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These docs are for version 2023-12-01. We encourage you to upgrade to version 2024-10-16 to access new features. Please see the changelog for more information.

Standard flow

When Rainforest collects a payment from a customer, the fees are deducted from the merchant's deposit and added to the platform's residuals. Fees on payments are determined by the billing profile assigned to the merchant. The platform's residuals will be deposited to the platform at the end of the month.

Additional options

Some use cases require complex funds flows. In addition to the standard flow, the following flows can also be utilized.

• Surcharging: An additional fee can be charged to the customer, so that your merchant receives the full amount of an invoice.
• Platform splits: An additional fee can be charged to the merchant in place of, or in addition to, the billing profile and deposited to the platform outside of the standard residuals process.
• Gross billing: The merchant receives the full amount of each payment in their deposit and is billed for all payment fees at the end of the month.

Surcharging

Surcharging is the practice of charging the payment processing fees to the customer, on top of the original price. In the normal flow above, for a $100 payment, the merchant only received a deposit for $96.70. If you want the merchant to receive $100 exactly, then you'll need to charge the customer extra to cover the payment fees.

You might think that, for a $100 payment, you need to charge $3.30 (the fees on a $100 payment) extra to cover the fees. Unfortunately, that doesn't work out mathematically. By charging the customer $103.30, the fees also get slightly higher because of the additional amount, and the merchant still only receives $99.90.

Instead of adding the payment fees for $100, calculate a new total amount that, after fees are applied to it, results in $100 being left over. The formula is:

Which in this case means that the answer is:

Note: The platform is responsible for ensuring surcharging practices are compliant with any card brand rules and any applicable regulations and laws.

Platform splits

When a share of the payment is going to your platform, as payment for SaaS fees or service fees that are in addition to your normal payment processing fees, you can add a Platform Amount Split.

You add a platform amount split to the payload when calling the create payin config endpoint:

  {
    "currency_code": "USD",
+   "amount_splits": [
+     {
+       "amount": 500
+       "currency_code": "USD",
+       "type": "PLATFORM",
+     }
+   ],
    "amount": 10000,
    "idempotency_key": "937574791947492"
  }

The split is taken from the net amount, after billing fees, and deposited to the platform in a daily deposit for platform fees. In the same payment as above, but with a $5 platform split configured on the PayinConfig, the merchant receives $5 less, and that $5 is included in your platform's platform fees deposit. The platform's residuals will include the billing fees and deposited at the end of the month.

Note that platform splits are intended to be used for service fees charged by the platform. If the payment leads to a refund or dispute (chargeback or ACH return), the platform still keeps its share from the split. As a result, the merchant ends up being negative the amount in the platform split.

Gross billing

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Pre-approval Required

Please contact Rainforest support or your Customer Success Manager for more information.

In some specific industries and use-cases, merchants require gross billing, where they receive the total of their payments volume each day, and then separately receive a monthly bill for all of their payment processing fees.

Gross billing with platform splits

Platform splits can be used when a merchant is on gross billing. You add a platform split in the same way described above through the payin config.

The split is taken from the gross amount and deducted daily, unlike the billing fees, which are billed at the end of the month. Given the $100 payment with a $5 platform fee, the merchant receives $5 less, and that $5 is included in your platform's daily deposit for platform fees.