Question

convenience fee for ACH bank payments

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
January 2, 2025
5 replies
0 views

I love that QuickBooks added the feature that charges a convenience fee on ACH bank payments. (I wish they'd add the feature for card payments too.) I was of the understanding that this fee is 1% with a max of $20 per transaction. When I did a test with an invoice totaling $107.75, the convenience fee showed up as $15. This is way more than 1%. Can I get assistance with this? See the attachment.

QuickBooks Online

FishingForAnswers

@carol20 Can't say as I've tried this system myself, but your image indicates that more detail will be provided if you hover your cursor over the underlined(underdotted?...) text, 'Online Convenience Fee'.

My money is on them adding a minimum fee limit.

carol20Author

@FishingForAnswers The detail you get when you hover over "Online convenience fee" only describes that it is a fee for paying the invoice online. I don't recall reading anything that says there's a minimum fee limit. A minimum of $15 doesn't make sense when the max limit is $20.

FishingForAnswers

@carol20 Looked into it a bit more; putting aside that QB itself reports the ACH cap per transaction as anything from $10 to $100 depending on the link...

Looking through a few discussions on this matter indicates that the ACH 1% fee is separate from the convenience fee; looked like the convenience fee was something the QB user could set as either a percentage or a flat amount.

Assuming that's the case, it may well be something in your settings.

If not, I've got nothing.

Rainflurry

@carol20

Are you paying this invoice? If so, your vendor has added this fee, not QuickBooks. They should be able to turn it off. Ask the vendor why they're charging you $15. It's ridiculous to me that vendors charge their customers a fee to use a credit card. IMO, a well-run business looks at the cost of processing credit cards each year and adjusts their prices accordingly.

carol20Author

The screenshot attachment was a test to see what my customers will encounter when they get the emailed invoice. My understanding is that, if my customers want to pay with an online ACH bank payment, they will be charged a 1% convenience fee ($20 max per transaction) which will go to QB. I will get payment as usual & my QB payment fee will be reduced by that 1%. I know I can turn that option on & off. I want it to be ON but only if the convenience fee is actually 1%. If there's a minimum limit of $15, then I don't want anything to do with it. With a max limit of $20, a $15 min limit doesn't make sense.

@Rainflurry While I appreciate your input, I'm not going to debate the issue of charging my customers a convenience fee for these bank transfers or card payments. I know there are many differing opinions on the subject. Only I know my customers and what's best for my company.

M

macwallawalla

@Carol11_2

Unfortunately you've misunderstood the QBO fee structure. Whether you take payment in person with a QB card reader or send an invoice for online payment via Credit, Debit, Bank, Venmo, PayPal, or ApplePay... YOU the seller pay the fees, not the customer. The customer only pays the amount you send in the invoice. The fees all occur on OUR side as sellers.

So when you send an invoice to a customer, you'll see a full 100% payment of the amount due in your QBO transactions. Later you'll see the 1% fee charged to you from QB Payments fees as a new line item in transactions. This makes bookkeeping and marking invoices as paid much easier as you'll see a full amount and not a reduced amount received.

For invoices where customer selects "Bank" payment method—aka ACH or e-check—and the invoice is $1-$1,999, there will be a 1% fee with a maximum of $20—it used to be $15 but seems to have gone up as of March 2025. If you send an invoice of $2,000 or greater, then QBO charges a maximum $20 fee. This is wonderful! Because if I send a $20,000 invoice to a customer, I only pay $20 flat instead of 1% which would be $200.

Order of preference for payment methods is:

Cash or paper check = $0 and 0% fee
Invoice paid online via Bank Transfer = 1%, maximum $20 fee
Card-present via your QBO card reader = 2.5% (was 2.4% in 2024)
Invoice paid online by customer, using the Debit or Credit buttons = 2.99% (was 2.9% + 30¢ in 2024)
Keyed-in cards (card not present, such as payment via phone when you hand type card numbers in) = 3.5% - hence why we try to avoid doing this

I hope this helps clarify things for you and others who read this reply. 😎

C

chartwell

I'm having the same problem. The QB response does not address the issue. I haven an invoice for $144 and QB charged the customer a $15 convenience fee.

N

NerbynMaeI

Hello there, chartwell.

I completely understand your concern about the ACH convenience fee. Let me help you get to the bottom of this charge.

As what my colleague @MAnneJ said are correct about the fee of 1% for ACH Payments on each transaction in QuickBooks Payments. With that, I'd highly suggest contacting our Merchant Services Team to check it further in a safe and secure manner.

Here's how:

Sign in to your QuickBooks Online account.
Click the Help button.
In the QuickBooks Assistance chat box, select Talk to a Human or tap the Contact Us button at the bottom.
Then, type in your reason for contacting us in the What can we help you with? Box and click Continue.
From there, choose a way to connect with us: Chat with us, get a Callback, or call our support line directly by getting our Phone number.

When reaching our Merchant Service Team, please make sure to know the availability hours to make sure your concern will be getting in touch.

Here's the best time to contact:

Solopreneur, Simple Start, Essentials, Plus

M-F 6 AM to 6 PM PT
Saturday, 6 AM to 3 PM PT

Advanced

any time, any day.

I'm adding these handy materials to know more about this feature:

Let me know if you have any other questions about the ACH bank fees in QuickBooks Payments. The Community Team is committed to providing you with the assistance you need.

I

IntuiFeedback

Yeah mine shows $25.00 even if it's a $1.00 Bill. Intuit should match Customer's Cost & Business Cost.

P

PhillyT

Yes that is what we saw as well 25 dollar convivence fee when ACH payments are turned off and the let your customer pay the fee option is on globally they get charged 25 dollars by QBO and it looks like your company is charging the fee.

D

drbeet

Unfortunately not. Intuit has some of the highest fees for ACH payments and work very hard to main anti-competitive practices to make it hard for their customers like you and me to use other lower cost providers. Most importantly they limit the ability of other payment processors to sync with their system. If you want the convenience of your bills to be sent directly to QB Payments you have to pay their rather elevated fees.

Try to use Melio, Payoneer or other providers - they will allow for zero transaction fees on several ACH transactions per month.

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