Card surcharge — pass processing fees to customers

Stripe charges 2.9% + 30¢ per card transaction. On a $1,000 invoice that's about $30 the contractor eats. The card-surcharge feature lets you pass that cost to customers who pick the card-payment path, while keeping cash / check / ACH / BYO Pay Link payments unchanged.

How it works

• When enabled (Settings → Card surcharge), the public invoice page shows the card-pay button as 'Pay $103.00' with a small 'base $100 + 3% card fee = $103' breakdown underneath.
• Stripe checkout charges the full amount including the surcharge. The full amount lands in your Connect bank account (less Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢, which the surcharge offsets).
• Customers who skip the card path — cash on-site, check by mail, ACH bank transfer, BYO Pay Link (PayPal / Cash App / Square / Venmo) — pay only the base. No surcharge added.
• Your invoice books reflect the actual amount collected: card payments record the full base + surcharge as paid; cash/check payments record just the base. The Plyrium dashboard shows what hit your bank, period.

Setting it up

1. 1
   Go to Settings → Card surcharge

   Owner or billing role.

2. 2
   Toggle on + set the percentage

   3% covers most card payments at Stripe's rack rate (2.9% + 30¢). 4% is the maximum allowed by Plyrium (Colorado's hard cap).

3. 3
   Read the state-specific guidance

   If your shop is in CT/MA/ME (historically banned), CO (capped at 2%), NY/CA (must equal actual processor cost), or KS/OK (restricted), you'll see a hard warning. Confirm the current law before saving.

4. 4
   Save

   Effective immediately on every public invoice page from this moment forward. Already-sent invoices' public links update too — the customer sees the surcharge math the next time they open the link.

What customers see

On the public invoice page (/i/[token]), the pay button shows 'Pay $103.00 by card' with a one-line breakdown: '$100.00 base + $3.00 card processing fee (3%). Skip the fee with PayPal below.' (or 'Pay by check or cash to skip the fee — contact [contractor name].')

When to enable it (and when not to)

• ENABLE if your average ticket is under $500 + you do high card volume — eating 2.9% × 100 invoices/mo = real money.
• ENABLE if you're competing with shops that already surcharge — staying behind the curve costs you margin.
• DON'T ENABLE if your customers expect to pay by card without friction (some service categories — emergency plumbing, locksmith — customers care more about speed than the 3%).
• DON'T ENABLE in states where the legality is genuinely murky and you don't want to deal with it. The 3% you save isn't worth a $5,000 lawyer consultation.