Surcharge & dual pricing

Two ways to offset card fees

There are two accepted ways to pass card-acceptance costs along, and Merchant360 supports both. You run one or the other, never both at once.

Surcharge: a small fee added on top of the price when a customer chooses to pay by credit card. The customer sees the surcharge as its own line before they pay.

Dual pricing (cash discount): you show two prices, a card price and a lower cash price. Customers who pay by cash or debit get the lower price. Nothing is added on top; the discount is built into the cash price.

Which one your account uses is set up with your sales rep to match the rules for your state and card-brand requirements. Once it's set, every Merchant360 surface (virtual terminal, invoices, checkout, and the mobile app) applies it the same way automatically.

How a surcharge is calculated

The surcharge is a percentage of the final amount actually being charged. It's applied last, after any discounts and tax, on the real total that goes to the card.

Example: a sale with tax and a discount comes to $100.00 at checkout. With a 3% surcharge, the customer paying by credit card is charged $103.00, and the extra $3.00 shows as a clearly labeled Surcharge line.

Surcharge applies to credit cards only. Debit cards are never surcharged, and the system handles that distinction for you.

The signage Visa requires – at the door and at the register

If you surcharge, Visa requires you to tell customers before they ever reach the payment step – in two specific places – and again on the receipt. This comes straight from Visa's Merchant Surcharging Considerations and Requirements (linked below).

At the point of ENTRY (your door or your website's entry page): post that you surcharge credit cards, before the customer starts shopping. Approved language: "We impose a surcharge on credit cards that is not greater than our cost of acceptance."

At the point of SALE (the register, the counter, or your checkout page): post the actual rate, where the customer pays. Approved language: "We impose a surcharge of [Rate]% on the total transaction amount on credit cards, which is not greater than our cost of acceptance. We do not surcharge debit cards."

On the RECEIPT: the final surcharge amount must be identified separately – its own itemized line, labeled as a surcharge. Merchant360 does this automatically on every surface that surcharges.

Visa's other requirements, in brief:

- Credit transactions only – debit and prepaid cards can never be surcharged, in any state.

- No more than your cost of acceptance, and never above 3% even when your cost is higher.

- 30 days' notice – you must notify your acquirer 30 days before you begin surcharging (EPI handles this registration with you).

- Some states prohibit or limit surcharging (at Visa's last published list: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and Oklahoma) – your sales rep confirms your state before setup.

How dual pricing looks to the customer

With dual pricing you keep one set of prices in your catalog. At payment time the customer sees both totals: the card price and the cash price. They choose how to pay and the matching total is charged.

The card and cash rates live in your Merchant360 settings, so every tool agrees. Change the rate once and the virtual terminal, invoices, checkout pages, and the mobile app all update together.

Credit vs. debit pricing (the gas-station option)

Some merchants want two prices without treating debit cards like credit cards – the way a gas station posts a Credit price and a Debit price. Merchant360 supports this with one switch: in your dual-pricing settings, turn on “Treat debit cards like ACH / cash.”

With it on, only credit cards pay the card price. Debit and prepaid cards – verified automatically from the card number – pay the same lower price as ACH and cash. Example: Credit $1.04, Debit / ACH / Cash $1.00.

The virtual terminal shows it live: the two price tiles relabel to Credit price and Debit / ACH / cash price, and as you key a card the total steps up to the credit price only when the card is confirmed credit – a debit card keeps the lower total, with a note under the total telling you which price applied.

The same rule is enforced automatically on invoices, payment links, hosted checkout, subscriptions (a debit-card subscriber enrolls and renews at the lower price), and the embedded terminal. When a card can't be positively identified as credit, it gets the lower price – the customer is never overcharged against your posted debit price.

One limit to know: the physical countertop reader (Handpoint) can't price this way, because the card isn't read until the customer taps or dips – after the amount is already set. Credit-vs-debit pricing applies to keyed and online card entry.

To turn it on: Billing tools → Settings → the dual-pricing panel → check “Treat debit cards like ACH / cash” and save. The example row updates to show your Credit and Debit/ACH/Cash prices.

What dual pricing is not

One setup to steer clear of: ringing the sale at the lower cash price and letting the payment terminal add the difference when a card comes out. That isn't dual pricing – it's a fee added on top of the price that was rung up, and the receipt shows the lower number, so the paper doesn't match what the card was actually charged.

Real dual pricing rings every item at both of its prices from the first scan, presents both totals, and prints the receipt that matches how the customer chose to pay.

Staying compliant

Both methods require that the customer can see the cost before they commit, and Merchant360 is built to do exactly that: the surcharge is itemized, or both prices are shown, on every pay screen and receipt.

Surcharging has state-level and card-brand rules, including caps and where it's allowed. Your sales rep configures your account to fit, so you don't have to track the fine print. If you move, add a location, or your rules change, let your rep know so the setup stays correct.