Neither Stackably nor its representatives are attorneys, and nothing in this article is legal advice. It reflects our experience working with many merchants on this program.
People ask about this program in a lot of different ways: "What is dual pricing?", "Is charging more for cards compliant?", "Is this a surcharge?", "Is it allowed under Visa rules?", "Can I pass credit card fees to my customers?", "What is cash discounting?", "Is it legal to have a cash price and a card price?", "Is it a non-cash adjustment?", "What is a card price vs cash price program?" This article answers all of them.
What is Dual Pricing?
Dual pricing is a transparent pricing model where a business displays two prices for every item or service: a cash price and a card price. The customer sees both prices up front and chooses how they want to pay. If they pay with cash, they pay the cash price. If they pay with a card, they pay the card price, which already includes the cost of card acceptance.
The key word is transparency. Nothing is added at checkout, no fee appears on the receipt, and there are no surprises. The customer sees the two prices before they decide, and the receipt shows only the final total.
How does it work with Stackably?
Step 1: The business chooses to display two prices rather than one.
Every item shows a cash price and a card price wherever pricing is presented: on the shelf, on the menu, on your website, or on your invoice. If your pricing lives inside Stackably (invoicing, online orders, ecommerce), this happens automatically. If you have physical shelf tags or a printed menu, those show both prices too.
Step 2: Stackably handles the point of sale.
The system automatically shows both prices at the register and on customer-facing displays, applies the correct price at checkout, and formats receipts correctly, so the transaction side of the program is handled for you.
Step 3: When a customer pays by card, the system automatically applies the card price.
The card price includes the cost of acceptance. The difference between the two prices is used to cover the processing expense. No additional fees are ever added at checkout.
The result: the business's card processing costs are covered by the card price, cash-paying customers get the lower cash price, and every customer sees exactly what they will pay before they pay it.
Is charging more for cards compliant?
Yes, when it is done correctly. Charging a different price for card payments is compliant when the customer is shown both prices before the transaction and the card price is the actual price of the item rather than a fee added on top. That is exactly how Stackably's dual pricing program is built.
Stackably built this program to meet or exceed Visa, Mastercard, and state disclosure standards for transparent pricing. At checkout, customers always see both prices before paying, and receipts reflect only the final total, never an added fee or separate line item. Combined with both prices posted where your customers first see pricing, that is a fully compliant program.
The program also aligns with the transparency and consumer choice principles reflected in federal law. Section 1075 of the Dodd-Frank Act (15 U.S.C. § 1693o-2(a)(2)) prohibits payment card networks from restricting merchants who offer discounts or in-kind incentives for specific forms of payment, such as cash. Offering a lower cash price is protected under this framework.
Is this program compliant with Visa rules?
Yes. Visa and Mastercard both permit merchants to offer a discount for cash and to display a cash price and a card price, as long as the pricing is disclosed clearly before the sale. What the card networks prohibit, or heavily restrict, is adding a fee after the price is presented without proper disclosure, registration, and caps. Dual pricing avoids that entirely because the card price is the posted price, not a fee.
Stackably's dual pricing display and receipt formatting are designed specifically around these network rules, and we will answer any questions you have regarding the disclosure requirements for your business type so you are not left interpreting Visa or Mastercard regulations on your own.
Is this a surcharge program?
No. This is one of the most common points of confusion, so it is worth being precise:
Surcharging adds a separate fee to a credit card transaction on top of the posted price. Surcharges are subject to strict card-network rules: they must be registered with the networks in advance, they are capped (typically at 3%), they can only be applied to credit cards and never to debit cards, they must appear as a separate line item on the receipt, and they are prohibited in some states.
Dual pricing does not add anything. The business posts two prices, the customer chooses, and the receipt shows one total with no fee line. There is no separate surcharge line item because there is no surcharge.
Because dual pricing is not a surcharge, it is not subject to the surcharge caps, registration requirements, or state surcharge bans. It is simply a business choosing to price its products two ways and disclosing both.
Is this the same as a cash discount or non-cash adjustment?
Dual pricing is the cleanest and most transparent version of this family of programs. A traditional "cash discount" program posts the card price and applies a discount when a customer pays cash. A "non-cash adjustment" program posts the cash price and adds an adjustment at checkout for cards, which card networks and regulators have increasingly treated as a surcharge in disguise.
Dual pricing avoids both problems by showing both prices up front. There is no discount to apply and no adjustment to add. The customer simply pays the posted price for their chosen payment method.
