Do you charge your client for the Visa fee? When I added the 3% charge to my contract for using Visa, clients were not willing to pay this extra rate. 3% of a large booking is a lot to absorb.

What do others do? I used to pay the rate myself out of my commission, but am not willing to do it any more. Should I just eat it anyway? Nancy Tice, Northwest Artist Management, Professional Musicians for All Occasions.

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Permalink Reply by Sounds To Go Dj Service on December 9, 2010 at 2:17pm

I like RTC's reply below. My response depends on volume:

If you do a lot of business via Visa online, or it comprises a large part of your volume, then yes - consider the 3% as a cost of doing business and include it in your rates across the board. Then, it gives you the option (huge psychological advantage for sales) to then give that 3% as a "cash discount" for clients who don't pay via credit/debit.

If you don't do a ton of business this way, like me, just consider it an anomaly and absorb the nominal cost. Also remember, this handling fee is deductible in your taxes later on. I'm able/willing to disregard the 3% because my per-job rates likely aren't as much as yours.

If I were you, I'd simply take the first approach and treat that as a given in your pricing, and just don't charge it when they don't use it.

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Permalink Reply by Celestial Event on January 3, 2011 at 12:08pm

A discount for cash or certified check is an excellent idea and it gets around the legality of charging a fee for using a credit card.

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Permalink Reply by Lauryn Peterson on January 12, 2011 at 11:21pm

That is an excellent incentive!

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Permalink Reply by COLLEZIONE FORTUNA FASHION BOUTI on January 25, 2011 at 1:10pm

You have to include the 3% in your markup for your services. Your markup is your business.....The time you spend with clients often exceed the 3%..so why should you eat the cost? That's not fair..you don't work for free.

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Permalink Reply by Celestial Event on January 25, 2011 at 2:08pm

Charging clients an additional 3% for the credit card is in direct violation of your credit card agreement and could end up costing you a whole lot more. Offering a 3% discount for cash or check is not a violation.

So, always add the 3% to your bottom line and take it off for cash or check.

Get it!