Understanding Donation Transaction Fees in GiveWP

With GiveWP, you can start collecting donations without a subscription. However, there are often other costs, like payment processing or platform fees to consider. This guide explains the different types of transaction fees and how to minimize them.

Transaction Processing Fees Charged by Payment Gateways

Payment gateways like Stripe and PayPal charge transaction processing fees (e.g., 2.9% + $0.30 per donation). These fees support services like secure payment handling and account management. 

Key things to know:

• GiveWP doesn’t charge these fees or manage them. They’re set by the gateway.
• Fees are automatically deducted before funds are deposited into your account.
• Rates vary by gateway, location, and payment method.
• Nonprofits may qualify for reduced rates. Check directly with the provider for more information.

Transaction Fees Charged by Platforms

Many fundraising and ecommerce platforms apply an additional fee to transactions, usually called a “platform fee.” These fees fund platform services, like technical support, product updates, and subscription-free products. For example, you may pay nothing up-front to use a fundraising platform, and costs are simply deducted from donations. 

Platform fee rates vary by platform. At the time this article was written, many popular fundraising platforms apply fees to transactions, such as:

• Donorbox: 1.6% – 3.95% (depending on your subscription–there is no fee-free option)
• FundraiseUp: 4% (there is no fee-free option)
• Givebutter: 3% (if you opt out of donor tipping)

GiveWP Transaction Fees

To keep costs low for organizations while still maintaining healthy support and product update processes, GiveWP implements a conservative fee policy. 

GiveWP Free

GiveWP’s core plugin is free to use and has no subscription cost. However, using it to collect donations may involve fees. Since all payments are processed directly by your chosen payment gateway (not by GiveWP), the gateway’s standard transaction fees will always apply. In addition, GiveWP may charge a platform fee on some donations, depending on your setup.

GiveWP Platform Fee Removal

You can remove the 2% fee GiveWP adds by adding a license for any plan or premium add-on. The fees are programmed to be dependent on the license, so the license must be saved in GiveWP’s settings to remove the fee.

This only removes GiveWP’s 2% platform fee. All payment gateway fees are still applied by the payment gateway.

Fee Recovery

Fees can take a big bite out of the donations your organization depends on. To help with this, GiveWP created the Fee Recovery add-on. This add-on gives donors the option to cover the payment gateway fees themselves, allowing you to keep more of every donation for your mission.

This applies only to payment gateway fees (like those from Stripe or PayPal), not GiveWP’s 2% platform fee. However, since Fee Recovery is a premium add-on, activating its license in your GiveWP settings will automatically remove the 2% platform fee, so you won’t need to ask donors to cover it.

GiveWP Fee Grace Period

To support the well-being of organizations, GiveWP includes a 30-day grace period. This means that if your license becomes inactive or cannot be verified, the 2% GiveWP platform fee will only be re-enabled after 30 days.

This grace period helps prevent unexpected fees in situations like:

• A temporary license verification issue (e.g., a failed check due to site connectivity)
• A license that isn’t renewed on time
  

As long as a valid license is restored within 30 days, the platform fee will not be applied during that period.

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