You may choose to offset your credit card processing fees by transferring a portion of the cost to your customer through a credit card surcharge. Credit card surcharges are an additional fee applied to any transaction paid with a credit card at the time of sale. These fees are typically a percentage of the total bill added as a separate line item. 

Automatic surcharging with Lightspeed Payments is only available in Australia. For all other regions, see our article Processing credit card surcharges.

Setting up surcharges with Lightspeed Payments

Surcharges can be added as a separate line item to a transaction through Lightspeed Payments. Your surcharging options can be found in the Lightspeed Back Office. 

Note: Surcharging is only available when using the At Sale payment authorization and capturing option with Lightspeed Payments. For more information on configuring your settings with Lightspeed Payments, visit Setting up Lightspeed Payments.

To enable and edit your surcharging settings:

1. From the navigation menu of the Back Office, select Configuration > Settings > Payment methods.
2. Locate the Lightspeed Payments payment method and click Edit.
   
3. Click Activate surcharging.
   
4. Review the terms and conditions dialogue box.
5. Click I accept.
   
6. Set percentages for each card option.
7. Optional: Enable Activate surcharging consent for customers. This option enables a dialogue on your payment terminal’s screen prompting customers to accept the surcharge before continuing with payment.
   
8. Click Save.
9. Restart your payment terminal to update your surcharging settings.

Regulations regarding surcharges

If you choose to add credit card surcharges to your business, there are a number of rules and regulations that must be followed to ensure full transparency and compliance.  These examples have been selected to highlight some of the common policies involved in surcharging and are not meant to serve as an exhaustive list. Regulations vary depending on your region. For a full list of regulations, contact your local regulators.  

• You must notify credit card companies, such as Visa and Mastercard, in advance to the surcharge taking effect.  
• You must disclose surcharges as a merchant fee and clear signage must alert customers of the surcharge at the point of entry, the point of sale, and on every receipt.
• Third parties are not permitted to impose a surcharge. Surcharges must be applied by the merchant through their POS or card processor.
• The surcharge amount must not exceed the processing rate you are being charged by your payment processor.
• The cardholder must be given the opportunity to cancel, without penalty, after the surcharge is disclosed.
• Surcharges can only be assessed on the final total amount charged for the goods or services, after any discount has been applied.