1164 Vickery Lane, Suite 200, Cordova, TN-38016
Customer Service: 
If your business accepts card payments, you get to deal with surcharging. Until recently, surcharging caused a bunch of confusion in the payment processing industry. The good news is, we now have standards that allow merchants to implement surcharges correctly. At Impact Payment Systems, we work hard to stay on top of policy, because we understand our services are foundational to your business.
We believe that knowledge is power, and we want to enable you to run your business with confidence. In the next two blogs, we’re going to discuss surcharging and answer the most common questions about it
WHAT IS A SURCHARGE ANYWAY?
You may know it as a checkout fee. It is an extra fee a merchant can add to a customer’s bill when he or she uses a credit card.
CAN SURCHARGES BE USED ON OTHER FORMS OF PAYMENT?
No. Surcharging is limited to credit cards, which means prepaid card and debit transactions are surcharge-free.
ARE THERE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SURCHARGES?
Yes. There are two different types. If you decide to apply surcharges, you will have to choose between “brand level” and “product level.” You can’t have both.
- Brand level surcharge: This type of surcharge applies an identical surcharge to all transactions for a particular brand of credit card (e.g. Mastercard or Visa).
- Product level surcharge: This type of surcharge applies an identical surcharge to all transactions for specific types of credit card, (e.g. Visa Signature Preferred, Visa Signature).
As you can see, figuring out which type of surcharge to apply requires careful consideration. In our next blog, we will talk about the rules around brand and product level surcharges. Keeping your i’s dotted and your t’s crossed is easier when you understand what you’re dealing with, so it’s important to have the best of all payment processing companies in your corner. Let Impact Payment Systems be your ally!
