Credit Card Surcharging

Pizza Shop Talk
1

Has anyone started passing credit card fees onto your customers? If so, what’s your experience with customer complaints or losing business?

2

Been doing this since it became legal in Mi back around 2013 or so. Had a few complaints in the beginning, did not affect business at all. All my customers have really got use to it and are fine with it, most customers have said that they will just pay cash instead but majority dont care

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3

We are about to start it, 2.75%. Will be interested to see the response.

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4

Are you surcharging debit and credit cards?

5

We are going to start Friday. 2.5%. All of our transactions are run as credit. We use Heartland Payment Systems.

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6

I am curious of the workflow of all of it. What if a customer calls in for a pick up order, asks for a price, how do you respond?
Then they come pick it up and pull out a credit card does the price suddenly change?

Or do you just assume that they will be paying with a credit card and tell them the higher price to begin with?

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7

When we have callin orders we always tell the customer " if your paying cash the price is…" if your paying with cc the price is… we always tell the customer the price difference

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9

Do you swipe the Debit cards as a credit transaction and then tac on a surcharge or just don’t surcharge debit cards at all?

10

We add 3% and in 7 years have had 1 complaint.

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12

Just be careful, you can’t run a debit card as a credit transaction and then tac on a surcharge.

13

There are four programs to recover credit card fees

  1. Surcharge Program
  2. Cash Discount Program
  3. Duel Pricing Program
  4. Convenience Fee Program

Each program has its nuances and limitations, so work with your credit card processing provider to determine which program is best for your business.

14

Glad to see we’re all thinking about doing this since Mastercard, visa and worldpay have severely jacked up their rates again.

Does anyone have a POS system that is stubborn about switching processors? I think mine takes a small mark up working with worldpay and is very uncooperative in switching…

15

Yeah, the April increases from Visa,Mastercard, and especially Amex with their new transaction fee. Add in the processor fee increases ( Worldpay, Fiserve and Global Payments) that drove average effective rates up by almost 40bps ( that’s a $4 increase per every $1,000) depending on your card mix.

Worldpay likes to lock customers in with integrated software… That said, most processors have surcharge programs now. It’s just a question if those programs comply with State laws and Visa and Mastercard rules. The first step is conversing with your processor to ascertain surcharging options.

16

Tom,

Thank you for that information.

Wes Kronbrg

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17

Link for Surcharging laws by state: Surcharge Laws by State

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18

We are a small mom/pop shop and take orders with pencil and paper. The 3% we charge is a statement about how CC companies gouge business owners to give their card holders perks. We have a sign on the register about the charge which makes it legal here and the 3% charge basically covers the credit card cost to us and is simple.

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19

IMHO its the banks ( ie Chase BOA) and the Networks ( Visa, Mastercard) working together that cause most of the pain for businesses. The processors ( the company that sells you the service) also contribute but not on the level of the other two,

Credit card rates specifically Interchange rates in the United States are 6 times higher than Europe and Australia, The rates in the latter locations are regulated by the respective governments and so are lower.

20

Been doing it for years now
we just programmed a CC surcharge fee for the employee to hit if they use a card
some of the newer “no fee” pos systems you see out there do this,
they raise every price on every item by 4% when they program the pos
then offer the customer a 4% cash discount if they choose to pay cash
this way it adverts the surcharge laws and still makes the cx eat the cc fees
kind of shady in my opinion but they are doing it

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21

I should responded to this post - as long as you are presenting the fully loaded price ( with card fee) to the customer upfront then reducing it by 4% when they use cash you should be fine. Visa might point out that you have to list both prices upfront ( The card and the cash price) , but in the grand scheme of things you are within the spirit of the rule.

BTW- you are not limited to 4% on a cash discount program - it can be any amount (2% or 10%) , the cash discount rate is completely up to you.