Preview Payment Fees Before Charging

Persona: SaaS billing platform, e-commerce integrator, any merchant who wants to show customers a cost breakdown before a charge is confirmed.

Scenario: Before submitting a charge, call POST /calculate-fees to retrieve the exact processing fee Pinch will deduct. Display the base amount, fee, and net-to-merchant figure in your UI so the customer sees a transparent breakdown before confirming.

Endpoint sequence

1. POST /calculate-fees: get the processing fee for the payment amount and method
2. Display the fee breakdown to the customer
3. POST /payments/realtime or POST /payments: submit the charge using the same amount

Step 1: Calculate the fee

Call POST /calculate-fees with the payment amount in cents and the expected payment method.

POST https://api.getpinch.com.au/test/calculate-fees
Authorization: ******
pinch-version: 2020.1
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "amount": 10000,
  "sourceType": "credit-card"
}

Example response:

{
  "amount": 10000,
  "feeAmount": 220,
  "taxAmount": 20,
  "netAmount": 9780
}

Step 2: Display the breakdown

Use the response to render a confirmation screen before the customer commits:

Payment amount:   $100.00
Processing fee:   $2.20
You will receive: $97.80

Step 3: Submit the charge

Once the customer confirms, submit the payment using the same amount. For an immediate credit card charge:

POST https://api.getpinch.com.au/test/payments/realtime
Authorization: ******
pinch-version: 2020.1
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "payerId": "pyr_XXXXXXXX",
  "amount": 10000,
  "description": "Invoice #123",
  "creditCardToken": "{card_token}"
}

Or to schedule for a future date:

POST https://api.getpinch.com.au/test/payments
Authorization: ******
pinch-version: 2020.1
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "payerId": "pyr_XXXXXXXX",
  "amount": 10000,
  "description": "Invoice #123",
  "sourceId": "src_XXXXXXXX",
  "transactionDate": "2026-08-01"
}

Key caveats

• amount is always the gross amount in cents. The fee figure from calculate-fees is informational; pass the same amount to the payment endpoint unchanged.
• The fee returned reflects your current fee schedule. Credit card and bank account payment methods have different fee rates, so pass the correct sourceType to get an accurate preview.
• Always call calculate-fees immediately before displaying the breakdown. Fee schedules can change and a cached value may be stale.

What to do next

• Create Realtime Payment: charge a credit card immediately
• Create or Update Payment: schedule a payment for a future date
• Surcharging Fees in Pinch: background on how processing fees work