How merchant fees are recorded, billed to owners, and how to set the correct start date:
Merchant fees (such as Stripe credit card processing fees) are handled differently than most other charges in VRTrust. This article explains how VRTrust records merchant fees, how they are billed back to owners, and how to correctly set the fee start date to avoid missing historical charges.
How VRTrust Records Merchant (Stripe) Fees
VRTrust does not estimate merchant fees.
Instead:
Stripe fees are pulled automatically from:
Deposits
These fees are recorded as a real expense to the property manager.
VRTrust then uses the Merchant Fee in Fees & Commissions to bill that exact amount back to the owner.
Because the fee already exists as an actual expense, the Merchant Fee should almost always be set to 100%, unless you're choosing to bill back an amount separate than what was collected by the merchant processor (i.e. some property managers might build in a "cushion" into the amount they bill back to the owner).
Should I use a 100% fee or an estimated fee?
✅ Use 100% (recommended and most common)
Use 100% when:
Stripe fees are coming through deposits or expense feeds
You want to pass through the exact fee charged by Stripe
You do not want estimates or variances
This ensures:
No double counting
No guessing
Owner statements match actual cash activity
Stripe fees already exist — estimating them can cause inaccuracies.
Should I use the “Channel Commission” or "Credit Card Processing Fee" line from the PMS?
Some PMSs (such as OwnerRez or Hostaway) surface credit card processing fees as a values inside the reservation pulled into VRTrust.
If you see this line, you may choose to exclude it but park it in a "reference" account to be used in the Merchant Fee. HOWEVER, you shouldn't do both, i.e. you should either create a fee from the merchant fee recorded from the deposit OR use the processing fee recorded in your PMS and included in the reservation (but excluded from financials and held in the Reference account)
👉 In short:
Seeing if you see Channel Commission or Credit Card Processing fees in your reservation lines, you should exclude from the financials, then choose whether you want to map to a Reference Account (to bill the owner based on the amount in your PMS) or exclude completely and use a 100% merchant fee to be billed based on the amounts recorded in deposits.
How to Set (or Backdate) Merchant Fee Start Dates
This is a critical step and often missed during setup.
Why start dates matter
Merchant fees only apply to reservations on or after the start date.
If the start date is too recent, older Stripe fees will not be billed to owners.
Step-by-Step: Update Merchant Fee Start Dates
Go to Fees & Commissions
Open Merchant Fees
Click the Listings tab
Select all listings
Click Update
Set the Start Date to a date well in the past
Example: January 1 of the prior year
Save changes
✅ This ensures all historical Stripe fees are captured.
Best Practices for Merchant Fees
✔ Use 100% for Stripe merchant fees
✔ Leave PMS channel commission lines excluded
✔ Set the merchant fee start date well in the past
✔ Let real Stripe expenses drive owner billing (not estimates)
Common Mistakes to Avoid
❌ Using estimated merchant fees when Stripe data exists
❌ Forgetting to backdate the start date
❌ Including PMS channel commission lines that don’t represent real cash
❌ Trying to manually reconcile Stripe fees per reservation
Summary
VRTrust is designed so merchant fees:
Are recorded once (from Stripe)
Billed once (to the owner)
Match actual cash movement
If your merchant fee is set to 100% with a properly backdated start date, your setup is correct.