It is common practice to pass some or all of the ticket fees and/or processing fees to the ticket buyer. Or, if you wish to absorb the fees, that is an option as well. There are multiple ways to approach this based on your end goal. Follow along below to see which method works best for you and your event.
By default, a standard TicketSpice page grants you the power to set, markup and keep whatever price and fees you include on your page. You can add as many fees on the ticketing page as you need. TicketSpice simply charge our flat 99 cents per ticket and the payment processor charges their fee, you keep the rest!
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Dynamic Fee Calculator - Recoup the full face value of your ticket price
Dynamic Fee Calculator
When using Webconnex Payments we offer a specific feature called Dynamic Fee Calculator. the Dynamic Fee Calculator will calculate our ticketing fees and the credit card processing fees and apply that dynamic fee to a ticket buyer's order which will allow you to recoup the full face value of your tickets. So if you charge $50 per ticket and sell 3 tickets, the Dynamic Fee Calculator would calculate the associated fees and apply it to the order so you would receive $150 in your payout.
This Dynamic Fee Calculator makes bookkeepers jump for joy because it keeps all of the payouts whole numbers rather than varying fractional amounts net the fees.
Enable Dynamic Fee Calculator
From the Pages screen, click the pencil icon on the page you'd like the enable Dynamic Fee Calculator on
Click the Settings tab from the top menu bar
Enable the checkbox that reads, Calculate and Pass on Fees to Customer
Save and Publish
3 important notes on using the Dynamic Fee Calculator
Dynamic Fee Calculator is only available when processing through Webconnex Payments. This is because Webconnex Payments allows for subtracting fees from the transaction directly prior to payout. If you are using your own payment processor, this feature will charge the buyer more, but the full transaction amount will go to you and we will not be able to provide deposits net of fees.
When Dynamic Fee Calculator is turned on, you will receive a deposit in the amount of the face value amount of whatever is available on the page. If you want to add additional fees and markups, you receive those amounts in full.
In order to reliably issue face value deposits across all uses of TicketSpice including donations, merchandise, and coupons, the payment processing fee is increased by .5% to properly cover every scenario and calculation.
NOTE: When using the Dynamic Fee Calculator feature, we recommend making sure you have removed other fees from your ticketing page so ticket buyers aren't double charged. Unless you are specifically needing any other fees.
Add a Per Ticket Fee
If you are interested in charging a flat dollar amount and/or a percentage fee per ticket, here is how that will look and how you can add it to your page.
From the Pages screen, click the pencil icon on the page you'd like to add or remove the per ticket fee to
Scroll down until you see the Edit Ticket Information button and click it
Find the ticket level(s) you'd like to add or remove the per ticket fee on
Click the Add Fee button or update the existing fee. This can be either a dollar amount per ticket or a percentage
Add a Fee Per Order
If you are needing to charge sales tax or would like to charge a fee on the overall total or once on the order and not just per ticket, you can add a line item fee. If you set this line item fee to be a percentage, it will apply to the running total up until that point where the field is in the page. If you set the line item fee to be a fixed dollar amount, it will be charged once for the overall total and not per ticket.
From the Pages screen, click the pencil icon on the page you'd like to add or remove the line item fee to
Scroll down below the ticket block and hover your mouse over the field where you'd like to add this field and click the plus button
Select Line Item
Set the amount you'd like to charge (either a fixed dollar amount or a percentage, or a combination of the two)
NOTE: Typically people add the line item fee down below the ticket block which would cause it to be charged just once. Although, it is possible to add it to a ticket level and have it be charged per ticket. How it is charged ultimately will be dependent on where you add it into the page.
Apply a Fee Only to Specific Fields
If you are needing to charge a fee, but only for certain fields on the page, you can add and edit a line item field. By clicking Advanced Options in the Line Item field, you can specify which field(s) the fee should apply to.
NOTE: To fully absorb the fees, you'll simply want to review your page and remove any existing fee fields on the page.
Dynamic Fee Calculator Calculations
For those interested in seeing the specific breakdown and calculations for choosing to absorb the ticketing and credit card processing fees vs passing them along using the Dynamic Fee Calculator, we have provided some nerdy examples below.
Calculation for Absorbing Fees
We will breakout below how the calculations look when choosing to absorb fees vs when passing along the fees using the Dynamic Fee Calculator to help you decide which path you'd like to take.
Scenario - Selling 2 tickets at $25 each = $50 face value
TicketSpice Fees: 2 tickets x $0.99 each = $1.98
Credit Card Fees: 2.99% * $50 = $1.49
Total Fees: $1.98 + $1.49 = $3.47
Total payout after fees: $50 - $3.47 = $46.53
If the total fees of $3.47 (credit card + TicketSpice fees) were just added to the ticket face value total, it should be $53.47, right? Well, the calculation doesn't quite work that way. This is because credit card fees are charged on the total amount being processed (inclusive of TicketSpice fees). For example:
$53.47 x 2.99% credit card fees = $1.59
$53.47 - $1.59 - $1.98 = $49.89 meaning you wouldn't get the full $50 face value that you are anticipating. This is where the Dynamic Fee Calculator comes in and applies a flat and predictable percentage to always give you the full face value of your tickets.
Calculation for Passing on Fees with Dynamic Fee Calculator
Scenario: Selling 2 tickets at $25 each = $50 face value
*The goal here is to receive a $50 payout*
TicketSpice Fees: 2 tickets x $0.99 = $1.98
Face value plus TicketSpice fee: $50 + $1.98 = $51.98
Credit card processing fee: $51.98 * 3.5% = $53.80
$53.80 - (TicketSpice Fees + Credit Card Fees)
Total Payout After Fees: $50
*In this example, the ticket buyer would only be paying $0.33 more than when you absorb the fees. ($3.80 - $3.47=$0.33)
When using the Dynamic Fee Calculator, it charges 3.5% vs the otherwise 2.99%. The reason being, credit card fees are charged on the total amount being processed (inclusive of TicketSpice fees). And it needs to round up slightly in order to keep it consistent and not have it change with each transaction amount or else it would provide varying values per transaction, making predictability and reconciliation a challenge and also not providing the full face value in some cases..
Here is another example to illustrate why there is the need for the dynamic 3.5%
Scenario: Selling 2 tickets at $10 each = $20
*The goal here is to receive a $20 payout
TicketSpice Fees: 2 tickets x $0.99 = $1.98
Face value plus TicketSpice fee: $20 + $1.98 = $21.98
Credit card processing fee: $21.98 x 3.5% = $22.74
$22.74 - (TicketSpice Fees + Credit Card Fees)
Total Payout After Fees: $20
FAQs
Does the line item fee field apply to donations on my page?
No, by default the line item fee field will not apply to any donations made on your page. If for some reason you need it to (which is incredibly rare) you can set it to under Advanced Options.
What if our ticket price is less than $5?
Even if your ticket price is less than $5, the Dynamic Fee Calculator will add $0.99 + 3.5% no matter the price of the ticket.