Implementing custom eCommerce fees for handling gives B2B companies a lot of leeway to adjust prices based on a customer’s value, ordering history, and size of sale. Unfortunately, businesses lose money by offering only a single rate for products. Customers often migrate to other platforms to find discounts, bulk pricing, and special sales to realize higher profit margins on the products that they purchase or sell. B2B companies can adjust eCommerce handling charges and other customs fees to give various customers special prices. Clarity eCommerce offers 3 out-of-the-box pricing models to support flat pricing, multi-tiered pricing, and pricing rules. Adding Fees to WooCommerce Products with Conditional Logic for SMBs Conditional logic merely describes this situation: “If you do this, the following will happen.” The logic is used in software, applications, plugins, and extensions. WooCommerce websites can use conditional logic to add extra fees, initiate discounts, and qualify customers for special prices. If multiple conditions are selected, then all the conditions must be met. Extra fees can be calculated as a straight percentage—such as 10 percent of the cart subtotal—or a flat fee attached to each order. Another benefit of using conditional logic in WooCommerce is adding fees to just one B2B payment gateway. For example, some B2B companies add a 3 percent fee for all orders paid using PayPal’s third-party payment service. The Fee Manager plugin makes it easy to add custom eCommerce fees and the fees can be adjusted based on such conditions as the following: All customers or members of a subscription service Members who have certain access levels Customers who have content or product restrictions Size of the order Special fees are added based on the country in which items are shipped Coding Tip for Adding Conditional Logic to WooCommerce The following snippet of code allows coders to add fees to WooCommerce carts. Just add the following raw data for adding the fees within the functions.php file of the theme folder: [1] <?php /** * WooCommerce Extra Feature * -------------------------- * * Add custom fee to cart automatically * */ function woo_add_cart_fee() { global $woocommerce; $woocommerce->cart->add_fee( __('Custom', 'woocommerce'), 5 ); } add_action( 'woocommerce_cart_calculate_fees', 'woo_add_cart_fee' ); Dueling Imperatives It’s important to provide transparent pricing because many customers abandon their carts when extra “surprise” handling or shipping fees are added at checkout time. [2] That doesn’t mean that you can’t charge reasonable eCommerce handling charges—especially when selling products at fair prices. Some accounts simply take more work—for custom shipping, special packaging, international shipping, and other reasons. As long as the company lists its fees transparently and offers ways to get lower fees, adding extra fees won’t cause companies to lose many orders. Customers are more likely to abandon their carts because of high shipping costs (studies show up to 72% may abandon) or the need to create a user account than they are to balk at eCommerce handling fees. Taking Payments Couching everything in verbiage that offers customers ways to save money is the best solution to the dilemma of charging extra fees. For example, there are many ways for B2B companies to take payments including POs, direct bank transfers, credit cards, credit accounts, online checks, and third-party vendors. In WooCommerce, it’s easy to set up systems such as PayPal and Stripe because they are built-in. The payment options integrate with the store, so clients never need to go offsite to pay for their purchases. [3] Full integration of the WooCommerce software and other business applications makes it easy to use optional extensions for credit card processing. Companies can accept third-party payments such as Amazon Pay, Apple Pay, Simplify Commerce, and Klarna to save money on payment processing. Credit card processing fees can add thousands of dollars to operating expenses without providing any exclusive benefits. WooCommerce offers three built-in payment options that are 100 percent free: bank transfers, payments by check and cash on delivery, or COD, orders. The Simple Truth about eCommerce Handling Charges B2B companies lose money from both cart abandonment and handling fees that aren’t passed on to customers. Delays in payments can result in interest costs that can often cut deeply into profit on low-margin items. Some payment methods add several percentage points to payment processing costs. That’s why it’s important to add handling fees strategically so that customers don’t get offended and that B2B companies don’t lose all their profits to handling costs. Checks cost about $3 per transaction, an ACH transaction costs $0.25 per transaction and credit cards cost 1.5 percent. Wire transfers run $14 per transaction. [4] Adding eCommerce handling charges makes sound economic sense, but it’s important to publish transparent prices and offer customers savings on key payment options and large orders. Clarity eCommerce provides both out-of-the-box and customizable fields (through CRM or ERP integration) to handle any type of custom or account-specific handling or shipping fees. B2B companies have a myriad of different pricing and fees that they customize for their clients, and Clarity’s highly customizable eCommerce platform is designed to handle any of those types of custom scenarios. Managing Your eCommerce Store Effectively The key to success is functional design, transparent pricing, and posting information on costs and fees conspicuously. An integrated site makes it easy to manage your store more efficiently while helping customers understand custom eCommerce fees and find ways to save on handling costs. Give Clarity a call today to discuss your eCommerce project. References: [1] Remicorson.com: Add Custom Fee to WooCommerce Cart dynamically http://www.remicorson.com/add-custom-fee-to-woocommerce-cart-dynamically/ [2] Barilliance.com: Top 10 Reasons (and solutions) for Shopping Cart Abandonment https://www.barilliance.com/10-reasons-shopping-cart-abandonment/ [3] Woocommerce.com: How to take payments with WooCommerce - affordably https://woocommerce.com/2016/08/woocommerce-payments-affordably/ [4] Apruve.com: The Pains, Problems, and Solutions of B2B Payment Processes https://blog.apruve.com/the-pains-problems-and-solutions-of-b2b-payment-processes