What Are Attendee Fees?
When someone purchases a ticket or completes a registration, there are often fees involved — Brushfire platform fees, payment gateway fees, or custom fees you choose to add. Brushfire gives you control over how those fees are handled: you can absorb them yourself or pass them along to your attendees.
Where Are Fees Configured?
Fees are managed at the ticket level. To find them, navigate to the Ticket or Registration Type Tab in your Event Configuration Dashboard, then open the Ticket Price section for the ticket type you want to configure. Any fees set here apply to everything the attendee pays for as part of that registration.
There are three fee options:
- Brushfire Fee options (first two) – These apply specifically to Brushfire's platform fees. Choose whether to absorb them or pass them along to your attendees.
- Custom Fee – Use this option to manage any additional fees you'd like to pass along, such as payment gateway fees.
📌 Default behavior: Brushfire will automatically pass its fees along to your attendees unless you change this setting. If you'd prefer to absorb those fees yourself, make sure to update this before your event goes live.
⚠️ Currency note: Fee pass-along is only available when your event currency is set to USD.
Limitations to Know
- Fees are set per ticket type. If you have multiple ticket types, you'll need to configure fees for each one individually.
- The first two fee options are Brushfire fees only. For any additional fees — like payment gateway costs — use the Custom Fee option.
- Fee pass-along requires USD. If your event uses a non-USD currency, fees cannot be passed along to attendees.
- The default is to pass Brushfire fees to attendees. If you intend to cover fees yourself, update this setting before your event goes live.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What's the difference between the first two fee options and the Custom Fee option?
The first two options apply specifically to Brushfire's platform fees. The Custom Fee option is for anything beyond that — most commonly payment gateway fees like those charged by Stripe or Square.
- Will my attendees see the fees at checkout?
Yes. When fees are passed along, they appear as a single separate line item in the attendee's total at checkout — not broken out fee by fee.
- Can I absorb fees for some ticket types and pass them along for others?
Yes. Since fees are configured at the ticket type level, you can set different fee handling for each ticket type in your event.
- My event is in a non-USD currency. How do I handle fees?
Fee pass-along is only available in USD. If your event uses a different currency, fees will need to be factored into your ticket pricing directly.