Surcharge
This guide explains how to set up merchant surcharges in Hivive, when they apply, how Hivive calculates them, and where they appear on orders and receipts.
Merchant surcharges are separate from card surcharges. A merchant surcharge is a rule you configure, such as a weekend, public holiday, or dine-in service surcharge. A card surcharge is handled by the payment flow and appears separately when applicable.
Availability
The surcharge menu appears in the merchant dashboard as Surcharge. In POS apps, it can also be opened from Settings > Surcharges, which loads the same dashboard settings page.
If you do not see Surcharge, contact Hivive support to confirm your merchant permissions.
Where To Manage Surcharges
Use the merchant dashboard:
- Go to Surcharge.
- Select Add Surcharge to create a new rule.
- Select an existing surcharge row to edit or delete it.
Each surcharge rule has its own name, percentage, schedule, sales channels, and takeaway behavior.
Recommended Setup
- Decide what the surcharge is for, such as weekend, public holiday, or dine-in service.
- Create a clear name that customers and staff will understand.
- Select the sales channels where the surcharge should apply.
- Choose whether it should apply to takeaway orders.
- Enter the percentage.
- Choose the schedule: Day of Week or Date Range.
- Save the surcharge and place a test order in the affected channel.
Only enable surcharges that should currently be charged. You can keep a surcharge saved but turn Is Enabled off when it is not in use.
Surcharge Fields
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Surcharge Name | The name shown in order totals, receipts, and order details. Use a customer-friendly name such as "Weekend Surcharge" or "Public Holiday Surcharge". |
| Chinese Name | Optional translated name for merchants using Chinese display text. |
| Is Enabled | Controls whether the surcharge can apply. Disabled surcharges are saved but skipped. |
| Apply to Takeaway? | Controls whether takeaway items or takeaway-only orders can receive this surcharge. |
| Sales Channels | Controls where the surcharge applies: POS, QR_CODE, and/or KIOSK. |
| Percentage | The surcharge rate. It must be a number with no more than 2 decimal places. |
| Surcharge Type | Controls the schedule: one day of the week or an inclusive date range. |
Sales Channels
Select every channel where the surcharge should apply.
| Channel | Applies to |
|---|---|
| POS | Staff POS orders. POS also covers linked slave POS order flows. |
| QR_CODE | QR ordering flows. |
| KIOSK | Self-service kiosk orders. |
New surcharges are created with all channels selected by default. Keep the intended channels selected so the surcharge appears consistently in customer-facing carts, POS carts, receipts, and stored orders.
Schedule Behaviour
Day Of Week
Use Day of Week when a surcharge repeats every week.
Examples:
- Monday surcharge.
- Weekend surcharge, if your business applies the same rule for the whole selected day.
- Sunday surcharge.
A day-of-week surcharge supports one day per rule. To charge on both Saturday and Sunday, create two surcharge rules, one for Saturday and one for Sunday.
Date Range
Use Date Range for special dates.
Examples:
- Public holiday surcharge for one date.
- Event surcharge over a weekend.
- Temporary surcharge during a fixed seasonal period.
The start date and end date are both included. A public holiday surcharge for one day should use the same start and end date.
Surcharge scheduling is date-based, not time-of-day based. Hivive evaluates surcharge schedules using the Australia/Melbourne business date for order calculation.
Takeaway Behaviour
Apply to Takeaway? controls whether the surcharge applies to takeaway.
| Setting | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| On | The surcharge applies to eligible dine-in and takeaway items/orders. |
| Off | The surcharge does not apply to takeaway-only orders. In mixed POS carts, it applies only to dine-in items. |
For online, QR, and kiosk flows that are treated as takeaway-style orders, leave Apply to Takeaway? on if the surcharge should be charged in those channels.
When A Surcharge Applies
A surcharge applies only when all of these are true:
- The surcharge is enabled.
- The order date matches the surcharge schedule.
- The order sales channel matches one of the selected sales channels.
- The order or eligible items pass the takeaway rule.
- The order is created or updated while the rule is active.
If more than one surcharge matches an order, all matching surcharges apply.
Calculation
Hivive calculates merchant surcharges from eligible item totals.
Basic formula:
eligible item total = item price x quantity or weight
surcharge amount = eligible item total x surcharge percentage / 100
order total = subtotal + merchant surcharges - discounts
Card surcharge, when present, is calculated separately during payment and shown as a separate line.
