What is a surcharge program?
Surcharge is a way for merchants to recoup the fees banks charge merchants for accepting credit cards. If paying with a credit card, there is a 3.00% service fee added to the payment. When paying with cash, check, or debit card there will be no service fee added.
Are there any legal requirements?
To comply with Visa/Mastercard it is required that you inform your customers of the surcharge (which we strongly encourage anyhow!). We suggest proper signage and a dialogue like, “There is no fee for cash or debit card. If you use a credit card, the machine automatically adds a 3% surcharge.”
Are people pretty accepting of seeing a Surcharge?
The key to addressing concerns is communication. Signage should be displayed everywhere a customer is going to make a payment. Letting the customer know upfront about the fee is the biggest step to running a successful program.
Are the savings too good to be true?
You might find some companies that quote 0% cost for surcharging credit cards. While that is technically true, what we have found is nearly half of consumers will continue to use their perks card for their purchase – and the other half will pull out their debit card. It is currently illegal to surcharge debit cards and our quotes factor in an increase in debit card usage. We do our best to be as transparent as possible with the potential savings.
