How do we add the Square fee on to a credit card swipe or manual entered card?

[robertcocola]

We have a car show and sell T-Shirts at the show.  We take cash and credit card.  On the credit card sales, I would like to add the Square fee to the total sale.  Depending on how many they buy, the total obviously changes so we need to have a way to charge different amounts based on the total sale (would like to use the Square fee equation to calculate it).

Also would like to be able to have a different charge for the swipe card and a manually entered number (since we get charged differently, pass that exact charge to the card).

Are we charged by Square for the service fee charge?

Thanks.

[TheRealChipA]

Yours is a popular question here in the Community these days.  Here’s a copy/paste of my standard answer to this question, current as of today’s post.

First, you have to get permission from/notify Visa/MC/etc of your intention to add surcharges for CREDIT card customers.  Once you have notified Visa/MC, and figured out a way to avoid charging debit cards, prepaid cards and Afterpay transactions the surcharge (since they are never allowed), and once you have ensured that your state allows credit card surcharges (about half of the states don’t allow them, and some states don’t allow my suggested cash discount work-around below either), then you can create a surcharge item from your dashboard — go to Account & Settings -> Service Charges to create it.  There are details notes and help there for how to apply them to online sales.

Your safer bet would be to add the expected card fees to the price of each item, and then offer a cash discount to those who pay with cash.  Just remember that some states might not allow this (CA for example does allow different prices for differently-paying customers, but other states still might not), and that you have to clearly post in your business the fact that you offer cash discounts.

And, I can’t stress enough that there are restrictions, limitations and sometimes ever prohibitions for surcharges.  I just hate to see fellow sellers get into a jackpot.

Here’s a link to a great resource on the subject from the National Council of State Legislatures.  It summarizes and keeps track of changes to state laws on the subject of surcharges, cash discounting, and other vital business topics.

Best of luck.  Let me know if you have any further questions.