# Surcharge

https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/surcharge/

*Last updated: 2026-08-03*

An additional amount added to a transaction because of how the customer chose to pay. Whether a merchant may apply one is governed by their acquiring agreement, which passes down the card schemes' rules — so it is a question with a specific answer per merchant rather than a general one. Separately from whether it is permitted, it has to be disclosed before the customer commits.

## Why it matters to a merchant

Before asking whether you may, work out whether you should. The number most merchants have in mind is a quoted rate rather than an effective one, and on small baskets the fixed per-transaction component usually dominates anyway — so a percentage surcharge recovers less than expected while being the most visible thing on the counter. Repricing is invisible to customers; this is not.

## Related terms

*What it costs, and what gets measured*

- [MDR (merchant discount rate)](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/mdr/)
- [Interchange](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/interchange/)
- [GMV (gross merchandise value)](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/gmv/)
- [Merchant account](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/merchant-account/)
- [Effective rate](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/effective-rate/)
- [Per-transaction fee](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/per-transaction-fee/)
- [Blended rate](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/blended-rate/)
- [Interchange-plus](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/interchange-plus/)
- [Cross-border interchange](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/cross-border-interchange/)
- [Net settlement](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/net-settlement/)
- [Rolling reserve](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/rolling-reserve/)

- [All 74 terms](https://www.uniwebpay.com/glossary/)

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