Surcharging — What It Is and How It Works — Legacy

A payment surcharge is an additional fee added to a credit card transaction to help offset the cost of processing. Sertifi's surcharging solution (available for eligible accounts) automatically calculates and applies this fee.

Key Facts

• Surcharging is legal in most US states. It is not permitted in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, or Puerto Rico. Colorado caps surcharges at 2%.
• Debit cards are exempt from surcharging. Sertifi uses Stripe to identify debit cards and international cards and automatically excludes them.
• ACH payments are offered as a surcharge-free alternative, similar to paying with cash.
• MasterCard requires merchants to register locations 30 days before enabling surcharging.

How Refunds Work with Surcharging

When a payment that included a surcharge is refunded, a proportional portion of the surcharge is also refunded automatically.

Example: if a $100 charge included a $3 surcharge and the full amount is refunded, $103 is returned to the cardholder. If only $50 is refunded, $51.50 is returned ($50 + the proportional $1.50 surcharge).

Your property is not charged additional fees during the refund process. The refund amount comes from the surcharge funds that were originally collected.