Or pay 0% on credit cards.
Keep 100% of the sale. The customer who chooses credit covers the credit card fee. Debit is unaffected; standard debit rates apply. Disclosed at the terminal and on the receipt. Available across Canada outside Quebec.
Keep more of every sale, with or without surcharging.
$3,356
About $280 a month back in your business compared with Square, and $10,069 over three years.
How your price is built
At $40,000 a month in card sales
- Network costs (interchange and assessments), passed through at cost
- $361.72
- Payzium margin
- $72.00
- Payzium per-transaction fees
- $24.00
- Monthly account fee
- $5.00
- Your total a month
- $462.72
- Effective rate
- 1.16%
Estimate on Payzium's published rate card and real Visa Canada and Mastercard Canada interchange, $50 average ticket, Interac at the standard contactless rate. Competitor figures from each processor's published Canadian rates (Global Payments modeled at a mid-range of its bank-channel plans). Final pricing depends on your actual card mix and current network rates.
The credit cost moves to the customer who chose credit.
Surcharging passes the cost of accepting a credit card to the customer who opts to pay by credit. The credit card processing fee is added to the transaction at the point of sale, equal to your cost of acceptance, within the card network limits.
The customer always has a fee-free option. Debit and cash carry no surcharge, so any customer who would rather not pay it has a clean way to avoid it. Nothing is hidden, nothing is buried.
Disclosed, customer-optional, your choice to enable.
Three steps at the point of sale.
What the merchant does, what the terminal does, what the customer sees.
Step 1. The terminal adds the surcharge automatically.
When a customer pays by credit, the terminal applies the surcharge as a separate line on the transaction. No manual step at the counter, no math at the register. Debit transactions process without it.
Step 2. The customer is told before they confirm.
Point-of-sale signage tells customers a credit surcharge applies. The terminal displays the surcharge amount before the customer authorizes the sale, and the printed receipt itemizes it. The customer can choose Interac debit (or cash) instead.
Step 3. You keep more of each sale.
The merchant recoups the credit card processing cost from the customer who chose credit. The sale settles to you net of the surcharge passthrough. Debit transactions continue at standard rates.
Availability and compliance.
| Available | Across Canada, in person, at the terminal. Card-present credit transactions only. Compliant with card network rules when the merchant follows the registration, disclosure, and customer-choice requirements. The terminal handles the point-of-sale disclosure and itemizes the surcharge on the receipt; registration and ongoing compliance remain the merchant's responsibility. |
|---|---|
| Not available | Quebec. Quebec consumer-protection rules prohibit surcharging, so merchants in Quebec cannot enable it on the terminal. Surcharging also does not apply to Interac debit transactions anywhere; those continue at standard debit rates. |
Frequently asked questions
What is surcharging?
Surcharging adds a fee to the transaction when a customer pays by credit card, equal to the merchant's cost of accepting that card. The customer sees the surcharge on the terminal and on the printed receipt; the merchant collects the credit card processing cost from the cardholder rather than absorbing it.
Is surcharging the same as a convenience fee?
No. A convenience fee is charged on an alternative payment channel (paying online instead of in person, for example). A surcharge is charged on the credit card itself, at the point of sale, when a customer chooses credit over a fee-free option. They are separate things under card network rules and are not interchangeable.
Where can I use surcharging?
Across Canada outside Quebec. Quebec consumer-protection rules prohibit surcharging, so merchants in Quebec cannot enable it. Everywhere else in Canada, surcharging is permitted at the point of sale provided the merchant follows card network disclosure rules.
How are customers notified?
Two ways. Signage at the point of sale tells customers in advance that a surcharge applies to credit. The terminal displays the surcharge amount before the customer confirms the transaction, and the receipt prints it as a separate line item. No surprise after the fact.
Can the customer avoid the surcharge?
Yes. Debit and cash are always fee-free options. A customer who sees the surcharge prompt can choose Interac debit (or pay cash, if the merchant accepts it) and pay nothing extra. Surcharging applies only when the customer chooses to pay by credit.
legal lockup
Card-present surcharging is the practice of passing the cost of credit card acceptance to the cardholder at the point of sale, in compliance with card network rules and applicable law. Surcharging is not available to merchants in Quebec and does not apply to Interac debit transactions in any province. The surcharge amount is set within the card network limits and your cost of acceptance; the merchant enables it and is responsible for complying with applicable disclosure obligations.
Keep 100% on every credit sale.
Open the account, pick your terminal, and turn surcharging on at boarding if you want it. Off by default. Available outside Quebec.