Credit Card Surcharge Calculator

About this calculator

A credit card surcharge is an extra amount added to a sale to offset the processing fee the merchant is charged by the card network and payment processor, so that after the fee is deducted, the merchant still nets exactly the amount they intended. Simply adding the fee percentage to the price undercharges the customer, because the fee is calculated on the final charged total, not the original target amount — the correct formula divides instead: charge = target amount ÷ (1 − fee rate), which solves for the total that, after the percentage fee is taken out, leaves the merchant with the target net.

Retailers, contractors, and service businesses use this calculation when passing card processing costs on to customers, which in the US and many other jurisdictions is legal but regulated — surcharges are typically capped at a maximum percentage (often around 3–4%) by card network rules, must be disclosed to the customer, and are outright prohibited in a handful of states, so the fee rate entered should match what’s actually permitted. Note that such caps are usually written as a percentage of the transaction amount, while this tool grosses the fee up by dividing by (1 − fee): the surcharge it gives is a higher share of the sale than the fee you enter (a 3% fee becomes a 3.09% surcharge), so compare the effective surcharge rate it shows, not the fee, with the cap. Say how much you need to receive after the card fee and what the fee rate is, and it shows the surcharge to add so the net lands on that amount.