You can charge consignors a percentage of each card sale to help cover your processing costs. This article covers how the fee is set up and calculated, how to turn it off for specific consignors, and how to find fee totals for your records.
This fee is separate from the Merchant Surcharge Program (MSP), which passes a fee to the customer instead of the consignor.
Set the fee
Go to Back Office > Settings > Options > Fees and enter a percentage in Credit Card Processing Fee (%).
Important:
Enter the percentage with a decimal. For example, entering "3" is read as 0.3%. To charge 3%, enter 3.00.
The fee applies to all card payments, both credit and debit.
How the fee is calculated
The fee is a percentage of the item's total including sales tax. It's deducted from the consignor's account as a separate line, after their split is credited.
Example:
- Item price: $20.00
- Sales tax: 8%
- Consignor split: 90%
- Credit card processing fee: 3%
The consignor is credited $18.00 for the sale (90% of $20.00). A separate $0.65 fee is deducted ($20.00 + 8% tax = $21.60 x 3% = $0.65), so the consignor nets $17.35.
On the consignor's Account Activity, the fee shows in blue and in parentheses, which means it's a deduction.
Turn the fee off for specific consignors
Every consignor account has a Credit Card Processing Fee checkbox. When it's checked, that consignor is charged the fee set in your Fee settings.
To stop charging a consignor:
- Go to the Consignment tab and select the consignor.
- Click Edit Consignor Account.
- Under Recurring Fees & Discounts, uncheck Credit Card Processing Fee.
- Save.
When the box is unchecked, the fee isn't deducted from that consignor. The store covers the processing cost for that consignor's card sales. SimpleConsign doesn't record what the store covered as its own line or report. See How much is the store paying? below.
Turning the fee off only affects sales from that point forward. It isn't retroactive, so fees that were already deducted stay on the consignor's account.
"House" or store consignor accounts
Some stores create a consignor account for the store itself, for example one named after the store. If you have one, uncheck Credit Card Processing Fee on that account. Otherwise fees are deducted from an account that has no sales splits share (this is assuming that the split is set to 100%) to cover them, and its balance will go negative.
We recommend entering store-owned items through the Inventory tab instead of a house consignor account. Reports treat a house account like any other consignor, so its sales and fees are counted as consignment activity. See Types of Inventory and Add Store Owned Inventory.
Where to see the fees in reports
| Where | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Reports > Sales Report > Consignor CC Processing Fees | Total fees deducted from all consignors for sales in the date range |
| Reports > Consignor Payout Totals > CC Proc. Fees | Fee totals for each consignor. This report searches by payout date, so run it for the date the payout was processed. |
| Consignor Payout Report (printed with a payout, or from Reprint Payout Reports) | Each fee as its own "cc processing fee" line under the item it applies to, so the consignor can see exactly what was deducted |
| Consignment tab > consignor > Account Activity | Each individual fee, line by line |
The Sales Report figure is only what was deducted from consignors. It isn't your total processing cost.
How much is the store paying?
SimpleConsign records the fees it deducts from consignors. Your processor charges you for every card transaction. To find what the store covered:
Total fees on your processor statement - Consignor CC Processing Fees on the Sales Report = fees paid by the store
The store's share includes:
- Fees on sales of store-owned items
- Fees on sales for consignors who have the fee turned off
- Any difference between the rate you charge consignors and the rate your processor charges you
Use the same date range for both numbers. Your processor's statement period may not line up exactly with calendar days. If it doesn't, ask your processor how their statement dates are set.