Billing and payments
Billing is easy, transparent, and all done online.
Appointment charges
- Service - $149 for grocery shopping, travel to your home, cooking 3 nights of dinner, and clean up.
💡Your service fee is the same for 2-person or family-size dinners (your Elf's time is similar).
- Tip - Your percentage is applied to your $149 service fee (e.g. a standard 20% tip is about $30)
- Ingredients (est) - Seen before your appointment; this is the estimated cost for ingredients (receipt + staples). Your final amount will vary based on your requests, substitutions, and store prices.
- Ingredients (receipt) - Seen after your appointment, this is the actual amount you're charged for groceries. On your appointment page, view your Elf's receipt.
Ingredients (staples) - Seen after your appointment, this is the amount you're charged for shelf-stable items (e.g. salt). On your appointment page, view an itemized list.
- Containers - $.75/each, or free if you provide your own
- Sales tax - Charged on the service fee, ingredients, and containers, but not the tip. We'd like to avoid charging sales tax, but local tax authorities said otherwise. 😀
- Retail delivery fee - Only for Colorado residents, a $.27 per appointment fee
- Processor fee - Payment processor fee from PayPal (3.49% + $.49) or Visa, Mastercard, and American Express (2.59% + $.49)
Payments
You can expect to see the following authorizations and charges for your appointments.
| When booking | Night prior | After your appointment |
| Authorization for a $35 deposit | Authorization for your estimated total + extra | Charge for your actual total |
- An authorization is a 'hold' on funds, but not a charge. Authorizations will disappear from your payment method within a few days.
- For customers with a weekly (e.g., Tuesdays at 10am), your deposit is authorized 6 days before each appointment.
- The night prior, your authorization is slightly more than your estimated total to account for higher grocery costs.
- If you have a credit (e.g., from a gift), a backup payment method is still required and only used once your credit is used up.
- Appointments are subject to our cancellation policy.
- We accept payment by credit card or PayPal.
- All charges are visible on the bottom of your appointment pages.
Billing page
On your billing page, you can update your payment method, check your credit, and review past transactions.
FAQ
Q: Why do I see a $35 charge on my card?
A: You see an authorization (not a charge) to hold your appointment. This will disappear from your card after your appointment is done.
Q: Why do I see a charge greater than the amount due?
A: You see an authorization for your final payment. This amount is higher than your estimated amount to account for potentially higher grocery costs. After your appointment, you'll only be charged for the actual amount due.