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 the costs of credit card processing. 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 in supplying 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 keep in mind 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 starting to assess 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.
• A surcharge acknowledgment form must be completed for Paya.
• 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 will have to be updated on or before April 14th and a download will be required in this regard. 
• 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:

Please note, that American Express does not have a surcharge form at this time. 

For updates, please follow the link below:

For additional information on Convenience Fees, please follow the link below:

Paya Convenience Fees

If you are interested in setting up a surcharge, please reach out to your assigned Partner Rep. If you do not know who your assigned Partner Rep is, please reach out to our Partner Support Team - PartnerSupport.Paya@nuvei.com.