By Eric Kuvykin. Reviewed October 17, 2026. This practical guide replaces an earlier general commentary article at the same address.
Adding a credit card surcharge changes more than a terminal setting. It changes the price a customer sees, the explanation employees give and the records an owner needs to defend the configuration. For a business operating in New York or New Jersey, build a review file before discussing a launch date. This is a planning framework, not a determination that a particular fee is permitted.
Keep the sources and the decision together
Save the current New York Department of State surcharge guidance or New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs surcharge FAQs applicable to the location. Note the review date, the proposed payment channels and the person responsible for legal review. The two states’ guidance should not be treated as interchangeable. A policy copied from a neighboring business is not evidence that your implementation meets its requirements.
Add the processor’s written explanation of supported configuration, card eligibility, disclosures, refunds and any implementation prerequisites. Ask which requirements come from law, card-network rules and the merchant agreement. Keep those categories separate. If a vendor says its software handles compliance, request the specific settings, assumptions and responsibilities behind that statement.
Walk the customer’s entire price journey
List every place a customer first sees a price: shelf, printed menu, website, booking page, telephone quote and invoice. Then record what appears at checkout and on the receipt. Photograph or capture the proposed displays for review. A correction at the register may leave an earlier advertisement or ordering screen inconsistent. Include third-party ordering tools in the inventory.
Use a written test script for the vendor’s supported environment. Cover an eligible transaction, an ineligible payment method, a partial refund, a full refund and a cancelled sale. Record expected and actual amounts separately. Do not experiment on unsuspecting customers. If the output cannot be explained from the approved configuration, pause implementation until the responsible adviser and provider resolve the discrepancy.
Assign control after launch
Name one owner for pricing displays and one for terminal configuration. A software update, new menu or extra location should trigger another review. Keep a customer-question log so staff can flag confusing language without improvising an answer. Store the approved explanation with the training record and retire obsolete signs and screenshots.
The pre-holiday pricing review helps evaluate the commercial impact before making the policy decision. For the broader operating context, follow the New York guide or New Jersey guide. A useful decision file ends with an approval, a documented request for changes or a decision to defer. It should never end with an unexplained percentage switched on in the POS.
