Credit Card Surcharges in Fixlify AI: Canada Setup and U.S. Boundaries

Fixlify AI can add a fixed 2.4% surcharge when an eligible customer chooses an eligible Visa or Mastercard credit card. The feature is deliberately narrow: it does not change the invoice or estimate price, it does not surcharge debit or prepaid cards, and it does not operate in Quebec or on U.S. dollar payments.

This guide explains the product controls and the merchant responsibilities that exist outside Fixlify AI. It is operational guidance, not legal, tax, card-network, or accounting advice. Card-network rules, acquirer terms, and local law can change. Confirm the current requirements with your processor and professional advisors before enabling a surcharge.

What Fixlify AI Supports Today

The current release is not a U.S. surcharge engine. U.S. card-network and state requirements differ, so Fixlify AI leaves U.S. and USD payments at the standard amount. Visa's U.S. materials identify state restrictions, notice, disclosure, credit-only, and cost-of-acceptance requirements; merchants should not treat a Canadian configuration as permission to surcharge a U.S. transaction. Review Visa's current U.S. merchant surcharge guidance before making a U.S. policy decision.

Why the Rate Is Fixed at 2.4%

Visa Canada states that a surcharge cannot exceed the merchant discount rate and has an absolute 2.4% cap. Mastercard likewise describes the permitted amount as the lower of its cap and the merchant's applicable cost of acceptance. Review the current Visa Canada business surcharge FAQ and Mastercard Canada merchant surcharge rules.

Fixlify AI implements one fixed rate instead of letting staff enter arbitrary percentages. Enable it only if 2.4% does not exceed your permitted cost-based limit for every card category you intend to surcharge. If your permitted limit is lower than 2.4%, leave the setting off. Fixlify AI does not calculate your merchant discount rate or decide whether your business may surcharge.

The 2.4% is charged to the customer in addition to the standard invoice balance or estimate deposit. It is stored separately from service revenue so the original document total remains unchanged.

Merchant Checklist Before Enabling It

Before turning the setting on, the organization owner or finance administrator must confirm responsibility for the external requirements. At minimum:

• Confirm surcharging is allowed for the merchant location and every service location where it will be used.
• Confirm 2.4% does not exceed the applicable merchant cost-of-acceptance limit.
• Complete all notices required by Visa, Mastercard, Stripe or another acquirer. Mastercard's Canada FAQ specifies at least 30 days' advance written notice to Mastercard and the acquirer.
• Provide any point-of-entry, website, estimate, invoice, and point-of-sale disclosures required by the networks and local law.
• Ensure receipts identify the surcharge separately.
• Confirm the correct tax treatment with an accountant.
• Maintain the evidence and dates supporting your decision.

Network permission does not override local law. The Quebec Office de la protection du consommateur says merchants cannot add debit- or credit-card payment fees to a product or service price, even with a notice. Fixlify AI therefore blocks the surcharge for Quebec merchant and service locations. See the Quebec government guidance.

Connect Stripe for Exact Card Review

The surcharge requires Fixlify AI's exact-total payment flow. In the web app:

1. Open Settings → Integrations → Stripe.
2. Save the matching Stripe restricted key and publishable key from the same live or test mode.
3. Add the organization-specific webhook URL shown by Fixlify AI and subscribe to every event listed on screen.
4. Save the webhook signing secret.
5. Select Verify webhook. In test mode, Fixlify AI automatically authorizes a Stripe test card. In live mode, enter a card for a temporary 0.50 authorization. Fixlify AI never captures it and cancels it as soon as Stripe delivers the required manual-capture event; the issuer may show the hold briefly.
6. Wait until the integration reports that card review and the webhook are ready.

Do not enable connected-account events. The organization owns the Stripe account directly; this is not a Stripe Connect platform flow.

Enable the Organization Setting

In the Fixlify AI web app:

1. Open Settings → Configuration → Payments.
2. Confirm the payment currency is CAD.
3. Review and accept the merchant-responsibility statement.
4. Turn on Charge eligible credit cards 2.4%.
5. Save.

