Automatically Adding a Service Fee to All Checks
This feature is available to all accounts. This feature may be activated or modified via the Merchant - Add Service Fee menu in your Vcheck control panel.
This feature allows you to add a small convenience or processing fee to all checks submitted online. This feature should be used judiciously - it is designed to help you cover the cost of check stock , MICR toner and a percentage of the cost of your Vcheck account.
The average cost to print a check (using check stock and MICR toner) is approximately $0.03 - $0.05.
How it works: If activated, the online Vcheck form your customers use will contain a new required checkbox and agreement as below. The same checkbox and agreement will also appear on your Phone Order form - HOWEVER, it is not a required agreement, so you have the option of applying the fee or not. If you do so on a phone/fax order, make sure your customers are aware of and agree to the fee.
"I understand that a $0.20 (Twenty Cents) service fee will be automatically added to the total of my check as entered above. The new total will be displayed on the next screen"
The $0.20 shown above is just an example. The amount you enter in on the Service Fee setup page will be shown on your check form. When the customer proceeds to Step 2 of the check form, the service fee will be added and the new total displayed on the Confirm Data screen.
The maximum amount you can add as a service fee is $10.00 unless you use a variable to override this amount (see the section below the screenshot below). The setup page is self-explanatory. By default the Amount of Service Fee is set to $0.00 (no fee will be added). You can select any amount from $0.05 to $10.00 to add to the check amount entered by the customer.
Below is a screen shot showing where the new service fee agreement appears on the check form. Watch the video tutorial (link above) to see this in action.
Using a link variable to override set service fee.
There may be cases where you wish to override the service fee set via your admin console. For instance, you may wish to have one service fee if your customers go online and submit a check, but a different one if they call in and you have to enter the check for them. Or, you may not want a set service fee for normal checks but occasionally you may want to add one for a specific customer for a late payment, etc.
Vcheck supports numerous variables contained in the link you use to send your customers to your Vcheck payment form. See this page for a complete list. In essence, a link variable is simply an additional instruction you send to Vcheck when your form is called. You can have several variables in any given link. A variable consist of 3 parts: The & symbol which tells the system you are adding a varible. The name of the variable and the = sign along with the value you want for the variable. In this case, the variable to set a service fee of $15.00 would be:
&servicefee=15.00 All variables should be inserted in the link to your Vcheck form after your merchant id - see the sample below.
https://www.securevcheck.com/?id=yourmerchantid&servicefee=15.00
