Ignition Platform Fees v0.3.0

A commission that never gets collected used to be something you found out about after the fact. This release says so up front — on the Platform Fees settings screen, on the Platform Mode routing screen, and across wp-admin — and it names the specific reason each time. It also makes the safety net that protects creators measure itself against the pledge itself rather than against the total the backer was charged, and, with Ignition Contributions installed, lets a backer volunteer to cover the commission at checkout.

New Features

• Warnings for a commission the site cannot collect — The Platform Fees settings screen now checks your rate and minimum against the smallest pledge you accept and says so when the two do not fit. A minimum at or above your smallest pledge, no smallest pledge set at all, or a rate high enough to round a small pledge’s commission up to the whole pledge each get their own warning naming the amounts involved and what to change. A rate of 100% or more gets a separate warning: it would take the whole pledge on every pledge, so nothing is ever collected. See Warnings on the settings screen.

• Backers can volunteer to cover the commission — With Ignition Contributions active, this add-on now supplies the commission figure that checkout needs, so a backer can be offered the option to pay the platform’s cut on top of their pledge instead of the creator absorbing it. It is offered only on an online pledge in the site’s own currency, on a payment method that settles the platform’s cut, and only where the commission is above zero and below the pledge. See When backers cover the commission.

• The routing screen says what central collection would cost — On Ignition → Settings → Add-ons → Platform Mode, a site currently routing pledges to creators now sees Platform Commission listed under what switching to “The platform” would turn off, with the reason spelled out: commission is taken out of a pledge as it is split to the creator, so there would be nothing to take a cut of. It appears only when you actually have a commission configured. See When pledges come to you instead.

Improvements

• The “nothing can collect this” warning now checks your payment methods — The site-wide wp-admin warning used to fire on whether any gateway had registered itself as able to settle a platform fee. It now asks your payment methods directly: a method counts only if it is switched on, can split a pledge, and reports itself as finished being set up. A gateway that is installed but half-configured no longer counts as able to collect. The warning also fires on a minimum-only commission (a 0% rate with a floor still collects), and it stays quiet on a site that routes pledges to the platform, where the settings screen already explains the situation in more detail. See When no payment method can collect.

• The commission cap is measured against the pledge, not the total charged — A commission is dropped to nothing when it would reach the whole pledge, so a misconfigured floor cannot leave a creator with nothing. That comparison is now made against the pledge amount itself. Previously it was made against the total the backer was charged, which meant a voluntary tip or cover added on top of a pledge could raise the total enough for a commission to be collected that would otherwise have taken the creator’s entire share. See When the commission would swallow the contribution.

• Commission reads as a settlement line on the pledge page — The admin pledge detail page now shows where each charge went, one block per successful payment, and the commission appears there as a Commission (platform) line beside the net that reaches the creator. After a refund the line shows what the platform kept — the commission recorded, less what was reversed — and shows $0.00 rather than vanishing when all of it was given back, so “fully reversed” and “this platform takes no commission” stay distinguishable. See On a single pledge.

Bug Fixes

• A per-pledge net below zero is no longer rounded up to $0.00 — When the commission and the payment processor’s retained fee together came to more than the money that stayed in, the add-on used to force the pledge’s net figure up to $0.00, hiding a genuine shortfall. It now reports the real number. See When a refund leaves you below zero.

Developer

• Commission is contributed as a named fee component — The add-on now answers igcf_payment_attempt_application_fee_components with a commission key rather than adding to the scalar igcf_payment_attempt_application_fee, so the platform’s cut is itemised by contributor instead of arriving as one opaque total. It also answers the attempt-free igcf_projected_charge_context, at a priority above the gateway’s, so checkout can price a commission before any payment attempt exists. See the Platform Fees developer reference and the add-on seams.

• The pledge money statement replaces the money-rows filter — The add-on now declares a commission term through igcf_pledge_settlement_terms. Core removed igcf_pledge_detail_money_rows in 0.22.0; an older Platform Fees left hooked to it renders no commission lines at all on the pledge page. See settlement terms.

• Igcf_Fees_Calculator::breakdown_for_amount( $pledge_amount_minor ) — Computes the commission from a bare pledge amount, for callers with no pledge row to hand. breakdown_for( Igcf_Pledge $pledge ) delegates to it and is unchanged. The cap that drops a commission reaching the whole pledge now lives here, so every caller gets the same answer. See Calculation.

Compatibility

• Now requires Ignition Crowdfunding 0.22.0 — the settlement-terms, fee-components, projected-charge and routing-consequences seams this release is built on all ship in core 0.22.0. The add-on refuses to start on an older core and names what to update.