The switch remains unavailable when Stripe exact card review is incomplete, the merchant province is unknown, the merchant is in Quebec, the currency is not CAD, or the responsibility statement has not been accepted.

Turning on the organization setting establishes the default policy. It does not silently make every document payable by card.

Choose Card Payment on Each Invoice or Estimate

When sending an invoice or estimate from the web app or Fixlify AI mobile app, the second step includes Let client pay by credit card.

• A new document starts from the organization's payment default.
• Staff can turn the checkbox on for a one-time card-enabled send even when the default is off.
• Staff can turn it off for a specific document even when the default is on.
• A saved choice remains intact on an ordinary resend.
• An estimate must also have a deposit amount greater than zero before card deposit payment is offered.

The send screen shows the standard/debit amount and the maximum eligible-credit amount. It does not change the accounting total printed on the invoice or estimate.

What the Customer Sees

The customer opens the secure web portal from the invoice or estimate message. Fixlify AI shows the standard amount and, when the service location can qualify, the maximum eligible-credit amount.

The payment itself has two separate actions:

1. Review exact total. Stripe securely creates and classifies the card payment method. Fixlify AI never receives the raw card number.
2. Pay the exact amount. The portal displays the precise principal, surcharge, optional tip, and total. Nothing is authorized until the customer presses Pay.

Only a Stripe-classified Visa or Mastercard credit card receives the 2.4% surcharge. Debit, prepaid, unsupported, and unknown classifications keep the standard amount. Apple Pay and Google Pay are not offered in this card-only review flow.

Fixlify AI rechecks the organization, document balance, currency, Stripe account, card classification, merchant location, service location, and exact amount on the server. It checks again before capture. A stale or changed review cannot be silently reused.

Refunds and Records

The payment ledger stores principal, card surcharge, and tip separately. A full refund returns the captured surcharge with the principal. A partial refund allocates the corresponding surcharge proportionally. The customer portal and receipt continue to show the surcharge as a separate amount.

This separation prevents the surcharge from inflating service revenue or rewriting the accepted invoice or estimate amount.

Troubleshooting

The surcharge switch is disabled. Confirm CAD currency, a recognized non-Quebec merchant province, the responsibility statement, matching Stripe keys, and a verified webhook.

The customer sees the standard amount after entering a card. Stripe classified the card as debit, prepaid, unsupported, or unknown; or the service location is outside eligible non-Quebec Canada. This is expected fail-closed behavior.

Card payment is unavailable on one document. Open the send dialog and enable the one-time card checkbox. For estimates, confirm a deposit is required and still outstanding.

The webhook verification never completes. Confirm the exact URL, signing secret, live/test mode, and every required event shown in Fixlify AI. Then run Verify webhook again and inspect the endpoint attempts in Stripe.

The amount changed after review. The balance, settings, location, card, or Stripe configuration changed. Return to the card form and review again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Fixlify AI charge 2.4% on every Stripe payment? No. It applies only to eligible Visa or Mastercard credit cards after server-side classification and only within the supported Canadian location and currency boundaries.

Can I enter 2.9% instead? No. The current Fixlify AI control is fixed at 2.4%. This is a product safety boundary, not a conclusion that 2.4% is permitted for every merchant.

Can I add the fee into every estimate or invoice price automatically? Not with this feature. Automatically raising the advertised service price is a different pricing policy with different disclosure, tax, and legal consequences. The Fixlify AI surcharge remains separate and conditional on the actual payment method.

Does accepting the responsibility statement make the surcharge compliant? No. It records who enabled the setting and confirms that the merchant—not Fixlify AI—owns the network, acquirer, notice, disclosure, tax, and local-law decision.

Can a Quebec customer be charged if the merchant is in Ontario? Fixlify AI fails closed when either the merchant location or the document's service location is Quebec, so the customer pays the standard amount.

For faster invoicing without adding a surcharge, see our field service invoicing best practices. Open Fixlify AI to configure payments for your organization.