This page states the international card fee, which billing addresses count as international, the three acceptance settings a firm may hold, and how the fee behaves on a refund or dispute — for firm staff reconciling payments or choosing a setting.
What counts as an international card
| Item | What is the case |
|---|---|
| Definition | Any card credit card whose billing address is outside the United States |
| Additional fee | 1% of the payment, charged on top of the firm's base card processing rate |
| Treated as United States | Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, the US Virgin Islands |
| How the card is identified as international | By the billing zip code the payer enters at checkout |
| What the 1% is calculated on | The principal amount to be paid (invoice amount, late fees). |
| Whether the 1% applies to non-card methods | No, this only applies to international credit cards |
Acceptance settings
A firm holds exactly one of the three settings below.
| Setting | What the payer experiences | Who bears the 1% | How the firm sees it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. International cards not accepted | On entering a non-US billing zip code the payer receives an error notification stating that the firm does not accept international card payments | Nobody — the payment is refused | No transaction |
| 2. Accepted, fee charged to the client | After entering card details and billing zip code, the payer is shown a full cost breakdown before submitting the payment | Client, at the time of payment | — |
| 3. Accepted, firm absorbs the cost | No change to the payer's experience | Firm. The 1% fee is swept from the transaction at the time of payment. | The amount swept appears on the firm’s Transaction Report alongside all other swept fees. |
| Who holds the setting | Aiwyn. The setting is changed on request | — | To change this, contact support and they can quickly make this change for your firm. |
Reporting
| Setting | What the firm receives |
|---|---|
| Fee charged to the client | No reporting of the fee to the firm beyond it showing as an international processing fee within the firm portal. The client pays the additional fee and Aiwyn keeps that fee. |
| Firm absorbs the fee | |
| Refund or dispute on a payment that carried an international fee | The international fee is added to the amount subtracted from the firm's future payout. Aiwyn keeps the fee paid by the client to cover the cost of the transaction charged to Aiwyn; to refund the client in full, the 1% must be recovered from the firm |
Refund and dispute: firm whose transaction fees are not swept from the daily payout
Applies only where Aiwyn takes no transaction fees from the firm's daily payout.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Original payment | $100.00 |
| Processing fee rate for client | 3.5% ($3.50) — client pays this fee |
| International fee rate and amount | 1.0% ($1.00) — client pays this fee, but Aiwyn keeps it |
| Net payment amount to firm | $103.50 |
| Amount debited from firm on refund or dispute | $104.50 ($100 + $3.50 + $1.00) |
| Amount returned to client | $104.50 |
| Display of the reversal to the firm | The daily cash file includes the $100 principal, the $3.50 surcharge and the $1.00 international fee |
Refund and dispute: firm whose transaction fees are swept from the daily payout
Applies only where Aiwyn does take transaction fees from the firm's daily payout.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Original payment | $100.00 |
| Processing fee rate for client | 3.5% ($3.50) — client pays this fee |
| Transaction fee rate and amount kept by Aiwyn | 3.5% ($3.50) |
| International fee rate and amount | 1.0% ($1.00) — client pays this fee |
| Transaction sweep amount | $3.50 + $1.00 = $4.50 — the firm has paid neither of these fees |
| Net payment amount to firm | $100.00 |
| Amount debited from firm on refund or dispute | $104.50 [SME: is the correct breakdown $100.00 + $4.50?] |
| Amount returned to client | $104.50 |
| Display of the reversal to the firm | The daily cash file shows the $100 deducted from the daily payout; the Transaction_Fee file shows the $4.50 deducted from the daily payout [SME: is Transaction_Fee the current file name?] |
The firm repays both the original processing fee and the international fee to the client.
Related
- Accepted payment methods
- Supported currencies
- Accepting Canadian Payments through Aiwyn
- How transaction sweeping works
- How payouts work