A credit card surcharge fee is an extra fee that a business adds to a client's invoice when a credit card is used for payment. The extra fee is intended to cover the transaction costs the business incurs for processing the credit card payment.
Activating Surcharge Fee Features
You will need to contact our Shepherd Pay support team before being able to utilize Surcharge Fees within Shepherd. Once activated, there is no additional setting configuration required within Shepherd before use.
Surcharge fees are integrated into financial reports, allowing easier reconciliation between Shepherd and Shepherd Pay. These features are only available when Shepherd Pay integration is active and surcharge fees are enabled.
Please contact merchant@shepherd.vet to fully activate Surcharge Fee features.
Credit card payment Surcharge Fee features are not available for accounts located in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and Puerto Rico. Please contact our Shepherd Pay support team with any further location specific related inquiries.
Troubleshooting Surcharge Fee Activation in Shepherd
Once Surcharge Fees have been enabled on your Shepherd Pay account, you should see a new Show Surcharge Fee toggle on any invoice or payment page.
If you do not, please follow Admin > Clinic Settings > Settings > Shepherd Pay to access your Shepherd Pay credentials and settings. Once viewing your Shepherd Pay credentials, simply click Save without editing any details to refresh the acceptance of your Shepherd Pay credentials under your updated Shepherd Pay account.
If your Save button is muted - it is likely you need to request a Public Key credential from the Shepherd Pay support team. Once this new required credential is defined, your Save button should become active to finalize your credentials and the activation of Surcharge Fees.
Applying Surcharge Fees
The Surcharge Fee is a predefined rate of 3% against all credit card payment transactions, unless discussed otherwise with our merchant processor team. Once Surcharge Fees are active, the 3% fee will automatically be assessed against any credit card payment transactions made through Shepherd Pay. You do not need to add any amount beyond the agreed payment amount or invoice balance when processing a payment.
Regulatory requirements do not allow assessing surcharge fees on debit card transactions. Gift cards, rebate cards, and other prepaid cards are processed as debit cards.
A convenient Surcharge Fee preview toggle is available on any payment or estimate page within Shepherd to assist with presenting and discussing the expected fee amount to clients.
The processed Surcharge Fee is adjusted based on the payment amount accepted by credit card. Meaning, partial payments or mixed payment events are recognized, and the Surcharge Fee is only applicable for the payment amount processed via credit card.
Payment Refunds and Surcharge Fees
Handling Payment Refunds for Payments Initiated in Shepherd that Originally Included a Surcharge Fee
In the event of a credit card payment refund, Shepherd Pay, as the merchant processer, will automatically calculate the appropriate owed Surcharge Fee refund owed to the client while the payment refund is handled. Any associated merchant processing fees of the refund transaction are assessed to the clinic (Shepherd Pay account holder).
Handling Payment Refunds for Payments Accepted before Surcharge Fees were Active
If a credit card payment refund needs to be issued against a payment originally accepted through Shepherd Pay and Shepherd before Surcharge Fees were activated, you will need to manually process the refund within the Shepherd Pay Portal.
Described below is the complete workflow in processing a refund in the Shepherd Pay Portal and updating your financial records in Shepherd.
Please contact merchant@shepherd.vet for assistance in accessing or using your Shepherd Pay Portal.
Process the Refund to the Client's Card via the Shepherd Pay Portal
Contact the Banquest Payment Systems support team by phone at (732) 323-8300
Note: In order to facilitate the refund, the merchant processing support team will need to manually grant your account additional refund capabilities. Shepherd Pay is powered by Banquest Payment Systems. When you phone in the request, you will be speaking to a Banquest team member on behalf of Shepherd Pay. .
Log into the Shepherd Pay portal
Navigate to the Reports tab
Search for the original transaction via the card holder's name, transaction amount, or the last 4 digits of the card number (or by any other identifiable information available)
Select the eye icon available on the right side of the transaction row
Select Recharge
Enable the Credit option at the top of the credit card image
Confirm and update the refund/credit amount if the full original transaction amount is not being refunded
Select Process Transaction to complete the refund transaction
Update Financial Records in Shepherd Manually
The first step in the workflow handles the actual refund to the client's card, however, because this transaction wasn't processed through Shepherd, you will want to record it manually in Shepherd to keep your accounting up-to-date and accurate!
Here's how to record a Credit Balance refund in Shepherd:
Navigate to the payment refund page either by selecting the drop down arrow next to the Take Payment button on the client's profile, or through a refund invoice
Normally, when you are processing a refund to a card, you would select 'Shepherd Pay' as the option to process the transaction through the integration. However, since this has been processed manually through the portal, we will toggle OFF Shepherd Pay and select the card type that the money was refunded to (eg. 'Visa' or 'Mastercard'). This will bypass the integration but still record that the refund happened.
Type in the amount that you refunded via the Shepherd Pay portal and select 'Refund Credit Balance'
And that's it! You've refunded a credit balance that didn't originate through Shepherd Pay and recorded it into the client's financial record!
Reconciling Surcharge Fees in Reporting
Surcharge Fees assessed via the Shepherd Pay integration are captured in your Shepherd financial reporting for easy reconciliation between your Shepherd records and your Shepherd Pay portal details. Any relevant financial report will have an additional column or row available indicating the associated Surcharge Fees with any payment transactions.
