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.

Excluded transaction types

The following transaction types will not include surcharges:

• Debit and prepaid cards (US and Canada)
• Card-not-present transactions (e.g. Order Anywhere and manual entry)
• Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) payments
• Standalone refunds

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. It is your responsibility to adhere to the applicable rules and regulations.

The examples below highlight some of the common policies involved in surcharging and are not an exhaustive list.

• 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, and includes tips.
• You can set the surcharge rate you prefer, provided it does not exceed either your cost of acceptance or the cap established in your jurisdiction’s rules and regulations, whichever is lower.

• Australia

  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 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, and includes tips.
  • You may specify one surcharge rate for credit cards, while having a different surcharge rate for debit cards.
  • The surcharge amount must not exceed the processing rate you are being charged by your payment processor.

  You are responsible for ensuring that you follow surcharging rules and regulations and are responsible for any non-compliance. It's recommended to seek independent counsel before enabling surcharging.

• Canada

  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.

  • In advance to the surcharge taking effect, you must notify Mastercard using their web form.
  • The surcharge amount must not exceed the processing rate you are being charged by your payment processor and can never exceed 2.4%
  • Only credit cards can be surcharged (debit cards and prepaid cards cannot be surcharged).
  • 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.
  • 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, and includes tips.
  • Surcharging cannot be enabled for locations in the province of Quebec.

  You are responsible for ensuring that you follow surcharging rules and regulations and are responsible for any non-compliance. It's recommended to seek independent counsel before enabling surcharging.

• USA

  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.

  • In advance to the surcharge taking effect, you must notify Mastercard using their web form.
  • Only credit cards can be surcharged (debit cards and prepaid cards cannot be surcharged).
  • The surcharge amount must not exceed the processing rate you are being charged by your payment processor and can never exceed 3%.
  • 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.
  • Surcharges can only be assessed on the final total amount charged for the goods or services, after any discount has been applied, and includes tips.
  • Surcharging is not available for locations in all states or areas.

  You are responsible for ensuring that you follow surcharging rules and regulations and are responsible for any non-compliance. It's recommended to seek independent counsel before enabling surcharging.

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.

The steps for enabling surcharges differ based on whether your business is located in Australia, US, or Canada. 

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.

• Setting up surcharges in Australia

  1. From the navigation menu, select Payment > Payment methods.
  2. Locate the Lightspeed Payments payment method and click Manage.
  3. Locate the Terminal payment method and click Edit.
     
  4. Under Advanced details, click More information.
  5. Click Surcharging to enable surcharging on your account.
  6. Review the terms and conditions dialogue box.
     
  7. Click I accept.
  8. Set percentages for each card option.
     
  9. 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.
     
  10. Click Save.
  11. Restart your payment terminal to update your surcharging settings.

• Setting up surcharges in the US and Canada

  1. From the navigation menu of the Back Office, select Financial services.
  2. Select the Terminals tab. 
  3. Click Settings next to your business name.

     

  4. Enable the Allow Surcharging setting.

     

  5. (Optional) To change the surcharge, click Customize surcharges. Enter a new per-transaction percentage, then click Done.

     

  6. Click Save.
  7. Restart your payment terminal to update your surcharging settings.

Surcharging during a sale

When you process a sale with surcharging enabled, a credit card transaction sent to the payment terminal will show:

• Total of the payment to be processed (e.g. CA $15.00)
• Tap or insert card prompt

After tapping or inserting a card, a surcharging disclosure will appear. The customer can then terminate the sale if desired, or they can proceed with the payment by tapping the Confirm button.

Once the payment successfully processes, the payment terminal will show an approval confirmation.