Who pays the online payment fee?
Your choice in most of the US and Canada; parents cover it by default. In a few states, Quebec, and other countries the daycare covers it.
In most of the US and Canada you choose, per organization:
- Parent pays (the default). The convenience fee is added at checkout on its own line, like a service fee on any online checkout. Your payout equals the invoice amount exactly.
- Daycare absorbs. The parent pays the invoice amount only, and the fee comes out of your settlement.
The rate is the same either way. It depends on the currency your organization bills in, not on who pays:
| Billing currency | Cards | Bank debit |
|---|---|---|
| US dollars | 2.9% + $0.50 | ACH: 1%, capped at $6 |
| Canadian dollars | 2.9% + C$0.50 | Pre-authorized debit (PAD): 1.5%, capped at C$6.50 |
| Euros | 1.9% + €0.35 | Not offered yet |
| British pounds | 1.9% + 30p | Not offered yet |
| Australian dollars | 2.2% + A$0.40 | Not offered yet |
Cash and check payments recorded manually carry no fee at all. Your exact rates are printed on Invoices & Finances → Finances, next to the who-pays setting.
Euros, pounds and Australian dollars: the daycare always absorbs it. Consumer rules in the EU, the UK and Australia don't allow a payment fee to be passed on to the customer, so Parent pays is shown greyed out, with a note explaining why. The fee comes out of your settlement, parents see the invoice amount only, and the rates are set lower than the US ones to reflect that.
A few US states, Puerto Rico and Quebec: the daycare covers it. In Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Louisiana, Puerto Rico and Quebec, card processing fees generally aren't passed on to families, so the fee is covered by the daycare and parents pay exactly the invoice amount. We check your center addresses, your legal address and your licensing state; if any of them is in one of these places, Parent pays isn't available. Keep them up to date. If your daycare already collected the fee from parents before this was in place, your setting stays as it is and Finances shows a note with a one-tap Switch to Daycare pays; nothing changes until you choose it.
Other countries. A daycare outside the US and Canada, or one billing in a currency that doesn't match its country, also always covers the fee.
Change the setting under Invoices & Finances → Finances, in the Payment settings card: the Who pays the convenience fee row has Daycare pays and Parent pays. The card appears once your payment account has finished setup. New payments use the new setting; payments already in flight keep the split they were created with. If you want it configured a particular way from day one, mention it when you ask us to enable payments.
Related: Pricing, Enable online payments, Do parents pay anything to use the app?.
The payments video walks through this setting with an example.