Internal Cash Discount

Paladin offers you the ability to apply cash discounts to your invoicing. 

Important: You are solely responsible for properly investigating applicability of cash discounting programs in your state. This is particularly important for the following states that Paladin is aware of having provisions that may prohibit use of Paladin’s Internal Cash Discount feature. 

• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• New York state
• Texas 
• Wyoming

Important: Bin tag 52 is now available to meet the Cash Discounting laws in New York. As of 01/01/2024, New York now requires stores that are passing credit card fees onto card holders to post both the price for paying with cash and the price for paying with a credit card on their bin tags.

This article provides information and instruction on the following:

• How Internal Cash Discount works
• How to set up Internal Cash Discount
• Internal Cash Discount checkout process
• Basic scenarios/invoice views
• Internal Cash Discount on customer accounts

How Internal Cash Discount works

When setting up Internal Cash Discount, a service fee (Paladin limits the configurable percentage rate to a maximum up to 3%) will be added to every invoice. If payment is cash or a cash equivalent (charge, check, debit card, coupons, or gift card), the percentage you set will be discounted off the invoice as a cash discount.

Important: You are solely responsible for properly investigating applicability of cash discounting programs in your state, getting an agreement that the service fee charged is within the limits established by the credit card brands you process (Paladin limits the configurable percentage rate to a maximum up to 3%), the signage required, and accurately selecting card types on the transactions (debit or credit) in your store(s).

Back to Top

How to set up Internal Cash Discount

Important: You must email Paladin Support the signed agreement with your credit card processor that the service fee charged is within the limits established by the credit card brands you process before Internal Cash Discount can be activated for your store(s).

Note: Paladin Support will need to establish remote access to your terminal in order to enter the password needed in the Cash Discount / Service Fee Acknowledgement window.

1. In Paladin, from the main menu, select File > Setup.
2. Select the Credit Card tab.
3. In the Internal Cash Discounting/Service Fee pane, check Enable Cash Discount/Service Fee.

Note: Modifying any field in the Internal Cash Discounting /Service Fee window is restricted to users that have Manager Overrides; Paladin Support is restricted and cannot make changes to this field.

Figure 1: Credit Card tab/Internal Cash Discounting/Service Fee pane

4. If the cash discount is taxable, check Cash Discount/Service Fee Taxable.
5. Enter the percentage of the service fee in the Percentage box (just a numerical value, no percentage sign).

Important: Paladin limits the configurable percentage rate to a maximum of 3%.

Figure 2: Example of Internal Cash Discounting/Service Fee pane filled out

6. Click Save.

The Cash Discount / Service Fee Acknowledgement window opens. You must email Paladin Support the signed agreement with your credit card processor that the service fee charged is within the limits established by the credit card brands you process before Internal Cash Discount can be activated for your store(s). Once Paladin Support receives the agreement, they will enter the Paladin Support password and click OK.

Figure 3: Cash Discount / Service Fee Acknowledgement window

The Cash Discount/Service Fee Manager Acknowledgement window opens. 

Figure 4: Cash Discount/Service Fee Manager Acknowledgement window

7. Enter your password in the Manager Acknowledgement box, then click OK.

Note: If a Manager Acknowledgement password is not entered or is not valid, the Not Enabled window opens. Clicking OK takes you back to the Internal Cash Discounting / Service Fee pane.

Figure 5: Not Enabled window

Note: Manager Acknowledgement and the date/time it was made is recorded in the Cash Discount Restriction acknowledged by box.

Figure 6: Cash Discount Restriction acknowledged by

8. Click Close to exit out of Paladin Configuration

Again, you are solely responsible for properly investigating applicability of cash discounting programs in your state, getting an agreement that the service fee charged is within the limits established by the credit card brands you process (Paladin limits the configurable percentage rate to a maximum up to 3%), the signage required, and accurately selecting card types on the transactions (debit or credit) in your store(s).

Back to Top

Internal Cash Discount checkout process

The following presents the checkout process when:

• Credit card used
• Cash used
• Check used
• Debit card used

Back to Top

1. In Paladin’s Invoice/Quote module, enter items to be purchased.
2. When complete, click F8 Checkout.
3. In the Checkout tab, the amount of the service fee and cash discount is shown (Figure 7).

Figure 7: Checkout tab with service fee and cash discount shown

Credit card used

In the Invoice/Quote module Checkout tab, select F3 Credit Card.

The Card Type window opens.

Figure 8: Card Type window

1. Select Credit Card. The Credit Card Processing window opens. 
2. Click Next. The transaction completes, and a service fee is added to the sale and is reflected on the invoice/receipt that a credit card was used (receipt shown in Scenario One: Cash discount on single payment (credit card only).

