Today we’re gonna talk about surcharging

And the big question is can you do it?   As in, is it allowed?

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I’ll answer that question AND I’ll give you some real world feedback about whether it’s a smart idea to add this surcharge in your business.

Surcharging is the process of adding a fee to cover the merchant account processing charge.

Also known as a convenience fee that I’m sure you’ve come across from time to time or at least heard about.

And let’s go ahead and answer the question of whether you can or cannot surcharge:

The answer is YES. Yes you can.

Since 2013 actually.

So you won’t get your merchant account shut down or suspended … that’s  a possibility of the past.

But you have to do it the right way.

You have to notify your customers and post signage that clearly spells out the surcharge amount and that you are going to be charging that convenience fee.

Additionally,  IF you are going to surcharge, you are not supposed to charge your customer more than you’re charged to process that transaction.  More on that in a minute

IF you’re undecided as to whether to surcharge, but you’re thinking about it, I’ll give you some questions to ask yourself before you do it.

If you already decided to you are going to do it and you just need to know how, there’s links in the description to a couple resources that will point you in the right direction

Both Visa and Mastercard have resources on their website that address the issue of surcharging and discuss the proper way to do it.

As in, how is this going to affect my business and what are my customers gonna think?

Which I think is one of the most important questions to ask.

So I put this question to the test. I started asking my clients, and I surveyed people on social media.

I had a friend who posts a QUESTION of the day to his facebook wall, this question:

And here were some of the Comments.

And I’m just going to read these and then I’ll have a question for you at the end.