Credit card surcharging: Your merchant obligations

1. Charge a fair surcharge amount

Your surcharge must reflect your actual cost of accepting a payment usually your Merchant Service Fee (MSF) charged by your acquiring bank. You must not include general business costs like wages, rent, or utilities.

Learn how to calculate a weighted surcharge rate

2. Clearly disclose the surcharge

You must inform your customer of the surcharge before they complete the transaction. This includes:

• Signage near your EFTPOS terminal

• Font size at least 10pt Arial

• Stating the surcharge amount, rate, or how it’s calculated

• Offering at least one surcharge-free payment method

You must not:

• Attribute the surcharge to a card scheme, Eftpos NZ, or any third party

Online and phone transactions must also show or state the surcharge in advance.

Download a surcharge signage template

3. Include the surcharge in the transaction total

The surcharge must be processed as part of the total purchase amount not added as a separate charge. It must also appear on the customer’s receipt, clearly showing:

• Purchase amount

• Surcharge amount

• Total charged

Your terminal will automatically display and print this breakdown.

We make compliance easy

Eftpos NZ’s surcharging solution helps you:

• Set fair, compliant rates

• Automatically display the correct surcharge on screen and receipt

• Display signage to meet requirements