Surcharging

Modified on Wed, 12 Jun at 2:13 PM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Types of Surcharging in Benji Pays
2. Configuration and S et tings
3. Which type of cards will hav e a surcharge added
4. Benji Pays managed surcharging
5. Gateway managed surcharging(Elavon Converge)
6. What accounting transactions are created
7. Setting up Benji Pays managed surcharging

1. Types of Surcharging in Benji Pays

Benji Pays, a cutting-edge payment processing platform, offers two distinct types of surcharging options: Benji Pays managed surcharging and Gateway managed surcharging.

1.1 Benji Pays Managed Surcharging

In this type of surcharging, Benji Pays takes full control of enabling and managing the surcharges. The surcharge amount is automatically added to each charge processed through Benji Pays, simplifying the process for merchants and ensuring accurate surcharge calculation.

1.2 Gateway Managed Surcharging

Gateway managed surcharging is facilitated by your payment gateway. With this approach, Benji Pays sends the charge amount to the gateway, which then determines whether a surcharge should be applied. The gateway calculates the surcharge, adds it to the total charge amount, and sends the final amount back to Benji Pays for processing. As of now, Elavon Converge is the only gateway that supports this type of surcharging within the Benji Pays platform.

2. Configuration and Settings

Under Benji Pays managed surcharging, merchants have more control over surcharges compared to Gateway managed surcharging.

2.1 Each Customer Can Have Surcharging Disabled: Merchants have the option to disable surcharging for individual customers, affecting all their invoices and payment profiles.
2.2 Payment Profiles Can Have Surcharging Disabled: Disabling surcharging for a payment profile affects only the charges associated with that specific profile. Other payment profiles for the same customer will still be subject to surcharges if enabled.

By default, surcharging is activated for all customers within your system. However, you have the flexibility to control the surcharging status on a customer and payment profile level.

Disabling Surcharging for a Customer:

Navigate to the Customers section.
Locate the specific customer for whom you want to disable surcharging.
Click on the gear icon associated with the customer.
In the window that opens, find the option to disable surcharging.
Toggle off the surcharging option and remember to save your changes.

Disabling Surcharging for a Payment Profile:

Identify the payment profile that needs surcharging to be disabled.
Click the edit (pencil) icon linked to that payment profile.
Within the profile editing window, you'll find the surcharging option.
Turn off the surcharging setting at the bottom of the profile.
Be sure to save the changes to update the payment profile.

This approach grants you precise control over which customers and payment profiles have surcharging enabled or disabled according to your specific business requirements.

3. Which type of cards will have a surcharge added

Benji Pays prioritizes adding surcharges to credit cards to align with lower fees typically associated with Debit type Visa and Mastercards. However, this strategy is only feasible if the gateway can identify card types prior to charge processing. Not all supported gateways offer this feature.

Here's a breakdown of how different gateways handle surcharges:

3.1 Elavon Converge: Adds surcharge to credit cards and debit/credit cards. Works with existing Benji Pays payment profiles and new ones.
3.2 Clover and Stripe: Adds surcharge to all cards, as they charge the same fees regardless of card type.
3.3 Moneris: For new cards and payment profiles, credit cards and debit/credit cards will have a surcharge. Existing Benji Pays payment profiles will have surcharges for all cards.
3.4 Helcim, Global Payments, and Bambora: Credit cards will have a surcharge added.

4. Benji Pays managed surcharging

Experience the convenience of gateway-managed surcharging with Benji Pays. Here's how it works: Your payment gateway takes the reins, receiving the charge amount from Benji Pays. The gateway smartly determines whether additional charges are warranted. If so, the total charge is calculated with the extra amount included.

5. Gateway managed surcharging(Elavon Converge)

At present, our gateway-managed surcharging is seamlessly integrated with Elavon Converge, offering you an unparalleled surcharging experience.

6. What accounting transactions are created

For accounting purposes, the following transactions are generated:

6.1 QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop: A journal entry is created that debits the customer's accounts receivable account and credits either an income account (Benji Pays managed surcharging) or a liability account (gateway managed surcharging). A payment is then generated for the full transaction amount, linked to the journal entry and the invoice paid.

Journal Entry numbers:

For QuickBooks Online, Benji Pays let's QuickBooks generate a journal entry number unless the "Warn if duplicate journal entry number is used" setting is turned on. If this setting is ON, QuickBooks requires us to provide a journal entry number. You will see these numbes in the Form of BP-MMDDYYHHSSsss. We must provide these numbers or the transactions will fail.

You can find this setting in QuickBooks Online under the gear icon >> Account and Settings >> Advanced >> Other Preferences

6.2 Xero: The original charge amount is applied as a payment to the invoice. A separate receive money transaction is generated for the surcharge, posted to an income account (Benji Pays managed surcharging) or a liability account (gateway managed surcharging).

7. Setting up Benji Pays managed surcharging

To enable surcharging on your gateway connection:

1. Go to "Settings >> Payment Gateway Settings".

2. Add a new gateway or edit an existing one.

3. In the gateway settings scroll until you see Benji Pays Surcharging and toggle the switch to enable surcharging.

4. Choose an income account.

5. Set your surcharge rate.

6. Save your gateway.

Your surcharging is now enabled for all payments.

If your customers pay with a payment link, they will get a confirmation message outlining the surcharge amount, it will also be included on their emailed transaction receipt.

Here is a flowchart that provides a visual representation of how surcharging works in Benji Pays.