Setup fee
How to add a one-off charge to the first payment
Available on: every price — one-time, subscriptions and payment plans, with a fixed price or pay what you want.
What is a setup fee?
A setup fee is a one-off charge added to the first payment. Every payment after that is the normal amount.
Use it to cover onboarding or activation costs, or to take a deposit before a payment plan starts.
Example: A gym membership costs $50 a month with a $25 setup fee. The first payment is $75, and every payment after that is $50.
How to add a setup fee
- Go to Storefront → Checkout pages.
- Open the checkout you want to edit.
- Go to Product → Details.
- Enable Setup fee.
- Enter the amount.
- Click Save.
Multiply by quantity
Enable Multiply by quantity to charge the fee for each item bought rather than once per order.
This needs a quantity selector on the checkout, added under Checkout → Custom fields. See Adding a quantity selector. Without one, the customer always buys one item and the fee is charged once.
When the fee is charged
The setup fee is added to the first payment rather than billed separately. The customer sees it as its own line, but pays one total.
On a one-time price there's only one payment, so the fee is simply added to it: a $29 product with a $129 setup fee charges $158.
On a recurring price with a start date or a billing anchor, it's charged at checkout in addition to any prorated amount — so a $19 setup fee on a subscription starting next month takes $19 today, not $0.
Charging for a trial
Selecting a Paid trial replaces the Setup fee checkbox with a required Setup fee field. The amount you enter is what the customer pays for the trial period. See Trials.