When you process an adoption, PawPlacer automatically calculates the fee based on the pet's attributes and your shelter's fee configuration. This page explains what happens during checkout and how fees appear to both staff and adopters.
In the Complete In Person path, PawPlacer pre-fills the calculated adoption fee in the completion dialog and staff can adjust it before saving the adoption.
How Fees Are Determined
PawPlacer resolves the adoption fee for each pet in this order:
- Per-pet override. If a custom adoption fee has been set directly on the pet's profile, that amount is used and no further rules are checked.
- Fee rules: If no override exists, PawPlacer looks up the base fee for the pet's species and age category from your fee configuration (Settings > Adoption Fees), then applies any percentage modifiers for health status, sex, and size. See Adoption Fees Settings for details on how these rules work.
- No match: If the pet's species doesn't have any fee rules configured, the fee defaults to $0.
What Adopters See
PawPlacer Checkout
During the payment step, the right side of the screen shows a payment summary with each pet's name, photo, and individual fee. Below the pet list:
- Adoption fee: the sum of all individual pet fees
- Donation: the optional donation amount (if the adopter chose one)
- Processing fee: shown only when Stripe is the selected payment method (2.9% + $0.30)
- Total: the grand total
The adopter or staff member can see exactly what makes up the total before confirming.
Complete In Person (Staff Device)
The in-person completion dialog pre-fills the total calculated adoption fee. Staff can edit the adoption fee, enter an optional donation amount, select a payment method, and review the total before clicking Complete Adoption.
Stripe Checkout
If the adopter selects Stripe as their payment method and clicks Pay with Stripe, they're taken to a Stripe Checkout page that lists each component as a separate line item: adoption fee, donation, and processing fee. So there are no surprises.
Multi-Pet Adoptions
When an adopter is taking home more than one pet, each pet's fee is calculated independently and they all appear in the summary. The total adoption fee is the sum of all individual fees.
Overriding a Fee for a Specific Pet
If you need to charge a different amount for a particular animal (for example, a sponsored pet with a reduced fee or a special-needs animal), set it directly on the pet's profile:
- Open the pet's profile.
- Enter the desired amount in the Adoption Fee field.
- Save.
This per-pet fee overrides the rule-based calculation entirely.
Waiving Fees
To waive the fee for a pet, set its custom adoption fee to $0 on the pet's profile. Alternatively, set the base fee for an entire age category to $0 in your fee rules (e.g., all senior dogs). The adoption checkout will show $0 for that pet's fee and proceed normally.
Permissions
Fee rules are configured in Settings > Adoption Fees and require Admin privileges. Per-pet fee overrides can be set by anyone with permission to edit pet profiles.
Related
- Adoption Fees Settings: Configure base fees and percentage modifiers
- Payment and Completion: How adopters pay
- Processing Donations: The optional donation step