Collecting a Service Charge / Surcharge on Invoice Payments

Overview

A service‑charge / surcharge can be added automatically whenever a customer pays an open invoice online. The charge may be configured as either a fixed amount or a percentage of the payment total and is applied uniformly to every invoice payment made with the selected payment method. The feature for this functionality was added in release 2025.11 (4.15.0).

This is a blanket charge—there is no conditional logic for card type, location, or other variables. Merchants should consult their legal counsel to confirm surcharge compliance in their jurisdiction.

Enabling this feature also requires an update to the ERP Driver payment‑import mapping. After the feature toggle is turned on, submit an Extranet ticket so our team can add the required GL‑account mappings.

Currently this service charge is only supported in the UI for Invoice Payments and is enabled on the payment method record. If this payment method is also applied to online orders, the fee will be part of the transaction but there will be no display in the UI and will not be imported into the ERP correctly. It is recommended to use different payment method set-ups for invoice payments and order payments if collecting a service charge. Information on setting the service fee on payment methods is below. For more information on setting up payment methods see – Create Payment Methods. 

Once the payment method is set up and applied the service charge capture will be in effect. No additional feature needs to be applied to site users for the charge to be applied.

---

What a Customer Sees

Customer (Contact‑level) users experience the surcharge only at payment time:

1. Invoice Payment page – once the customer selects a payment method that has a surcharge configured, an extra line appears showing:
   • Label – the custom surcharge description (e.g., “Processing Fee”)
   • Amount – calculated as either the fixed amount or the percentage of the payment total
2. Totals area – the surcharge is included in the Grand Total displayed before the customer submits payment.
3. Payment Confirmation email – the surcharge line is itemized between Subtotal and Total.

How to enable/configure (Admin Worker)

Admins configure and maintain the surcharge in two places.

Feature Toggle

Navigation: Workspace Settings > Starter Customer Portal w/CRM and Content Workspaces
Allow setting up service charge collection on payment methods (invoice payments only?) – Turns on the “Service Charge” section on the Payment‑Method Add/Edit page.

Payment‑Method Add/Edit

Navigation: Workspace Settings > Payment Methods > Edit
Settings added when the feature toggle is enabled:

• • Collect Service Charge? – Yes/No (shows or hides the remaining fields)
  • Service Charge Name– text shown to the customer (e.g., “Processing Fee”) and used on the Email
  • Detail Type – This can be used as part of the ERP import and this field is enabled by the feature setting under the main feature. As noted contact CIMcloud to work with you on updating the ERP cash receipt for invoices for the service fee.
  • Service Charge Type – Fixed Amount | Percentage
  • Percentage/Fixed Amount – numeric entry and taggles based on the previous selection

Remember: After enabling, open an Extranet ticket so CIMcloud can update the ERP‑Driver From Website Online Payments mapping with your GL‑Account for surcharges.