Example: One Surcharge
Cart:
| Item | Price | Quantity | Line total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burger | $20.00 | 2 | $40.00 |
| Drink | $5.00 | 1 | $5.00 |
Subtotal: $45.00
Weekend Surcharge: 10%
$45.00 x 10% = $4.50
$45.00 + $4.50 = $49.50
Order total before card surcharge: $49.50
Example: Multiple Surcharges
Cart subtotal: $100.00
Matching surcharges:
- Sunday Surcharge: 10%
- Service Surcharge: 5%
Each surcharge is calculated from the eligible item total, then added together.
$100.00 x 10% = $10.00
$100.00 x 5% = $5.00
merchant surcharge total = $15.00
order total = $115.00
Multiple surcharges are additive. They are not compounded on top of each other.
Example: Takeaway Off With Mixed Items
Surcharge: 10%
Apply to Takeaway?: Off
Cart:
| Item | Type | Line total |
|---|---|---|
| Dine-in meal | Dine-in | $50.00 |
| Takeaway drink | Takeaway | $10.00 |
Only the dine-in item is eligible.
$50.00 x 10% = $5.00
subtotal = $60.00
order total = $65.00
Discounts
Discounts are shown separately from merchant surcharges.
The order total is calculated as:
subtotal + merchant surcharges - discounts
For loyalty earn rules, Hivive excludes merchant surcharges and card surcharges from amount-spent point calculations.
Rounding
Hivive rounds displayed money amounts to 2 decimal places. Final totals are rounded to the nearest cent.
GST
Hivive includes merchant surcharges in the included GST calculation for the order total. Included GST is calculated from the final total after merchant surcharges and discounts.
Where Surcharges Appear
Merchant surcharges appear in:
- Customer checkout totals when the surcharge applies.
- POS cart totals.
- Kiosk cart totals.
- POS and customer receipts.
- Dashboard order details under Other Surcharge.
- Generated order reports as otherSurcharge.
The Fees report focuses on card processing fees and QR code fees. Merchant-defined surcharges are not the same as payment processing fees.
Editing Or Deleting Surcharges
To edit a surcharge:
- Go to Surcharge.
- Select the surcharge row.
- Update the fields.
- Select Finish.
To delete a surcharge:
- Go to Surcharge.
- Select the surcharge row.
- Select Delete Surcharge.
- Confirm the delete action.
Existing paid orders keep their saved surcharge line items for order history, receipts, and reporting. Open unpaid orders may be recalculated if the order is updated before payment.
Common Setups
Weekend Surcharge
Create one surcharge for Saturday and one surcharge for Sunday.
Recommended fields:
- Name: Weekend Surcharge
- Enabled: On
- Apply to Takeaway?: according to your policy
- Sales Channels: select every channel where it should apply
- Percentage: your weekend rate
- Type: Day of Week
Public Holiday Surcharge
Create one date range surcharge.
Recommended fields:
- Name: Public Holiday Surcharge
- Enabled: On
- Apply to Takeaway?: according to your policy
- Sales Channels: select every channel where it should apply
- Percentage: your public holiday rate
- Type: Date Range
- Start Date and End Date: the public holiday date, or the full holiday period
Dine-In Only Service Surcharge
Recommended fields:
- Name: Service Surcharge
- Enabled: On
- Apply to Takeaway?: Off
- Sales Channels: POS, or any dine-in ordering channel you use
- Percentage: your service rate
- Type: Day of Week or Date Range
Troubleshooting
The Surcharge Does Not Appear
Check:
- Is Enabled is on.
- The current date matches the selected day or date range.
- The correct sales channel is selected.
- Apply to Takeaway? is on for takeaway, online, QR, or kiosk orders where needed.
- The percentage is valid and has no more than 2 decimal places.
- The order was created or updated after the surcharge was enabled.
The Surcharge Appears In One Channel But Not Another
Check the surcharge's Sales Channels. A POS order needs POS, QR ordering needs QR_CODE, and kiosk ordering needs KIOSK.
The Total Looks Higher Than Expected
Check whether multiple surcharge rules matched the same order. Matching surcharges stack additively.
Also check whether the order has a separate card surcharge. Merchant surcharges and card surcharges are displayed as separate lines and can both exist on the same order.
The Surcharge Should Apply For A Whole Weekend
Create one Day of Week surcharge for Saturday and another for Sunday, or use a Date Range if the weekend is a one-off event period.