*If you are not on the Vendor Mall Plus plan you'll want to see the article Accept Consignor Payments
Rent Collection works with the Merchant Surcharge Program (MSP). If your location has MSP enabled, a credit card surcharge is added to rent charged to a vendor's card. See Credit card surcharges on rent below.
Rent Collection requires integrated payments with a provider on the CardConnect rails — either SimplePay or Fiserv. Stores on other processors are not eligible for this feature until they convert.
Setting the Rental Fee Collection Strategy
In the Back Office, go to Settings > Options > Vendor. Under Rental Fee Collection Strategy, choose one of three options:
- Balance only — rent is deducted directly from the consignor's balance.
- Credit card only — the consignor enters a credit card in Consignor Access, and rent is charged to that card instead of deducted from their balance.
- Balance first, credit card fallback — rent is taken from the vendor's balance first. If the balance doesn't cover it, the rest is charged to the vendor's credit card on file.
The strategy you choose applies to every vendor at that location. Strategies can't be mixed or set differently for individual vendors.
How Balance first, credit card fallback works
Balance first lets vendors' sales cover their rent whenever possible, while still collecting anything left over without you having to follow up.
- Rent is pulled from the vendor's balance. If the balance covers the full amount, the invoice is paid and nothing else happens.
- If more than $1 is still owed, the rest goes to the vendor's card. The invoice switches to credit card, and the card is charged for the remaining amount right after.
- If the card charge doesn't go through, the system keeps trying. Credit card dunning begins and retries the card each night until the invoice is resolved. From this point, that invoice is only retried on the card. It won't go back to the vendor's balance.
Small amounts stay on the balance. If $1 or less is left after the balance is applied, the invoice isn't sent to the card. It stays on the vendor's balance and is retried each night until the balance covers it.
Adding a card in Consignor Access
This step applies if Rental Fee Collection Strategy is set to Credit card only or Balance first, credit card fallback. With Balance first, a card on file lets the system collect anything the vendor's balance doesn't cover, so we recommend asking every vendor to add one.
The vendor clicks their user name in the top right, selects Manage Payment Methods, and adds a card from that screen.
Card on File Agreement
Before a vendor can add or manage a card, they need to accept the Card on File Agreement. Vendors who already have a card on file will see it the next time they open their payment methods, and new vendors will see it before entering their first card. Every vendor is asked to accept it, even if your location doesn't surcharge, so nothing else is needed from vendors if you turn on MSP later.
Credit card surcharges on rent
If your location has the Merchant Surcharge Program (MSP) enabled, rent charged to a vendor's credit card includes a credit card surcharge. The surcharge shows on the vendor's rent invoice as its own Credit Card Surcharge line item.
Your surcharge percentage is set with your credit card processor, not in SimpleConsign. To learn how surcharging works or how to enroll, see the Merchant Surcharge Program (MSP) Overview.
FAQs
Can you do a pay in when you are set to the Credit card only collection strategy?
-Yes, but not for rent / monthly fee. Under Credit card only, rent is charged to the vendor's card on file through invoices, so no negative account entry is created for rent to pay into. This also means the Vendor Monthly Fee report and Vendor Account Activity report can't be used to show monthly fees.
Pay In still works for other charges, such as a booth deposit, using a manual negative account adjustment
How do I collect a booth deposit from a vendor?
-There isn't a dedicated deposit field, and invoices are only created from recurring fees, so a deposit can't be set up as a one-time invoice. Instead, use an account adjustment and a pay in. This works with both the Balance only and Credit card only strategies.
- Create a negative account adjustment on the vendor's account for the deposit amount. Use a clear description, such as "Booth Deposit – Space 12, Aisle A."
- In the Terminal, select the vendor and click Pay In.
- Choose Pay in on specific items and select the deposit adjustment.
- Choose the payment type the vendor is using (cash, check, or credit card) and complete the pay in.
What happens if the vendor doesn't have a credit card entered before the day the monthly fee is set to be charged or a card is declined for monthly fee?
-Credit card dunning is automatically applied. The system will automatically re-attempt the charge on local midnight every day until the invoice is resolved.
With Balance first, credit card fallback, dunning only starts after the vendor's balance has been applied and more than $1 is still owed. If $1 or less is left, the invoice stays on the balance and is retried nightly against the balance instead.
A vendor's rent was declined. Do I need to add the missed amount to next month's rent?
-No. Each month's rent is its own invoice. When a charge is declined, that invoice stays open and is retried automatically every night until it's paid or written off. Next month's rent is invoiced separately on its usual date, so nothing needs to be added or doubled up.
For example, if October's $100 rent is still unpaid when November's $125 rent is charged, the vendor will have two open invoices totaling $225. Each one is collected as soon as the card goes through.
How can I tell if a vendor is behind on rent?
-Open the vendor's profile and look at Rent Collection. A Not Paid Up badge shows how many invoices are past due, and the list below it shows each collection attempt and its result (for example, Declined – Not sufficient funds). Declined attempts show $0.00 because nothing was collected. You can also see every invoice on the vendor's Invoices tab.
If I change a vendor's rent, will it affect an invoice that's already past due?
-No. Invoices that have already been created keep their original amount and keep retrying. The new amount applies only to rent charged from the next charge date on.
Why was a vendor's card charged when they had sales?
-With Balance first, credit card fallback, rent is taken from the vendor's balance first. If the balance didn't cover the full amount and more than $1 was still owed, the rest was charged to the vendor's card.
If a card is declined under Balance first, will the system go back to the vendor's balance?
-No. Once an invoice moves to the card, dunning only retries the card for that invoice.
Can I use Balance first for some vendors and Credit card only for others?
-No. The Rental Fee Collection Strategy is set at the location level and applies to every vendor at that location.
Will vendors pay a surcharge on rent?
-Only if your location has the Merchant Surcharge Program (MSP) enabled and rent is charged to the vendor's credit card. The surcharge appears on the rent invoice as a separate Credit Card Surcharge line item.
Why is a vendor being asked to accept a Card on File Agreement?
-Vendors need to accept the agreement before they can add or manage a card in Consignor Access. Every vendor is asked, even at locations that don't surcharge, so nothing else is needed from them if MSP is turned on later.
How are invoice numbers determined?
-Invoice numbers are unique per location and start at 10000. This occurs at locations with credit card based rent collection strategy.
Apply Adjustments
-Credit: A credit is a payment toward the invoice, money applied to reduce what's owed. It can be a positive amount (paying down the balance) or a negative amount (deducting a previously applied credit), but a deduction cannot exceed the sum of existing credits on that invoice. When a credit brings the remaining balance to exactly $0, the invoice transitions to Paid status.
Credit here is not store credit nor the consignor balance (where it can act as store credit at checkout - see Available Credit at Checkout for more on this).
-Write Down: A write down is a partial forgiveness of the remaining balance. It reduces what's owed but does not zero out the invoice. The invoice stays Unpaid/Active and remains eligible for daily collection retries on the reduced balance. A note is required.
-Write Off: A write off is full forgiveness of the entire remaining balance. The adjustment amount must equal the invoice's remaining balance exactly. If it doesn't, the system rejects it and tells you to use a write down instead. Upon write off, the invoice status flips to Inactive (Voided), removing it from the unpaid collection path entirely. A note is required.