Taking a payment costs money. A collection fee lets you pass that cost on to the buying tribe rather than absorbing it across the network. It is off by default.
The two modes
| Mode | What happens |
|---|---|
| None | No fee. You absorb the cost of collection. This is the default. |
| Passed on | A fee is added to the order and the tribe pays it. |
How the fee is worked out
The fee is a fixed amount plus a percentage of the line, with an optional cap on the percentage part:
Fee = fixed amount + min(percentage of subtotal, cap)
| Setting | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Amount | A flat charge applied to every order, whatever the value. |
| Percent | A percentage of the line subtotal. |
| Cap | The most the percentage part can add. Leave blank for no cap. |
| Label | What the fee is called on the order and receipt. Be plain — "Card processing fee" reads better than "Surcharge". |
You can use either part alone. A flat amount with no percentage suits a fixed transfer cost; a percentage with a cap suits card fees on orders that vary widely in size.
Setting it
The store-wide setting is in Settings. Individual product variants can override it — either applying a different fee, or none at all — which is how you exempt a mandatory item you do not want to add a surcharge to.
Tell the network first
A fee appearing on an order that did not have one last month generates immediate questions, and the amount is rarely the issue — being surprised by it is. Announce it, say what it covers, and make the label on the order match what you called it in the announcement.
Existing subscriptions pick the fee up at their next renewal, so a change here reaches every subscribed tribe within one cycle.