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See what customers pay under surcharging or a cash discount.
Surcharging
Cash discount
The difference between the programs is mostly what customers see: surcharging adds a fee at checkout for credit cards only, while a cash discount posts the card price and discounts cash.
Illustrative arithmetic only, not legal or compliance advice. Calculated in your browser.
Surcharging adds a fee to credit card transactions. A cash discount program posts prices that include card costs and discounts customers who pay cash. This calculator shows what the customer pays and what the business keeps under each.
No. Card brand rules cap surcharges, require disclosure and prohibit surcharging debit cards, and some states restrict or prohibit it. Rules change, so confirm current rules before starting. BrightStar configures programs to stay within them.
Businesses with many debit card customers often find a cash discount program simpler, because surcharges cannot apply to debit cards.
Related guides
Two ways to pass card acceptance costs to customers, how they differ, and the rules that apply to each.
Twelve concrete ways to bring down what you pay to accept cards, from the pricing model you are on to how you key, batch and protect each sale.
Quoted rates hide more than they reveal. Your effective rate shows what card acceptance really costs, and it takes thirty seconds to calculate.
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