Contents tagged with Credit Card Surcharges

  • Most Merchants Unlikely to Surcharge Credit Card Sales

    January 30, 2013
    Effective January 27, 2013 merchants in the U.S. region and U.S. territories have the option of adding a surcharge to Visa and MasterCard credit cards. Yet despite the media hype over these recent changes allowing merchants to charge up to a 4% surcharge on credit card transactions, the reality is few merchants are expected to implement additional fees at the point of sale.

    Most merchants will likely take a wait and see approach before contemplating adding surcharges, letting their closest competitors try it first.

    Another issue is that new application software to support surcharges has not yet been widely developed. One of the many stipulations if a merchant chooses to implement surcharge fees is that they must use a payment application which supports the following mandated POS … more

  • Visa MasterCard Change Surcharging Rules

    December 31, 2012
    As part of the Merchant Class Action Litigation Settlement, Visa and MasterCard will make changes to their merchant acceptance practices.

    Visa and MasterCard will change their rules effective January 27, 2013 pertaining to the surcharging of credit transactions at the point of sale. Please review the detailed communications on surcharging in their entirety at www.mastercardmerchant.com and www.visa.com/merchantsurcharging.

    In summary, and subject to any limitations identified on the above websites or in the upcoming rules changes, U.S. merchants may surcharge Visa and MasterCard credit card transactions (not debit or pre-paid card transactions) at the brand level or the product level, but not both, with the following conditions: (1) surcharges cannot exceed certain levels (generally the … more

  • Payment Card Usage Surcharges

    July 31, 2012
    In the proposed settlement of the Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation case, merchants would win the ability to impose surcharges on customers who use card payments.

    However, according to analysis of the proposed settlement, the ability to surcharge customers includes numerous restrictions and requirements:

    The surcharge amount will be limited by a cap established by Visa and MasterCard and by card type (debit card surcharge allowances to differ from credit card surcharge allowances)

    Merchants will be required to notify Visa and MasterCard before surcharging begins.

    Merchants post signs notifying customers that they surcharge

    Merchants must include the surcharge amount of any fee on receipts

    Merchants are not allowing a surcharge on Visa and … more