“Although some in the industry use the terms ‘surcharging’ and ‘cash discounting’ as if they were interchangeable, they are, in fact, two distinct pricing models. The most important difference between the two, which the Visa bulletin addresses emphatically, is that cash discount programs cannot add a fee at the register.”
Read More“A century ago engineers in Chicago reversed the flow of the city’s main river to redirect billions of gallons of water away from nearby Lake Michigan. Today in Chicago, my company is working to reverse a similarly powerful trend: the rising cost of credit card acceptance for businesses.”
Read More“With tremendous momentum for passing on the credit card fee—whether in the form of a ‘surcharge’ or ‘cash discount’—it’s no surprise that ISOs and merchants are asking what these rules mean to them.
Last year, American merchants paid $77 billion in fees for accepting credit cards. These costs, however, are shifting more and more to the consumers who choose credit for convenience or rewards, as the buzz at every industry convention attests. And this trend will disrupt the traditional-processing incumbents and create a new paradigm—with new winners and losers.”
Read More“Razi believes Visa’s clarification will ‘not only help customers avoid unfair fees charged to debit cards, but also help merchants and sales professionals know what to look for in a compliant solution’ […] adding, ‘This is why we’ve invested in developing products that put compliance first and meet these requirements automatically.’”
Read More“Visa has released a bulletin revealing that many programs marketed as ‘cash discount’ are non-compliant with the payment company’s rules.
‘Visa’s bulletin gives our industry much-needed clarity: “cash discount” is not a loophole within the rules, and merchants that add a fee at the point of sale must comply with the requirements for surcharging, regardless of what they call the fee,’ Jonathan Razi, CardX CEO, said in an emailed statement.”
Read More“We also reached out to CardX, a company that offers surcharge programs. […] Like Visa, Razi is unequivocal in his explanation. ‘The bottom-line is that most purported “cash discount” programs are non-compliant, because they list the cash price on the shelf and then add a fee at the point of sale. This brings them under the card brand rules for surcharging.’
For the sake of your merchant account and your wallet, be sure you’re on the right side of laws and card brand regulations before surcharging or signing up for a cash discount program.”
Read More“Now, businesses in these states have the option to pass on the fee when their customers choose credit cards for convenience or rewards, so long as they comply with the card network rules introduced in 2013.
As the market for surcharging has expanded, so too has the emphasis on compliance. The card brands and processors have increasingly sought to shut down non-compliant programs, especially when surcharges masquerade as ‘cash discounts.’”
Read More“More states are allowing surcharging, with a Fifth Circuit Court in Texas last week ruling in favor of merchants and taking the state’s no-surcharging law off the books.
This is good news for Chicago-based CardX, a payments technology company specializing in providing merchants with payment terminals loaded with the software and specifications to apply the industry norm of a 3.5 percent surcharge on credit card transactions and also be compliant with any federal, card network or state rules governing its use.”
Read More“As of 2018, Texas businesses can surcharge. In Rowell v. Paxton, the court determined that surcharging is considered protected speech under the First Amendment. Thus, the Court ruled Texas’ ‘no surcharge’ law unconstitutional.”
Read More“To compete with super ISOs, smaller ISOs and MLSs need an alternative to interchange-plus. There is one number you can be confident won’t be undercut: zero. Passing on the credit card fee in the form of a surcharge allows businesses to maintain listed prices while processing cards at a true 0 percent cost.”
Read More“CardX, which provides zero-cost credit card acceptance to institutions and organizations, recently hired Venson Kuchipudi as senior vice president for technology. Kuchipudi is going to use his technology experience to lead the product team, overlooking…
Read MoreCardX, a leading provider of zero-cost credit card acceptance solutions, has named Venson Kuchipudi as Senior Vice President, Technology.
Kuchipudi will lead the CardX product team, responsible for new web applications and software for data analysis…
Read More“‘When I saw that regulatory change, I knew it was an opportunity for someone to come in and be the first to market with a turnkey solution,’ said Jonathan Razi, CEO at CardX. He founded the company in 2013 while in graduate school at Harvard Law School…
Read More“Jonathan Razi, chief executive and founder of CardX, an outspoken proponent of giving merchants the option to pass on credit card fees to customers, says it’s inequitable to force everyone to pay more in fees to cover the cost of those who opt to use credit cards…
Read More“Razi founded CardX in 2013 while studying law at Harvard. At the time he was looking for an industry to disrupt, and that year, laws changed to allow credit card fees to be passed onto consumers in 40 states. Ten states had laws on the books forbidding passing on the fee…
Read More“Just days before the U.K. banned businesses from passing on credit card transaction fees to shoppers, food delivery company Just Eat introduced a blanket “service charge” for all orders—whether shoppers pay by credit, debit or cash…
Read More“Although the rules for doing so are strict, most states allow merchants to pass the cost of accepting credit cards on to the consumer. CardX handles the logistics and compliance end of that process, allowing businesses to accept cards without digging into their margins. The company’s online platform notifies users of the fee up front, allowing them to opt for a no-fee alternative like a debit card if they prefer.”
Read More“For entrepreneurs, every dollar matters. Why, then, do so many business owners willingly absorb a cost – often as high as 4 percent – to accept credit card payments? If you’re among them, know there is a cost-free, frictionless way to pass on the fee to customers. Thanks to new ru…
Read More“Jonathan Razi, Founder and CEO of payment processing company CardX and graduate of Harvard Law School, explains, ‘The Ninth Circuit decision means that the California surcharge ban is unconstitutional as applied to these plaintiffs and the specific pricing practice they’re …
Read MoreCredit card surcharging is a step closer to universal adoption in the United States. Businesses are getting much-needed relief from costly card fees, with the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco striking down a California law that banned the practice of passing along charge…
Read More“CardX CEO Jonathan Razi said in an email to Small Business Trends, ‘With this legal victory, businesses now have the option to pass on the fee to customers that choose credit cards for convenience or rewards. Under the new rules, businesses can accept credit cards at 0 percent cost. Based o…
Read More“The decisions ‘make it much more likely we’re going to see surcharging in all 50 states,’ said Jonathan Razi, CEO of CardX, a transaction processor that facilitates surcharge transactions. Some large retailers have held off on surcharging in states where it is permitted because it wou…
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