Jackrabbit when you sign up for surcharges:

Category 1 - Surcharge
Transaction Type - Surcharge (Debit)

Jackrabbit uses these drop-down values to separate surcharges from all other payments.

When a customer uses an eligible credit card, a surcharge is calculated automatically at your set rate and processed with the payment. The surcharge amount will be included in your net deposit.

In Jackrabbit, the surcharge is posted to the Surcharge Category 1 and added to the family's transactions using the Surcharge (Debit) Transaction Type. The surcharge amount is considered revenue and is included in your Jackrabbit revenue reports.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Can surcharges be refunded?

A. Yes, you can refund surcharges to your customer. Refunding the surcharge portion of the original payment is optional.

Surcharge Visibility

Ensuring transparency regarding surcharges on credit card payments is essential. It helps your customers understand the true cost of transactions and fosters a positive relationship by demonstrating honesty and clarity in financial transactions.

Visibility for Your Customers

Surcharges are disclosed at the time of payment when a payment is made in the Parent Portal before the payment is confirmed.
The Transaction History in the Parent Portal shows all surcharges that have been paid:
Surcharges are broken out in itemized ePayment receipts:

Visibility Within Jackrabbit

The Transactions tab of a Family record details any surcharges that the family has paid:

Surcharges can also be found using Search from the Transactions menu, filtered for the Surcharge (Debit) Transaction Type:
Revenue reports in Jackrabbit break surcharges out: