How to charge credit card fees without losing customers
Small businesses are caught in a severe profit squeeze between skyrocketing overhead costs and plummeting reimbursements. When owners try to raise prices or add a percentage surcharge to cover credit card processing, they face immediate public backlash. This leaves them trapped absorbing the high fees just to stay afloat without alienating their guests and patients.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Baking the estimated credit card fee into higher overall menu pricesDid this help you?
- 2Raising prices but offering a visible cash discount to avoid the stigma of a surchargeDid this help you?
- 3Changing high-volatility items like beef and seafood to market priceDid this help you?
- 4Calling the credit card processor to negotiate a lower rate closer to 2%.Did this help you?
- 5Putting a small sign at the front desk and a line on the invoice to disclose the fee.Did this help you?
- 6Increasing prices by 5 to 10% across the board and offering a cash or debit discount instead of a surcharge.Did this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Our carrier reimbursements are plummeting, our staff salaries have skyrocketed and utilities and rents have also increased . This overhead is crazy and profits are way down”source ↗
“As a doctor offices , are you considering or have started assessing a CC fee for patients that pay by credit card??”source ↗
“That squeeze is real, reimbursements down and everything else up is a rough combo.”source ↗
“Anyone in here have a restaurant in a small town and tried to charge a % cc fee? Ive tried raising prices and got immediate backlash from the public.”source ↗
“Im in a very small rural area and Im concerned about alienating guests. With the food cost skyrocketing ($18 a lb for choice ribeyes rn, fml), im just trying to figure out how to stay afloat.”source ↗
“The way toast does it, we lose our cc margin and end up paying a higher percentage on debit. Which is bs”source ↗
“I tried raising prices by a buck or 2 across the board and maaaaan did I hear about it.”source ↗
Where this came up
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