How to enable the "Pay the Fee" feature

Let's Learn

• How to Enable Bidders and Donors Cover the Processing Fee using Frontstream Global Fund (FGF)
  • Auction Items
  • Buy Now
  • Ticket Purchases
  • Donations
  • Quick Sales
  • Offline Ticket Orders
  • Bidder Receipts
  • Reports
  • Helpful Tips
• How to Enable Cover the Processing Fee using Stripe or iATS
  • Bidder Receipts
  • Reports
  • Helpful Tips

How to Enable Bidders and Donors Cover the Processing Fee using Frontstream Global Fund

If your funds are being processed by Frontstream Global Fund (FGF), the Pay the Fee feature is enabled by default. When enabled, donors and bidders will have the option to cover 100% of both the processing and credit card transaction fees combined helping raise more for your mission and satisfying donors by enabling them to allocate 100% of their donation to go towards the cause.  

If you prefer to disable this feature, please follow the instructions below:

1. Go to Close Out > Get Ready > Pay the Fee
2. Uncheck the box next to Ask Bidders to Pay the Fee and then click Update Bidder Fee Settings.

The option to cover the fees for auction items, quick sales, ticket sales, and donations can be viewed by donors or bidders when they are on the full-screen web view (standard version/desktop URL) in addition to the mobile version (mobile URL).  

Note: with this feature, there is not an option to charge partial fees to bidders or donors. When a bidder or donor opts in to cover the processing fees and their payment method is not a credit card, the built-in credit card percentage of 2.5% will automatically be removed from the total funds calculated for processing fees. Also, when enabled, the option to cover processing fees is available and visible to bidders and donors on all ticket, donation, items, and quick sale pages. There is no option to show Donor Covers the Fee on select pages.

When Bidder Covers the Fee is enabled, your donors will have the following experiences:

 

Auction Items

Bidders have the option of covering the fees when placing a bid on an auction item. The checkbox will be unchecked by default. When the bidder checks the box, the calculated fee will be added.

Web View:

Mobile View:

Important Information! 

• The fee amount is based on the Next Minimum Bid. 
• The Leading Bid amount could be different than the Next Minimum Bid amount if the previous leading bidder had a Maximum Proxy Bid higher than their leading bid. That means the estimated Cover the Fee could also change.
• The Cover the Fee selection is tied to a particular bid. If the bidder bids again on the item and does not select Cover the Fee, the Fees will not be covered if that bid wins.  The bidder doesn’t have the option to always cover the fee or always cover it for a particular item.

 

Buy Now

Bidders purchasing a Buy Now item will now see the option of covering the fees when purchasing a buy now item on the confirmation page. The checkbox is unchecked by default.  When the bidder checks the box, the calculated fee will be added. 

Web View:

Mobile View: 

Above the Buy Now button, a checkbox shows to allow bidders to Cover the Fee when bidding.

The fee amount will be added to the purchase once a Quantity is selected and the checkbox for Cover the Fee is enabled.

After selecting Buy Now, the purchase is complete.  The purchase amount plus the Cover the Fee amount show as the total purchase amount in the confirmation message.

 

Ticket Purchases

Web View:

When a supporter is purchasing tickets, a checkbox will display asking the bidder if they would like to cover the fee. The checkbox is unchecked by default. 

 

If the bidder checks the box indicating they would like to cover the processing fee, the Confirm Ticket Order page will display the fee they opted to cover.

The Ticket Confirmation Email will include a Fees Covered subtotal line as well. 

Mobile View: 

Below the Comment section, a checkbox shows to allow bidders to Cover the Fee when ordering a Ticket. 

The fee amount will be added to the ticket order once the checkbox for Cover the Fee is enabled.  The estimate will update if the Number of Tickets changes.

After selecting Buy Tickets, the order is complete.  The ticket order amount plus the Cover the Fee amount show as the total order amount in the confirmation message. 

 

Donations

When a supporter is making a donation, a checkbox will display asking the donor if they would like to cover the fee. The checkbox is unchecked by default. 

