1. Pass on SimpleTix fees and payment processing fees to customers
SimpleTix applies both a per-ticket fee and an estimate of your processing fee on the ticket’s sale price. For example, in the United States the typical breakdown might be:
A SimpleTix fee (e.g., 79 cents per ticket) plus
A percentage fee (e.g., 2% of the ticket price)
Payment processor fees (estimated at 2.9% + 30 cents per ticket)
Understanding Payment Processor Fee Estimation
Most payment processors actually charge 2.9% + 30 cents per order (not per ticket), but SimpleTix estimates this fee per ticket to maintain consistent pricing regardless of how many tickets are in the cart. This approach ensures the price per ticket doesn’t change based on order quantity, but it can cause discrepancies in the total fees charged per order.Additionally, payment processors charge fees on the additional fee amounts being passed on. For example:
For a $10 ticket, the SimpleTix fee would be 79 cents + 2% ($0.99 cents total)
The payment processor fee is then estimated at 2.9% + 30 cents per ticket on the total including Simpletix Fees ($10.99 * 2% + $0.30 = $0.618)
We also estimate an additional 2.9% on the additional processing fee itself (2.9% * 0.618=0.018)
This results in a total service fee of $1.63 (rounded down)
If you charge sales tax, we also add the 2.9% on the tax amount to ensure that you recover the payment processing fees charged on sales tax.
If you’d like to adjust the rate used for payment processor fee estimation to better match your actual rates, please email SimpleTix Support.
With this option, no additional fees are passed to the customer
Your organization absorbs all SimpleTix and payment processing fees
The fees are deducted from your revenue
Tickets below $5 or being sold in the SimpleTix Organizer App have a special rate of $0.25 per ticket.
Flow of Funds:
ALL MONEY collected through SimpleTix, including ticket prices, SimpleTix fees, and payment processor fees, is transferred directly to your connected payment processor account.
For US Square and Stripe users: The SimpleTix fee is automatically charged at the time of purchase
For Square outside the US and Authorize.net users: The SimpleTix fee balance is charged to your credit card on file at the end of the month
For Square Gift Card and Cash purchases: SimpleTix cannot take fees automatically on these transaction types, so they are charged to your credit card at the end of the month
Nonprofit Discounts:
Eligible organizations may qualify for a nonprofit discount.
Proof of 501(c)(3) status is required to receive the discount.
For events outside the U.S., fees will be converted to USD at the end of the month at the prevailing exchange rate and charged to your credit card on file. This may cause slight discrepencies between the fee amount and the final amount on your credit card if your bank uses a different exchange rate.
Custom Fee Feature: Adding Your Own Fee to Tickets
The Custom Fee feature allows you to add an additional fee to tickets beyond the standard SimpleTix and payment processing fees. This can be useful for facility fees, convenience charges, or fundraising purposes.
Custom fees are added to the ticket price and collected during ticket purchase
100% of the custom fee amount goes directly to your payment processor account
SimpleTix does not take any percentage of your custom fee
Sales tax may apply to custom fees depending on your jurisdiction’s tax laws. The custom fee will be included in taxable amounts if you have configured sales tax for your event.
When processing refunds, custom fees are treated as part of the ticket price. If you issue a full refund, the custom fee amount is also refunded to the customer. For partial refunds, you can choose how much of the total (including custom fees) to refund.
Keep in mind:
Custom fees are not separated from the ticket price when processing refunds
If you wish to retain custom fees during refunds, you must process a partial refund excluding that amount
The refund interface will show the total amount being refunded, including any custom fees
After downloading the CSV from your billing page, use the following guidelines to interpret the fee-related columns:
OrderTotal (Column G): Total amount charged to the customer for the order.
OrderSubTotal (Column H): Total ticket charge (excluding taxes and fees).
OrderServiceFeeTotal (Column I): Total service fee charged to the customer. If fees are passed on, this includes both SimpleTix fees and an estimate of payment processing fees.
OrderTaxTotal (Column J): Total tax collected.
LineItemSmtxFee (Column M): The per-ticket SimpleTix fee for that specific order line.
LineItemQuantity (Column P): Number of tickets in that line item.
To compute the total SimpleTix fee for the line, multiply the value in Column M by the value in Column P.
SmtxFeeBilled (Column U): Indicates whether the fee was collected at the time of order or billed at month’s end.
Origin (sometimes in Column U): Refers to the source of the order (e.g., “Public” for online orders, “Box Office App” for manual or onsite sales).