Processing Fees

• Setting General Processing Fee    
• Setting Processing Fee for Ticketing     
• Adding/Removing the Processing Fee from a statement

By setting these fees, you can cover costs associated with credit card processing and other event-related expenses while giving guests the option to contribute or cover these fees as donations.

What is a Processing Fee?

A processing fee is an additional charge applied to cover the cost of running the event, such as credit card processing fees. The fee can either be required or optional, and it will be presented to the guest during registration or ticket purchase. If required, the guest must accept the fee before completing registration. If optional, the guest can choose to opt-out of the fee.

How Much Should My Organization Charge?

The fee percentage you set depends on the costs your organization needs to cover, such as credit card processing fees. Most organizations charge between 3-5% to offset these costs. It's important for your organization to determine the amount that will effectively cover expenses.

Note: Processing fees are sent directly to the organization, while merchant and credit card processing fees are billed the following month. Your organization will need to budget accordingly for these future payments.

Where Can I Set Processing Fees?

You can set Processing Fees for your event in two places: on Pre-event purchases (such as tickets, sponsorships, donations, and item sales) and on Event purchases (such as auctions, donations, and item sales). Here's how to set up and manage these fees.

Setting Up a General Processing Fee

The General Processing Fee affects fundraising/auction contributions and is not applied to ticket purchases. To set it up:

1. Go to General Settings > Advanced Settings in the dashboard menu. On the General Settings page, locate the Processing Fee section.
2. Choose Fee Handling:
• Required: This will make the fee mandatory for all participants. They cannot complete registration without accepting the fee.
• Optional Donation: This gives the participant the option to accept the fee as a donation to your organization.
• None: No fee will be applied
3. Set Fee Percentage: Enter the percentage (e.g., 3%, 4%, etc.) you would like to charge
4. Apply to All Fundraising Activity: This will toggle on for any option other than None.
5. Click the Save button at the bottom of the page.

**Notice in this example, the 3.5% fee will be Optional.

Setting Up Fees for Pre-Event

To set the processing fee for ticket purchases, follow these steps: The Pre-Event Processing Fee affects purchases/contributions made on the ticketing page and is not applied to any other site purchases. To set it up:

1. Log in as Admin and go to Ticket Settings in the dashboard menu. On the Ticket Settings page, find the Ticket Processing Fees Setting Box at the top right.
2. Choose Fee Handling:
   • Required: Make the fee mandatory for all ticket purchasers. They cannot complete registration without accepting the fee.
   • Optional Donation: Allow the guest to opt-in to the fee as a donation to the organization.
   • None: No fee will be applied
3. Set Fee Percentage: Enter the percentage (e.g., 3%, 4%, etc.) for the ticket processing fee.
4. Click the Save button at the bottom of the page.

**If at any time you need to remove a fee from a guests statement follow the instructions here: Remove or Add a Processing Fee from a Guest’s Statement

How Will My Guests Be Notified of the Fee?

If your organization is using the Mobile Bidding platform, guests will be notified of the fee during the registration process:

• Optional Fee: The guest will see the option to accept or decline the fee.
• Required Fee: The fee will be pre-selected, and the guest cannot proceed without accepting it.

For organizations using the My Simple Auction (MSA) platform, bidders can opt in via a CC Authorization form (CC-Auth.pdf) during in-person check-in.

• Fee Marked as Required: The fee will automatically be applied to all donors.
• Fee Marked as Optional: You can manually check the box in the system for guests who choose to opt-in.

You can find the CC Authorization form under Event Resources in your dashboard.

Example 1: CC Authorization form with the fee marked as required.

Example 2: CC Authorization form with the fee marked as optional. **You would then need to manually check the box in the system for these guests.