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Learning Centre

Payment Options

Payment options allow you to determine how the ecommerce features of a page will work. This includes specifying how much to charge a respondent. Before you can set up payment options on a form, you need to add a payment page to the form.

Locate payment options

To add or update payment options, you need to navigate to the appropriate form in Govstack Forms. Select the “Options” tab from the toolbar located at the top of the page. From the vertical menu on the left of the page, select “Payment Options.”

Add payment options

From the “Payment Options” screen, you can set up a number of different ecommerce options. You will need to create one payment option for each potential billing possibility. For example, if a respondent can choose from three costs in a dropdown menu, each of the costs would have its own payment option.

To add a payment option:

  1. In the “Merchant Account” field, select the bank account that will handle ecommerce transactions for this form
  2. Select the “Would you like to prefix your order numbers?” checkbox if you'd like to add a prefix to the order number generated by the form (this can help you track transactions)
  3. Click the “Add Payment Option” button to add a payment option to the form

Please note

If you have a test account, this will be the default "Merchant Account" option. You will need to change to your destination bank account once you go live with the form.

Complete payment options form

Fill out all necessary fields for each payment option you add to the form. Once completed, select the “Save” button to add the payment option.

Enter a description of your payment option in the “Description” field. This description will appear during the billing process and should clearly describe what the charge is for.

The form will provide two price options. Select the one that best fits your form.

Use a Static Price

If you wish to charge a fixed value, select the “Use a Static Price” option. A “Price” field will appear. Enter the fixed price in this text box.

Use a price from a question on the form

If you want to charge a price that is based on a response, select “Use a price from a question on the form.” The “Question with Price” dropdown menu will appear. Select the question that you want to pull the price from. For example, if you asked a respondent to enter a value for a donation, you would want to select the “Use a price from a question on the form” option.

In the “Tax” field, enter the amount of tax that will be charged with the transaction. Some transactions may not include tax. For example, a charitable donation doesn't include a tax charge. If this is the case, you can leave this field empty.

Payment option conditions work the same way as page and question conditions. If the conditional statement is true, the respondent will be charged as specified. If the statement presented in the condition is not true, then Form Builder will move on to the next payment option.

This option tells the form whether to process one payment option or to continue on to multiple payment options. Select the option that best suits your form.

Only match this single payment option and do not match any further payment options

Select “Only match this single payment option and do not match any further payment options” checkbox if you only want to process one payment option. This works best for either/or payments. For example, if respondents are asked to select one payment option to the exclusion of others.

Continue to match other payment options

Select “Continue to match other payment options” checkbox if you want Govstack Forms to process multiple payments. This is useful when a single form includes charges for multiple items. For example, in a facility rental form, you may charge for the space rental, equipment rentals and service staff.

Add multiple options

If your form includes more than one form of payment or a dropdown list with a variety of different possible payment options, you'll need to add a payment option for each possible choice. Repeat this process for each payment option necessary on your form.

Passing transaction fees on to the purchaser

In Govstack Forms, you can choose to pass transaction fees on to the purchaser (form respondent). View the steps below to learn how.

First, ensure you have determined what the transaction fee is for your offering. You can either add a transaction fee payment option as a percentage or as a static fee in "Payment Options." You can choose to display this fee on the form as a disclaimer or by adding a "Calculation Field" question type that calculates the fee based on the size of the offering's price that the user has selected on your form.

You can choose to show or hide any question type that shows transaction fee calculations in the form itself. You may wish to hide the calculation field for a cleaner user experience. The transaction fee will still show in the order summary page when the user submits their responses.

If the transaction fee is a percentage of the amount owing

If the product or service you are offering through your form requires a percentage-based transaction fee on the amount owing, you can set up another payment option that brings in the calculated percentage from your "Calculated Field" question type that you inserted into your form. Please follow these steps:

  1. Add a payment option and check "Use a price from an answer to a question on the form" under "Price Options." In the "Description" field, write "Transaction Fee."
  2. Choose your question that has the transaction fee calculation under "Question with Price." In the "Tax Label" field, write "Transaction Fee."
  3. Check "Yes, exclude this payment option from the order total passed to the merchant provider" under "Exclude from Merchant."
  4. Check "Continue to match other payment options" if you have more than one payment option for your form.

If the transaction fee is a static price

If the transaction fee for your offering is a static price:

  1. Add a payment option and write "Transaction Fee" in the "Description" field. 
  2. Check "Use a static price" under "Price Options."
  3.  Enter the cost of the fee in the "Static Price" field.
  4. Check "Yes, exclude this payment option from the order total passed to the merchant provider" under "Exclude from Merchant."
  5. Check "Continue to match other payment options" if you have more than one payment option for your form.