Payment & Financing Fees

Why payment fees matter

When a client pays you $500 by credit card, your payment processor takes a cut before the money reaches your account. If your processor charges 2.9%, you actually received $485.50 — not $500.

If Nabu doesn't know your processing rates, it treats the full $500 as revenue. That makes your margins look better than they really are. Across thousands of transactions per year, those small differences add up fast.

Payment & Financing Fees is where you tell Nabu exactly what each payment method costs you, so it can calculate your true net revenue.

This section is manual by design. Booking systems may show payment labels like Visa, CareCredit, Cherry, ACH, or cash, but they do not know the processor contract, financing merchant fee, effective date, or fallback rule your clinic should use. Nabu uses the rules you enter here when Sales & Visit History imports payments.

Payment methods to configure

These are ranges — your actual rates may differ. Enter the exact rates from your processor, not the numbers in this table.

Financing is different from card processing

Financing companies like Cherry, CareCredit, and similar patient financing programs work differently from card processors. They pay your clinic upfront and collect from the client over time. In exchange, they charge your clinic a merchant fee — typically 4–15% of the transaction amount — depending on the repayment terms the client chose.

For example: a client finances a $1,000 treatment through Cherry on a 6-month 0% plan. Cherry might charge your clinic 8%, so you net $920. Nabu applies this fee the same way it applies a card processing fee — it deducts it from the sale amount to show net revenue.

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How fees flow into reports

For every sale in your transaction history, Nabu checks the payment method used and applies the corresponding fee to calculate net revenue. The profitability dashboard and all margin calculations use net revenue — what you actually kept, not what the client paid.

This means you get accurate answers to questions like: "Is a service profitable after my CareCredit fee?" or "How does my effective margin differ between cash payers and financed clients?"

Common questions

Where do I find my exact processing rates? Check your payment processor's monthly statement. Look for your "effective rate" or per-card-type rates. If you can't find it, call or email your processor's support line — they're required to give you this information. Some processors (like Square or Stripe) publish flat rates publicly.

What if I use multiple card processors? Add each as a separate line with its own rate. If you take cards through both Square and a separate POS for memberships, for example, you can distinguish them here.

Do I have to add every payment method? Only the ones you actually accept. If you don't offer Cherry financing, don't add it. If you only take Visa, Mastercard, and cash, those three are enough.

Will Zenoti fill these rules in automatically? No. Zenoti payment evidence can help identify labels used in transactions, but active fee rules are manual assumptions in Nabu. Review your processor statements and financing agreements, then enter the rules here.

What if my processor charges a flat fee plus a percentage? Select "percentage + flat fee" as the fee type and enter both values. For example, Stripe charges 2.7% + $0.05 for in-person card transactions.

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