Web View: 

If the donor checks the box indicating they would like to cover the processing fee, the Confirm Donation page will display the fee they opted to cover.

The Donation Confirmation Email will include a Fees Covered subtotal line as well. 

Mobile View:

Below the Comment section, a checkbox shows to allow bidders to Cover the Fee when donating.

The fee will show once a Donation Amount is selected and the checkbox for Cover the Fee is enabled.

After selecting Donate Now, the donation is complete.  The donation amount plus the Cover the Fee amount show as the total donation in the confirmation message.

 

Offline Ticket Orders

The fee can also be covered when creating an offline ticket order. This is enabled under Close Out > Ticket Orders.  Once on the page, then click on Create Ticket Order.  When the fees checkbox is checked, the fee amount will populate in the Fees field and be added to the purchase.

 

Quick Sales

The fee can also be covered when creating a Quick Sale. This is enabled under Close Out > Quick Sales.  Once on the page, click on Create Quick Sale.  When creating a Quick Sale, a checkbox will display asking if the bidder would like to cover the fee. The checkbox is unchecked by default.  By checking the box, the calculated fee will be added. 

When creating Multiple Quick Sales, please note that the checkbox will apply to all Quick Sales and Bidders. Therefore, if you have some bidders who will pay the fee and others who won't, you will need to do this process twice: once with the checkbox on and once with it off. 

 

Bidder Receipts

The Fee column will indicate whether or not the bidder chose to cover the fee. All of the fees are totaled together into a Fee Subtotal at the bottom of the receipt.

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Reports

The Awarded Items, Winning Bidders, Export Item Details, Tickets, Quick Sales, and Donations reports have a Cover the Fee column which shows the amount if the bidder paid the fees. 

Helpful Tips

If a bidder or donor opted into covering the fee and no longer wishes to, please submit a refund request to our Customer Support Team here. Be sure to include your bidder or donor's name, email address, and transaction amount. This process is similar for any other Panorama projects processed through FGF. 

Adding a message about how covering the credit card processing fees will specifically help your organization encourage more donors to opt in to covering the fees.

To add a message click on Items at the top of your admin homepage and then click on Draft Items or Published Items depending on what stage you are at in creating your items listing. 

Then click on Edit next to the item you want to work with.

Scroll down to the section labeled Special Note.

Here you can add text to describe how opting to pay the processing fees will help your organization. 

 

 

For Admins with auctions that have Bidder Pay the Fee turned on an audit log is available under Reports>Activity Log that will show when someone changes the Pay the Fee checkbox. 

 

How to Enable Cover the Processing Fee using Stripe or iATS 

You can enable the Cover the Processing Fee feature to have a processing fee automatically applied for all auction items, quick sales, direct donations and tickets.  

 

Important Note!

To ensure a bidder is aware of the charge, we suggest mentioning you will be applying this extra percentage fee on your homepage, in the item description (in the Special Notes section) and in your email communications.  

To enable this feature, please follow the instructions below:

1. Click on Close Out > Get Ready > Cover Processing Fee.

 

2. Choose what you want to be covered and enter the percentage, then click Update CC Fee Settings.  By default, the checkboxes are checked and the processing fee percentage is 0%. 

3. The fee will be automatically applied to items, tickets, direct donations, and/or quick sales depending on which checkboxes are enabled. The fee is displayed on the Process Payments page. Note: the fee is not displayed to the bidder or donor when they make a bid or a donation. 

 

Bidder Receipts

1. To view your bidder receipts select Bidder Receipts on the left-hand side.

2. From here you can edit your receipt settings, generate one PDF for all bidder receipts, email receipts to all bidders, or work with an individual bidder to generate a pdf or email their receipt. 

Reports

The Credit Card Transaction report shows the fees broken out per credit card charge.  Note: this is the only report that shows the fees charge broken out.   

 

Helpful Tips

Should you wish to change your fee for a single person or order, you can change the fee by following the steps above. Then, when the order is in process payments, click on View Purchases, and choose Recalculate Fee. Then process as normal. Remember to set your old percentage back for other orders.