Strategy Checklist (Before you click):
Before rolling this out, gather your team and decide on the following business rules:
- Have we modeled the 5% against our real invoice mix? The platform service fee is a flat 5% of the transaction. Run it against your typical dues invoice, your largest sponsorship, and your smallest event registration so you know what members will actually see.
- What is our refund policy on the fee? When you issue a refund, you choose whether the platform service fee goes back to the payer. Decide this once, in advance, so staff handle every refund consistently.
- How will we tell members? A new line item at checkout generates questions. Decide who announces it, through which channel, and how you will describe it — a disclosed platform service fee, not a surcharge or convenience fee.
- Are there payment types or groups we want to protect? Consider whether high-dollar invoices, sponsorships, or specific member tiers warrant a different payment path or a conversation before go-live.
The Implementation Blueprint
Follow these phases to successfully roll out this strategy for your association. The setting itself lives at Finance > Billing > Settings > Payment Gateways.
Phase 1: Understand What Zero Fee Payments Is
Get clear on the model before you enable anything or brief your board.
Zero Fee Payments — surfaced to payers as Platform Service Fees in GrowthZone — allows an association to process payments at zero net cost to the organization by passing payment processing costs on to the member or payer at the time of payment. Instead of the association absorbing the transaction fee on every processed payment (credit card, debit card, ACH), a flat 5% platform service fee is surfaced to the payer as a separate line item during checkout on top of their purchase price.
For the customer-paid “Zero-Fees” option, the rate for all transactions is 5%, which is added on the customer transaction page. That rate is set by GrowthZone as a Zero Fees Provider Service Fee. For compliance purposes, it is charged to all transaction types. Our Zero Fees Program is not a surcharge or convenience fee, and is exempt (out of scope) from all regulations associated with those types of programs.
The 5% is fully owned, collected, and accounted by GrowthZone, keeping our customers out of liability for this fee. We assume all risk and liability for the fee, and these funds never enter the banking or reconciliation of our customers.
Zero-Fees is a fully optional system for your organization to turn on. When turned on, all transaction types will have 5% service fee applied. When not toggled on, you will pay standard payment rates.
Payers wanting to avoid the fee may submit payment in the form of cash or check.
- Associations absorb credit card fees on every transaction. For high-volume organizations — especially those that bill quarterly or have a large debit/credit mix — this adds up fast.
- Zero Fee Payments shifts that cost to the payer, reducing the organization’s effective processing cost.
Phase 2: Walk the Payment Flow
See exactly what changes for the member and for your net revenue before go-live.
Here is the payment flow with Zero Fee Payments enabled at the flat 5% rate:
And here is a quick comparison between payments with and without Zero Fee Payments:
| Without Zero Fee | With Zero Fee | |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice amount | $100.00 | $100.00 |
| Platform service fee to payer | None | $5.00 (disclosed at checkout) |
| Who absorbs the processing cost | The association | Offset by the platform service fee |
| Net revenue to association | Invoice amount less processing costs | Full invoice amount |
| Member experience | Single line item | Invoice + service fee at checkout |
Phase 3: Enable Zero Fee Payments
Turn the feature on in your GrowthZone settings once your team has agreed on the business rules above.
- Go to Finance, Billing section, click Settings and select Payment Gateways.
- Select the GZ Pay Settings tab.
- Scroll down to the Zero Fee Payments checkbox and select it.
- Click the SAVE button to save your Zero Fee Payments enablement.
Phase 4: Lock In Your Refund Practice
Train staff on the one new decision they will face on every refund.
For customers who have enabled Zero Fee Payments, an additional option is available during the refund process. The Refund platform fee to payer option works as follows:
- If the option is checked, the member gets the full amount back (item cost + platform service fee), and the entire amount is covered by the association.
- If the option is not checked, the member gets only the item cost back.
Under the Hood: Stripe and the Platform Service Fee
GZ Pay is built on Stripe. When Zero Fee Payments is enabled, GZ Pay uses a Stripe Connect pass-through model to add the 5% platform service fee to the transaction. This is different from a surcharge or a convenience fee — it’s a gateway add-on fee applied at the platform level, not a percentage markup on the card processing rate, and it is set, assessed, and collected by GrowthZone.
The fee does not appear as revenue for the association; it is assessed, collected, and accounted for by GrowthZone. On payment submission screens, it appears as Platform Service Fee:
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is my organization’s rate?
A: The platform service fee is a flat 5% of the transaction for all organizations — it is no longer configured per account. On a $100 invoice, the payer sees the $100 charge plus a $5.00 platform service fee at checkout. If you have questions about how the 5% applies to a specific payment type or transaction, your GrowthZone account team can walk you through it.
Q: Is this the same as a credit card surcharge or a convenience fee?
A: No. It is a platform service fee, which is a distinct concept, wholly developed, assessed, accounted for, and collected by GrowthZone. It is tied to the cost of using the GrowthZone platform for your transactions, not a surcharge on a particular card, and the Zero Fees Program is exempt (out of scope) from the regulations that apply to surcharge and convenience fee programs.
Q: Does the 5% count as revenue for my association?
A: No. The platform service fee is fully owned, collected, and accounted for by GrowthZone, and does not appear as revenue for the association. These funds never enter your banking or reconciliation, and your net payout is the full invoice amount.
Consultant Pro-Tip: Announce the 5% before they discover it at checkout
The associations that roll this out smoothly are the ones that get ahead of the first invoice. Send one short, plain-language note before you flip the switch: the fee is a flat 5%, why it exists, what it costs on a typical invoice ($5.00 on $100), and that payers who want to avoid it may pay by cash or check. Frame it as what it is — a disclosed platform service fee that GrowthZone sets and collects, which keeps member dues going to programming instead of card processors. Members almost never object to a fee they were told about in advance; they object to a surprise line item they find at checkout. Brief your front-desk and finance staff on the same talking points and your refund-fee decision the same week, so every member gets the same answer.