Back to top of this section

Cash used

In the Invoice/Quote module Checkout tab, select F1 Cash and complete the sale. No additional steps are required, and the cash discount is given (receipt shown in Scenario Two: Cash discount on single payment (cash only).

Back to top of this section

Check used

In the Invoice/Quote module Checkout tab, select F4 Check.

The Check Processing window opens.

• 1. Enter the check number in the Check # box (you can also scan the check number).
  2. Enter the customer’s name in the Name box.
  3. Click Next.

The receipt is similar to a cash transaction (receipt shown in Scenario Three: Cash discount on single payment (check only).

Back to top of this section

Debit card used

In the Invoice/Quote module Checkout tab, select F3 Credit Card.

The Card Type window opens.

Figure 9: Card Type window

1. Select Debit Card. The Credit Card Processing window opens. 
2. Click Next. A debit card is treated as a cash sale, and a cash discount is returned to the sale and is reflected on the invoice/receipt that a cash or other tender (debit or gift card, check, coupon) was used (receipt shown in Scenario Four: Cash discount on single payment (debit card only).

Back to top of this section

Back to Top

Basic scenarios/invoice views

The following scenarios show how cash discounts are applied and how the results appear on invoices (these are just the most common scenarios; there are multiple possibilities, but all use the same basic logic):

• Scenario One: Cash discount on single payment (credit card only) 
• Scenario Two: Cash discount on single payment (cash only)
• Scenario Three: Cash discount on single payment (check only)
• Scenario Four: Cash discount on single payment (debit card only)

Back to Top

Scenario One: Cash discount on single payment (credit card only)

In this scenario, when customers pay their invoice with a credit card only, there is no cash discount shown on the invoice, and the service fee is applied.

Figure 10: Cash discount/credit card only

Back to Top of Section

Scenario Two: Cash discount on single payment (cash only)

In this scenario, when customers pay their invoice with cash only, there is a cash discount on the invoice (service fee is applied then returned to the sale).

Figure 11: Cash discount/cash only

Back to Top of Section

Scenario Three: Cash discount on single payment (check only)

Similar to a cash sale, in this scenario, when customers pay their invoice with a check only, there is a cash discount on the invoice (service fee is applied then returned to the sale). The check number is also shown.

Figure 12: Cash discount/check only

Back to Top of Section

Scenario Four: Cash discount on single payment (debit card only)

Similar to a cash sale, in this scenario, when customers pay their invoice with a debit card only, there is a cash discount on the invoice (service fee is applied then returned to the sale).

Note: As shown in Figure 13, although Credit Card is shown, having a cash discount means that a debit card was used. 

Figure 13: Cash discount/debit card only

Back to Top of Section

Back to Top

Internal Cash Discount on customer accounts

When using the Internal Cash Discounting feature, payment on customer accounts are not automatically assessed the service fee. The fee must be applied manually.

To apply the service fee manually, you must create a “Service Fee” Dump SKU:

1. In Paladin, on the top ribbon, select the Inventory module.
2. On the bottom ribbon of the module, select F2 Add Item.
3. In the Add New Item window, verify the new item has the following values:

Item	Value
Part#	Set to “servicecharge” (this can be changed if already used)
Description	Set to “AccountPaymentServiceCharge”
Cost	Set to 0.00
Sell Price	Set to 0.00
Department	Set to a Misc or Sales Dept Value. This will vary from store to store.

4. Click F12 Add.
5. Open the Pricing tab.
6. In the Pricing Levels pane, set Ref to 0.
7. Open the General tab.
8. At the top right of the Item Information pane, check Non-Inventory.
9. On the bottom ribbon, click F12 Save.

To make a payment to a customer account:

1. Ask the customer how they will be making their payment. If the customer will be using a credit card to make a payment on account, notify them that a service fee of X% will be charged, but a cash or check payment will not have a service fee applied.
2. If they still wish to proceed with using the credit card, determine how much the customer wants to pay towards their account. Then, calculate the value of X% of that payment amount (multiply the payment amount by the percentage).
3. Select the customer’s profile, enter the SERVICECHARGE SKU and set the price of transaction to X% of the payment amount as calculated in Step 2.
4. Select F8 Checkout and select F2 Charge to apply the service fee to the customer’s account.
5. Select the customer’s profile again, select F5 Account Payment, enter the value the customer wanted to pay towards their account in the Payment box, then select F12 Checkout.
6. In the Checkout tab, select F3 Credit Card, press Enter, then use the account’s card on file or have the customer present their card information for payment.

Back to Top