The 30-second math
On a $100 donation, a typical card fee (2.9% + 30¢) costs you $3.20. Across $50,000 of annual giving that's roughly $1,600 gone — a laptop, a month's food budget for a program, a microgrant. Fee recovery asks the donor a simple question at checkout:
"Add $3.20 to cover processing fees so 100% of my gift goes to [your organization]."
Donors who just decided to give $100 rarely balk at $103.20 — they came to help, and this helps a little more. In practice most donors tick the box.
How Donor Merchant handles it
- Live math on the form. The fee estimate and total update in real time as the donor changes amounts or frequency, so the button always shows the true charge.
- Configurable rates. Default is 2.9% + 30¢; adjust both numbers in settings to match your processor and country.
- Recomputed server-side. Like every amount in Donor Merchant, the fee is recalculated on your server at charge time — browser tampering can't change it.
- Reported separately. Donations record the base amount and the fee portion separately, so your books stay clean and exports show both.
- Works with recurring. A monthly donor who covers fees covers them every cycle automatically.
Where the competition puts thisGiveWP sells fee recovery in its Pro plan ($399/year). In Donor Merchant it's a settings toggle, free.
Turning it on
It's enabled by default. Fine-tune it under Donor Merchant → Settings → General — toggle it, or adjust the percentage and fixed fee. That's the whole setup.