Card Surcharge vs Cash Discount Calculator — Free, Runs in Your Browser

Should you surcharge cards, discount cash, or eat the fee?

Card processing quietly takes 2-4% of sales. Enter your volume, rate and how customers would react and see monthly profit under each option, the surcharge that fully recovers your fees, and how many card customers you can lose before a surcharge or cash discount costs more than it saves.

Nothing is uploaded. Your numbers are read in this browser and never leave your device. Surcharging is restricted in many places; see the notes below.

1. Your sales and fees

Total monthly sales, all payment types ($)

Share of sales paid by card (%)

Average ticket ($)

Processing rate per card sale (%)

Per-transaction fee ($)

Contribution margin on a sale (%)

Card surcharge you are considering (%)

Cash discount you are considering (%)

Card customers who would switch to cash or debit (%)

Card customers who would walk away (%)

Enter your numbers, then click Compare options.

Result

Per month	Absorb the fee	Surcharge	Cash discount

Surcharge minus absorbing, per month, by surcharge and customers lost

Negative means the surcharge earns less than absorbing the fee. The share who switch to cash is held at your input; only walk-aways change across columns.

The model, and what it leaves out

Fee cost. Card sales x processing rate, plus card transactions (card sales / average ticket) x the per-transaction fee.
Surcharge. Card customers who stay pay the sale plus the surcharge; the processor also takes its rate on the surcharge. Some switch to cash or debit (no card fee, no surcharge) and some walk away (their margin is lost).
Cash discount. Card price stays the list price; cash pays less. Customers who switch to cash pay the discount, so it costs revenue but saves the fee. Walk-aways lose their margin.
Break-even customer loss. Profit is linear in the share who walk away, so the largest tolerable share is solved exactly from two points.
Rules matter. Card brand rules are commonly reported to cap surcharges near 3%, generally disallow them on debit cards and require disclosure; some states cap or ban them. Confirm current rules with your processor and state.
Not modelled: interchange tiers by card type, chargebacks, sales tax on the surcharge, tips, lost repeat business, effects on ticket size, and the cost of changing your point-of-sale set-up.

Common questions

Should I add a credit card surcharge or offer a cash discount?

It depends on how customers react. A surcharge brings in extra money on every card sale that stays on card, but some customers switch to cash or leave. A cash discount gives up revenue on every sale that moves to cash. This calculator puts both next to absorbing the fee, on your own numbers, and shows how many customers you can lose before each stops paying off.

What surcharge covers my card processing fees?

With no change in customer behaviour, the surcharge that repays the fee is (rate + per-transaction fee / average ticket) / (1 - rate), because the processor also takes its rate on the surcharge itself. At 2.9% plus 30 cents on a $50 ticket that is about 3.6%, which is above the 3% cap card brand rules are commonly reported to set, so check the current rules.

Is surcharging credit cards legal?

It is restricted. Card brand rules commonly cap surcharges near 3%, generally disallow them on debit cards and require disclosure, and some states cap or ban them. A cash discount or dual pricing is treated differently. Confirm current rules with your processor and state regulator before charging anything.

Is this financial or legal advice?

No. It applies simple arithmetic to the numbers you enter and does not replace your processor's rules, your state's law or a qualified adviser.