The phrase "a convenience fee" is correct and usable in written English.
It is typically used to refer to an additional charge that is applied for the convenience of a service, such as online payments or ticket purchases.
Example: "When purchasing tickets online, please note that a convenience fee will be added to your total."
Alternatives: "service charge" or "processing fee".
"They're great but they're different than what we do because they only sell full-price tickets, and they charge a convenience fee as well," Mr. Wycliffe said.
Then there was Verizon, making the announcement in the dead week between Christmas and New Year's and calling its new charge a "convenience" fee.
The company was under investigation by the Department of Transportation last year for deceptively tacking on a "convenience fee" on tickets sold over the Internet.
Mark Segall, its business development adviser, says the company will soon announce which music companies will use the technology but suggests that consumers will have to pay a "convenience fee" for streaming their music from the Web, comparable to charges at an A.T.M. Won't people balk at paying again to listen to R.E.M. songs they have owned since the 1980s?
Charging them a convenience fee for paying online?
Yiftee makes money by charging a convenience fee that is paid by the gift giver.
- Bonnie S. A: Technically, convenience fees are applied when a consumer uses an alternative payment channel.
When a small mom-and-pop shop slaps on a small "convenience fee" for an in-store purchase with a credit card, it is likely confusing the term for a surcharge.
And here's a question worth thinking about: what will the consumers have to say? Verizon Wireless got a very public earful when it was discovered that they planned to charge customers a $2 "convenience fee" whenever they used a credit card to make an online or over-the-phone bill payment.
E-Stamp: Like its competitor, E-Stamp allows users to purchase up to $500 worth of postage at a time and charges a 10% convenience fee (no more than $24.99 will be charge in one month).
Its $100 or so to get the dongle, and well charge a 5% to 10% convenience fee for the stamps, says Sunir Kapoor, a former Microsoft employee who founded E- Stamp with venture capital from Microsoft and angel investors.
