The HQ Card Fees setting decides whether the shops in your network are allowed to pass card processing costs on to customers — either as a credit-card surcharge or a cash-discount program. It's off by default: until HQ allows it here, no shop in your organization can turn on a card fee. Only HQ Owners and Admins can change this setting.
How the three checks work together
A shop in your network only charges a card fee when all three of these are true:
- State law allows it. Surcharging is banned in some states, and debit and prepaid cards are never surcharged.
- HQ allows it. That's the setting on this page.
- The shop turns it on. Each shop still has to set up its own fee in its own Settings → Payments — see Collecting payment on an invoice — card, cash, check, or pay link.
HQ can block card fees for the whole network, but a shop can always choose not to charge one even when HQ allows it.
Getting there
From your HQ view, click Settings under Admin in the HQ sidebar, then click the Card Fees tile in the Admin group of HQ Settings. If you're not an HQ Owner or Admin, the page shows "Only organization owners and admins can manage the card-fee policy."
If HQ has never saved a policy, an amber notice at the top explains that card fees are off for every shop in the organization, and shops can't add a credit-card surcharge or run a cash-discount program until you allow it.
Allowing card fees
- On the Customer card fees card, tick Allow shops to pass card fees to customers.
- Optionally, set a Maximum surcharge % (optional) (see below).
- Optionally, add an Internal note (optional) explaining why the policy is set this way, for other HQ admins.
- Click Save at the bottom of the page. A Saved checkmark confirms it.
Capping the surcharge
Once you tick the allow box, a Maximum surcharge % (optional) field appears. Enter a number from 0 to 3 (in steps of 0.1). Leave it blank for no extra HQ cap — the card network maximum of 3% still applies.
When a shop charges a surcharge, the amount actually charged is the lowest of three numbers: your HQ cap, the shop's own surcharge rate, and the state limit. If you enter something outside 0 to 3, the page shows "Enter a number from 0 to 3." and won't let you save.
Turning card fees off
Untick Allow shops to pass card fees to customers and click Save. The fee stops on every shop's next charge. Customers can still pay normally — their payment just goes through without the fee.
What shops see
On a shop's Settings → Payments page, the customer fee status lists each check with a tick or a dot, so the shop can see exactly what's blocking a fee. The HQ line reads one of:
- "Your HQ hasn't set a card-fee policy yet — customer fees stay off until HQ allows them."
- "HQ has disabled customer fees network-wide."
- "HQ allows customer fees."
When HQ hasn't allowed card fees, the shop also sees an amber note — either asking them to have an HQ owner or admin allow fees under HQ Settings → Card Fees, or saying HQ has disabled customer fees network-wide. The surcharge and cash-discount options can't be picked, and the shop can't save a customer fee.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Can my shops charge a card fee if HQ never touched this setting?
A: No. Until HQ saves a policy that allows card fees, they're off for every shop in your organization.
Q: If I allow card fees, does every shop start charging one automatically?
A: No. Allowing them here only makes it possible. Each shop still has to turn on its own fee in Settings → Payments, and state law still applies.
Q: What happens if I turn card fees off while shops are using them?
A: The fee stops on each shop's next charge. Payments still go through, just without the fee.
Q: What's the highest surcharge cap I can set?
A: 3%, the card network maximum. You can set a lower HQ cap, and the amount charged is always the lowest of your cap, the shop's rate and the state limit.