What is Dual Pricing?

Dual Pricing means every item in your store has two prices: a cash price and a card price. The prices in your POS are your cash prices. When a customer pays with a credit or debit card, the price is increased by a set percentage (for example, 4%).

As an example, let's say an item is priced at $100 and your Dual Pricing percentage is 4%:

• If the customer pays with cash, they pay $100.
• If the customer pays with a credit or debit card, they pay $104.

What is the benefit?

• Card-paying customers cover the cost of card processing, which can offset nearly all of your processing fees, while cash-paying customers simply pay your everyday price.
• Unlike surcharging, dual pricing applies to both credit and debit cards, has no percentage cap, and is permitted in all 50 states.

How it works at checkout

• The prices in your POS are your cash prices.
• At checkout, your payment terminal shows the cashier both the cash price and the card price, and the customer chooses how they want to pay.
• If the customer pays by card, the card price is charged.
• The receipt shows the price for the payment method the customer chose — there is no separate "fee" or "discount" line. This is a card-brand requirement: adding a separate fee line to the receipt would turn the program into a surcharge.

Regulations and compliance

Dual pricing is generally considered the safest differential pricing program by the card brands, but the key requirement is transparency:

• Both prices must be displayed wherever your prices appear. This can be price tags showing both prices, or clear signage at the register.