Product
Paya Connect
Surcharge Fees
Description
When using surcharge fees with Paya Connect, please review the information below when considering surcharging for your integration/solution.
Resolution
A surcharge is an additional fee that merchants can tack onto a customer's transaction to cover credit card processing costs. Most merchants absorb these fees that are passed on to them from credit cards, but you, the Partner, can implement a surcharge where customers can pay for the convenience of using their credit card(s) (this is not to be confused with convenience fees).
Surcharges are defined as a merchant's solution to supply a transaction amount to Paya's Gateway that already includes the surcharge as part of the total. A good example of this is when a customer sees a $100 + $2 (surcharge), but we charge the card $102; the merchant would receive a deposit of $102. Please remember that the surcharge can be either a fixed rate or a percentage.
Please review the Do's and Don'ts of surcharge fees noted below:
- For Visa (effective April 15, 2023), merchants must advise their acquirer in writing within 30 days (notification to Visa is no longer required) before assessing a surcharge fee. For any surcharges assessed before April 15, 2023, please follow the prior process by completing the form on their website.
- For all others, your merchants must notify card brands by submitting an online form 30 days before starting to assess a surcharge fee.
- Paya must complete a surcharge acknowledgment form.
- A surcharge must be submitted as one transaction that includes the sale and surcharge amount.
- A surcharge cannot be assessed on debit card transactions.
- Effective April 15th, the surcharge limit on Visa transactions will be reduced from 4% to 3%. As all card types must be treated equally according to card brand rules, the 3% limit will apply to all card transactions. To comply with the new surcharge limit, terminal profiles must be updated on or before April 14th, and a download will be required.
- A surcharge cannot be charged where state law will disallow it and must be tracked by the Partner/Merchant.
- A surcharge cannot be used if charging a convenience fee (it must be one or the other and cannot be both).
- A merchant cannot profit from the surcharge amount.
If you are interested in implementing surcharges with Visa or MasterCard (or both), please use the forms below:
American Express does not have a surcharge form.
For additional information on Convenience Fees, please follow the link below:
If you are interested in setting up a surcharge, please contact your assigned Partner rep. If you do not know who your assigned Partner Rep is, please contact our Partner Support Team at PartnerSupport.Paya@nuvei.com.
