As a merchant, 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 transactions 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. 

Regulations regarding surcharges

• US

  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 in advance to the surcharge taking effect. 
  • Surcharging must be restricted to credit cards only. Debit cards and prepaid cards are exempt from surcharging.
  • Effective April 15 2023, The surcharge amount must not exceed your total current credit card fees and cannot exceed 3% of the transaction total, even if your own processing fee is above 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.
  • Merchants should also consider whether they comply with all applicable state and/or federal laws. 

• 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.

  • You must notify credit card companies 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.
  • 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. 
  • Surcharges cannot be assessed on a transaction in addition to a service fee.

Setting up surcharges

Surcharges can be added as a separate line item to a transaction through Lightspeed Restaurant. To begin adding surcharges to transactions through Lightspeed Restaurant, the item will first need to be created in the Lightspeed Back Office. For more information, see Creating service charges. 

1. In Restaurant Manager, click Products > Products.
2. Click the category you want to add the surcharge to and click Add Service Charge.
3. Enter the desired item settings.
   Note: The settings depicted above are for illustrative purposes only and may not be appropriate for your business. Legal and tax requirements may vary from region to region. Contact your accountant for more information. 
4. Click Save.

FAQ

• Due to changes in legislation, surcharging is no longer permissible in Australia as of October 1st, 2026. On October 1st, surcharging on all card types must be disabled for accounts based in Australia.
• Surcharging is an additional fee applied to any transaction paid with a credit card at the time of sale. With cash discounting, you set the card-inclusive price upfront and offer a discount to cash-paying customers.

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