Adding Surcharges & Discounts
There are two key situations where an auction house may need to adjust this section of the software:
- To apply a surcharge to a specific payment method, adding a percentage of the total amount due to the final cost the buyer will pay. For instance, you might add a 3% surcharge to buyers who use a credit card for payment.
2. To apply a discount to a payment method, reducing the total amount due by a set percentage. For example, offering a 3% discount to buyers who pay with cash.
- To create a surcharge or discount, go to Miscellaneous > Accounts, and make sure it’s applied under the 1010 Money In or Out account.
- To proceed with adding the surcharge or discount, click the green plug icon located to the right of the account.
On the next page, you’ll see a list of different payment type accounts. To apply the surcharge or discount, simply edit each account as needed.
This screen is for setting up surcharges or discounts in the accounting system. Here’s an explanation of the fields:
- Parent Account: This is where you select the parent account under which this specific account operates. In this case, it’s set to 1010 – money in or out, which likely tracks cash inflows and outflows.
- Account Number: The unique identifier for the account being modified. Here, it’s set to 1012.
- Description: A brief description of the account. This account is labeled as “cash.”
- Use for Receipts: This checkbox indicates whether this account will be used for receiving payments (checked here).
- Use for Payments: This checkbox determines if this account will handle outgoing payments (also checked).
- Surcharge/Discount (Percentage): Here, you can enter a percentage to apply either as a surcharge (additional cost) or a discount (reduction). It’s currently set to 0% but can be modified.
- Surcharge/Discount (Flat Amount): This field allows you to apply a flat surcharge or discount. It’s also set to 0.
- Surcharge/Discount to Seller: If this box is checked, the surcharge or discount will be applied to the seller, rather than the buyer. It is currently unchecked.
- Rounding: This field specifies how the total amount will be rounded. In this example, it’s set to No Rounding, meaning the system won’t round any amounts.
- Save/Cancel: These buttons allow you to either save the changes or cancel and exit without applying them.
Global Invoices: Applying Surcharges or Discounts
We’ve implemented a new feature that allows surcharges and/or discounts to be automatically applied to your Global Payments invoices or during batch processing. If you’ve set up a surcharge or discount for Global Payments or Global Payments ACH account types, when a bidder selects the corresponding payment method (credit card or ACH account), the surcharge or discount will be applied to their invoice before payment.
This also applies when you, as the auctioneer, run batch processing or handle individual credit card transactions. As long as the invoice opens in a new tab using Global Payments, the system will apply the surcharge or discount accordingly.
Important Notes:
- Surcharges or discounts will only apply to Global Payments (credit card or ACH). If you attempt to apply them to Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, or Discover directly, they will not work. This is because the Global Payments method is specifically integrated with the invoicing system.
- If either the Global Payments or Global Payments ACH payment types are deleted, it may cause issues with processing payments.
