Even more value is coming to Timely. A new surcharge feature is in development!
Our product team is currently working hard behind the scenes on a new surcharge feature. This feature will allow salon owners to pass on card processing fees to their clients for in-salon payments with the TimelyPay terminal. This new feature will help salon owners by enabling them to offset the cost of card processing fees by passing it on to clients. It’s a small additional cost for the client but will add up to big savings over time for the business.
This feature is currently in the pilot stage, with only a limited version available. For more information on surcharges and whether the current version will work for you, read the 'Can I use surcharging?' section in our guide: Intro to surcharging and FAQs.
In this guide we'll cover:
- Turning on surcharging
- Processing a sale with surcharges
- Refunding a sale with a surcharge in it
- Removing a surcharge from a sale
Turning on surcharging
1. Start by logging in to the Timely Web App, select Setup, and navigate to the TimelyPay section.
Tip: Check that your terminal is connected to Timely by looking for a device connected to a location under the Terminal management section.
2. Scroll down to the Fees section where you will see the new Surcharge fees setting! Select Edit to expand the section.
3. Select the Pass fee through to clients option, followed by the Save button to enable surcharging.
4. Success! You can now see that surcharging has been enabled for your In-Salon payments made through your TimelyPay terminal!
Processing a sale with surcharges
Now that you've enabled surcharging on your TimelyPay terminal, a surcharge will automatically be applied to the transaction total you enter in the checkout flow for any terminal payments.
1. Simply add your services and products to the sale and the payment screen will show you the total excluding card processing fees (1), as well as what the total will be including card processing fees if the transaction is processed with your TimelyPay terminal (2).
2. Select the Take card payment button
3. Here you can also see how much the surcharge value will be. Once you’re happy with the amount to charge the client, select the Process payment button. This will connect to the terminal which will then beep and light up with the amount ready for the client to tap/swipe/insert their card.
Tip: If you need to adjust the amount for a partial payment, the 'Total including fee' will update to show you what amount the client will be charged.
4. Once the sale is complete, you'll be able to see all the transactions for the sale on the left panel. Including the breakdown of the terminal card processing fee and the overall sales total including the fees.
5. Both the invoice in Timely and the PDF invoice that is emailed to clients will display an extra row for the ‘Terminal card processing fee(s)’ along with a note that the fee is non-refundable.
Refunding a sale with a surcharge in it
In the case where you need to refund a sale that has a surcharge, you will need to follow the usual refund process for a TimelyPay transaction. However, it is important to note that the amount refunded to your client will be the total exclusive of the surcharge amount. This is because the fee has already been used to cover the processing of the original sale.
To find out more on refunding a TimelyPay terminal transaction read our guide on issuing a refund here.
Removing a surcharge from a sale
If there is a situation where you would like to remove the surcharge from a sale and cover the fee (instead of passing it on to your client) then you will need to update this setting in the TimelyPay settings.
- Select Setup, TimelyPay, and scroll down to the Fees section.
- From here click the Edit button in the Pass through fees section.
- Select the Business covers the fee option followed by the save button.
- Your business will now have the surcharges feature switched off and will be covering the fees for any TimelyPay terminal transactions until the setting is updated again.
- When you’re ready to switch the surcharges feature back on, repeat steps 1 and 2 then select the Pass fee through to clients option and Save.
- Now any TimelyPay terminal transactions will have the fee covered by the client