This FAQ article provides information on surcharging, including regulatory responsibilities, how it works in Bp Premier, where to find additional resources and information on enabling surcharging with your preferred payment integrator.
Businesses are charged a fee for processing each payment a customer makes using a credit or debit card. The sum varies by card; each has its unique cost set. The business has two options: absorb the processing costs or recover them by passing some or all of the costs on to the customer as a surcharge.
IMPORTANT Best Practice Software recommends that Practices familiarise themselves with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Payment surcharges guide and the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) Card Payments Regulation guide before introducing a payment surcharge.
In this article:
General Questions about Surcharges
As a business owner, you have the option to add a surcharge to your credit or debit card transactions. This additional fee helps offset the expenses associated with accepting these forms of payment, in addition to the advertised retail price.
One of the major benefits of surcharging is that it allows you to retain more funds for yourself. By recouping a portion or the entirety of the processing expenses from your customers, you will have additional funds that you can save for future use or put back into your business.
The Tyro EFTPOS terminal and the HICAPS EFTPOS terminal have the capability to automatically determine the card type during transactions by identifying the Bank Identification Number (BIN) of the presented card.
There is no requirement for a visual inspection of the card or manual selection of the surcharge rate.
Questions about Surcharging with Tyro
For detailed instructions on configuring Tyro surcharging, refer to this Tyro article: How can I enable surcharging?
NOTE Surcharging is available only in Bp Premier version, Orchid SP2 or later.
Tyro's Dynamic Surcharging feature automates the calculation and implementation of surcharges, reducing the need for time-consuming manual calculations. Dynamic Surcharging is enabled via the Tyro Portal and allows you to quickly configure surcharge rates for popular payment methods, including Mastercard, Visa, EFTPOS, American Express, and Diners Club.
Once configured, the Tyro EFTPOS terminal will automatically detect the customer's card type and apply the appropriate surcharge.
For detailed instructions on configuring Tyro surcharging, refer to this Tyro article: How can I enable surcharging?
To verify that your Tyro EFTPOS terminal is applying a surcharge, you can perform a standalone payment transaction on the machine.
If you encounter the message 'Surcharging may apply', it indicates that your Tyro EFTPOS terminal has been configured to permit surcharging.
Do you need more help? For detailed instructions on configuring Tyro surcharging, refer to this Tyro article: How can I enable surcharging?
If surcharges are not being applied to your transactions, verify that the feature has been enabled on the EFTPOS machine by following the instructions in this Tyro article: Why is surcharging not working?
Surcharging resources
Information correct at time of publishing (29 August 2024).
AU 