What do I actually have to do to be compliant?
One thing: show both prices wherever your customers see pricing. That means both prices on the shelf tag in a retail store, both prices on the menu in a restaurant, and both prices on your website or invoice if that is where customers shop.
If your business runs on invoicing, online ordering, or ecommerce through Stackably, this is handled for you out of the box, because Stackably is the only place your pricing appears.
If you have physical shelf tags or a printed menu, you will update those to show both prices. Most merchants do this with a simple two-column format or a small "Cash / Card" label next to each price. It is a one-time update, and it is what makes the difference between a true dual pricing program and something the card brands may view as a non-compliant surcharge program instead.
Stackably handles everything from the moment a customer walks up to pay: the customer-facing display, the price applied, and the receipt.
What if I'm not compliant?
First, some context on how enforcement actually works. While Visa does have a team of secret shoppers who visit a small percentage of physical-location businesses to inspect pricing for compliance, these issues usually surface when someone complains. The most common source is a customer who feels surprised by the card price, complains to their bank, and the bank forwards that complaint to the card brand.
As of September 2026, a first violation results in a $1,000 fine from the card brands. In the unlikely event this happens to a Stackably merchant, we work with you and with Visa on your behalf to resolve the issue and get you to full compliance.
The best protection is not a policy document. It is your team. Customers complain when they feel blindsided, and they feel blindsided when the person at the counter cannot explain the program. Train your staff to say something like:
"We could have raised prices on everything to cover the cost of card acceptance, but that did not seem fair to our cash-paying customers. So we have two prices: a card price and a lower cash price."
A customer who hears that almost never complains. A customer who hears "I don't know, they just started charging more if you use your card" is the one who calls their bank. Ten minutes of staff training is what protects a program that can save you thousands of dollars a year.
Are debit cards priced the same as credit cards?
Yes. Under dual pricing, any card payment, whether credit or debit, receives the card price. This is another important difference from surcharging, where debit cards cannot be surcharged at all. Because dual pricing is a pricing model rather than a fee, the card price applies to every card transaction uniformly, which keeps the program simple for staff and consistent for customers.
Does the business make money from this program?
No. The purpose of dual pricing is to cover the cost of card acceptance, not to generate profit from it. The difference between the cash price and the card price offsets the processing expense the business would otherwise absorb. The business keeps its cash price as its true margin and the card price simply neutralizes the cost of the card.
Why businesses choose dual pricing
Predictable costs. Card processing stops eating into margin.
Fair to customers. Cash customers are not subsidizing card customers, and card customers see the true cost of their payment choice before they commit.
Built for compliance. The checkout, display, invoicing, and receipt logic are built into the Stackably point of sale, with both prices clearly shown, so the hardest part of running the program correctly is already done. Your part is simply posting both prices where customers see them.
No line-item fees. Receipts show a single total, which avoids the customer friction that surcharge line items create.
Frequently asked questions
Can I pass my credit card processing fees to my customers?
With dual pricing, you are not passing a fee to customers. You are posting a card price that reflects the cost of acceptance and letting the customer choose. That distinction is what keeps the program compliant.
Is it legal to charge more for credit cards?
Posting a separate card price alongside the cash price, wherever your prices are displayed, is permitted under card-network rules and federal law. Adding an undisclosed fee at checkout is not. Stackably's program is built on the first model.
Do I need to register with Visa or Mastercard?
No. Registration is a requirement for surcharge programs. Dual pricing is not a surcharge and does not require network registration.
Does dual pricing work in states that ban surcharges?
Dual pricing is not a surcharge, so state surcharge bans do not apply to it. Some states have their own disclosure requirements, and Stackably's program is designed to meet or exceed state disclosure standards.
Do I have to use dual pricing?
No. Dual pricing is optional. A business can choose traditional pricing where it absorbs processing costs, or it can turn on dual pricing. Stackably supports both.
Getting started
If you want to enable dual pricing on your Stackably account, or you have a question about how it applies to your specific business or state, reach out to Stackably support. We can walk you through the setup and make sure your pricing display, checkout, and receipts are configured correctly from day one.
What dual pricing looks like at the point of sale
Here is how a $20.00 quick sale looks on our terminal (P3H). The payment screen shows every payment method with its own price before the customer chooses: Card $20.80, Cash $20.00, Gift Card $20.00 and ACH $20.20.
And here is how the same $20.00 sale looks on our tablet point of sale (P3 Mix).
