Fee Programs

Recover your credit card processing cost by passing the fee to cardholders — or by discounting cash and ACH. Four programs, each with different math and different receipts.

Overview

Credit card processing typically costs merchants somewhere between 1.5% and 4% per transaction. Fee programs give that cost back — either by charging the cardholder, or by offering a discount to customers who pay by cash or ACH.

moat supports four fee programs. They arrive at similar totals for card customers but structure receipts differently, and each suits a different situation.

Which program?

Side by side

Where the math lands

Same purchase ($100 subtotal, 7% tax, 3.99% fee), four programs:

Surcharge

A surcharge adds a fee (typically 3–4%) to transactions paid by credit card. The fee shows as its own line item on the receipt. Debit, prepaid, cash, and ACH are not surcharged.

How it works

1. The customer sees the base price while shopping.
2. At checkout, if they pay by credit card, the surcharge is calculated on subtotal plus tax.
3. The surcharge appears as a separate line on the receipt.
4. ACH, cash, debit, and prepaid pay the base price with no fee.

Worked example

$100.00 subtotal, 7% tax, 3.99% surcharge, paid by credit card:

When to use it

• You want the fee called out explicitly.
• You operate in a state that requires clear surcharge disclosure.
• Your advertised prices don't include the fee and you don't want to raise them.

Cash discount

With cash discount, the fee is already built into your posted prices. Customers paying by card see the full price. Customers paying cash or ACH get a discount equal to the fee, shown as a line item on the receipt. Same total for cards as a surcharge program — different wording.

How it works

1. Posted prices already include the processing cost.
2. Card customers pay the listed price at checkout.
3. Cash / ACH customers get a discount equal to the fee percentage.
4. The discount appears on the receipt rather than a "surcharge."

Worked example

$100.00 base, 7% tax, 3.99% fee built into prices, paid by credit card:

When to use it

• You'd rather show a "discount" than a "fee."
• Your pricing already accounts for card costs.
• You operate in a state with surcharge restrictions but still want to recover the cost.

Dual pricing

Dual pricing shows two prices up front: one for card, one for cash / ACH. The fee is calculated on the subtotal only (not subtotal + tax), and tax is applied separately to both the subtotal and the fee — so the fee itself is taxed.

Worked example

$100.00 subtotal, 7% tax, 3.99% fee, paid by credit card:

When to use it

• You post two prices visibly (common in retail).
• Local rules require showing both prices.
• You need the fee to be taxed separately from the base.

Dual pricing v2

Similar intent to dual pricing, but the fee is embedded entirely inside the posted price. Card customers pay the listed price with no separate fee line. For ACH and cash, moat reverse-calculates a lower base amount that, when the fee is added back, equals the original price.

How it works

1. The listed price is the card price. The fee is invisible, already baked in.
2. For ACH and cash, moat calculates a "derived" lower base price.
3. The discount shows on the receipt.
4. Non-card customers see a meaningfully lower total than other programs.

Worked example

$100.00 posted price, 7% tax, 3.99% fee embedded, paid by credit card:

No separate fee line — it's already in the $100.00.

The math

The derived (discounted) amount for non-card payments is:

Derived amount = Original amount ÷ (1 + Fee rate)

Worked:  $100.00 ÷ 1.0399 = $96.16

Adding the fee back to $96.16 reproduces the original $100.00.

When to use it

• E-commerce where you want one clean price everywhere.
• You want ACH and cash customers to see a real discount.
• Invoicing where fee breakdowns would confuse the recipient.

Side-by-side receipt

Same $100 purchase with 7% tax and 3.99% fee, paid by credit card, across all four programs. (Card totals converge; the difference is where the fee shows up.)

Picking one

Turning it on

1. Open your Control Panel and go to Settings → Fee Programs.
2. Pick the program you want.
3. Set your fee percentage (usually 3–4%).
4. Choose which payment types are exempt (typically ACH and cash).
5. Save and run a test transaction on both a card and an ACH payment to verify the totals.