Buyer Charges

For eligible merchants and card brands, Finix enables merchants to charge their customer's convenience fees, service fees, or rental fees (under the Visa Rent Program) for card transactions.

These fees, referred to as Buyer Charges, can be used to help offset the costs of processing payments. Merchants can only pass one additional charge per transaction (e.g., merchants can’t pass a convenience fee and a rental charge in a single transaction).

If you'd like to take advantage of Buyer Charges for your merchants and sellers, it is your responsibility to ensure compliance with card brand rules and applicable legal requirements. If you have any questions, please consult with your legal counsel.

• Finix Core only: For steps on how to enable Buyer Charges, see Update Merchant to Enable Buyer Charges .
• Finix Flex only: Reach out to Finix Support to enable Buyer Charges for Merchants .

Overview

Buyer Charges that you can include when creating a Transfer or Authorization include:

• Convenience Fee: A convenience fee, is a charge passed to the customers when the merchant is providing a method of payment (usually internet or over the phone) different from its standard payment channel (historically mail or in-person). Include the convenience fee in convenience_amount when creating a Transfer or an Authorization .
  
  
  • Service Fee: (passed as convenience_amount ) This convenience fee is only available for specific MCCs under education and government. Include the service fee in convenience_amount .
    
    
• Rent Surcharge: Visa offers the Visa Rent Payment Program, which allows qualifying property owners to collect a fee from cardholders who make rent payments with their credit or debit card. Include the rent surcharge in rent_surcharge_amount when creating a Transfer or an Authorization .

For example, let’s say you want to create a Transfer or Authorization with:

• A payment that totals $100
• A $3 convenience fee

You would include the following values when creating a Transfer:

curl https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/transfers \
    -H "Content-Type: application/vnd.json+api" \
    -H 'Finix-Version:2022-02-01' \
    -u  USsRhsHYZGBPnQw8CByJyEQW:8a14c2f9-d94b-4c72-8f5c-a62908e5b30e \
    -d '
    {
        "additional_buyer_charges": {
            "convenience_amount": 300
        },
        "amount": 10000,
        "currency": "USD",
        "merchant": "MUeDVrf2ahuKc9Eg5TeZugvs",
        "source": "PIe2YvpcjvoVJ6PzoRPBK137",
        "tags": {
            "test": "sale"
        }
    }'

In the above example the amount would be $100; the purchase price also includes the $3 convenience fee.

To process a Buyer Charge, you must include it in the amount.

Similarly, if you want to create a Transfer or Authorization with:

• A rent payment that totals $50
• A $2 rent surcharge

You would include the following values when creating an Authorization:

curl https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/authorizations \
    -H "Content-Type: application/vnd.json+api" \
    -H 'Finix-Version:2022-02-01' \
    -u  USsRhsHYZGBPnQw8CByJyEQW:8a14c2f9-d94b-4c72-8f5c-a62908e5b30e \
    -d '
    {
        "additional_buyer_charges": {
            "rent_surcharge_amount": 200
        },
        "amount": 5000,
        "currency": "USD",
        "merchant": "MUeDVrf2ahuKc9Eg5TeZugvs",
        "source": "PIe2YvpcjvoVJ6PzoRPBK137",
        "tags": {
            "test": "sale"
        }
    }'

In the above example the amount would be $50; the rent payment includes the rent surcharge.

If Buyer Charges exceed the total amount, the transaction will fail. If you have any questions, please reach out to your Finix point of contact.

Update Merchant to Enable Buyer Charges

curl https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/merchants/MUeDVrf2ahuKc9Eg5TeZugvs \
    -H "Content-Type: application/vnd.json+api" \
    -H 'Finix-Version:2022-02-01' \
    -u  UStxEci4vXxGDWLQhNvao7YY:25038781-2369-4113-8187-34780e91052e \
    -X PUT \
    -d '
	{
	    "convenience_charges_enabled": true,
        "rent_surcharges_enabled": true
	}'

HTTP Request

PUT https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/merchants/:MERCHANT_ID:

Request Arguments

Additional Buyer Charges Request Arguments