Stop paying to get paid.
Dual pricing lets you keep the same margin on a card sale that you keep on a cash sale. Card-paying customers cover the processing cost; cash customers get a discount. You keep your profit.
It's legal in all 50 states, needs no card-brand registration, and can take your net cost of accepting cards down close to nothing.
We'll show you your actual numbers before you decide anything.
What dual pricing actually is
Every time you take a card, a piece of that sale goes to the card networks and the bank. On cash, you keep all of it — so on identical sales, you make less on the card one. Most owners have just accepted that for years.
Dual pricing fixes the gap at the price tag. You set your listed price to reflect what a card sale actually costs you — a small percentage increase — and offer a discount to anyone paying cash or another non-card method.
Two prices. One card, one cash. The customer picks.
The card price covers your processing cost. The cash price is your old price. Either way, you end up with the margin you meant to have.
How the math works
A $100 item you'd normally net $100 on in cash, but about $97 after processing on a card.
| Cash | Card | |
|---|---|---|
| Price they see | $100.00 | $103.50 |
| Processing cost | $0 | ~$3.50 |
| You keep | $100.00 | ~$100.00 |
Same margin, either way. That's the whole idea.
- All card types are priced the same flat rate — credit, offline debit, PIN debit. One rate, no sorting.
- Debit isn't priced separately. Some programs try to; this one doesn't, and that's the compliant way to do it.
- A rate is passed to the cardholder and an offsetting flat rate is assigned to you. The two cancel out — that's the mechanism under the price tag.
- EBT is excluded. If you take EBT, those transactions sit outside the program.
Straight about the limits
The operators who get in trouble with this are the ones who were never told them. So here they are.
There's a 4% cap
The card price can't rise more than 4%, or more than processing costs you.
Legal in all 50 states
No state carve-outs to work around — it runs the same way wherever you operate.
No registration required
Some programs make you register and wait. This one doesn't.
All card types but EBT
Credit, offline debit, and PIN debit are all included at one flat rate. EBT stays out.
What you have to tell customers
Less than you'd think — and simpler than most agents make it sound. We'll walk your staff through it and hand you compliant materials from our processing partner. We don't improvise this part.
- Advertise the card price (the higher of the two) and no additional disclosure to the cardholder is required. That's the cleanest way to run it.
- Post both prices if you'd rather be explicit — but only the card price is required.
- This isn't a surcharge program, so there's no surcharge notice to post at the door or the register.
Surcharge vs. Cash Discount
Same goal, different mechanics. Neither is "better" — they're different tools.
| Surcharge | Cash Discount | |
|---|---|---|
| Applies to | Credit cards only | All cards except EBT |
| Debit | Priced separately | Included, not separate |
| Cap | 3% (2% CO) | 4% |
| Legal in all 50 states | No — six excluded | Yes |
| Registration | Required | Not required |
| Best for | Heavy debit volume; keep debit cheap | Cash-heavy; simplest setup |
Who this is actually right for
We'd rather tell you no than sell you the wrong thing.
Works well for
- Cash-heavy businesses — shops, service trades, quick-serve, salons, corner retail
- Thin-margin businesses where processing is a real line item, not a rounding error
- Owners whose customers are price-aware but not price-shopping across the street
- Anyone who's watched their effective rate creep up year after year and had enough
Probably not right if
- Customers will read the card price as a penalty and walk
- Competitors all advertise a single price and you'd stand out badly
- Your card volume is small enough that the savings won't move your P&L
- You'd rather have clean interchange-plus pricing and just pay a fair markup
If that last one is you, say so. We'll price you interchange-plus and tell you our markup, in writing. Dual pricing is a tool, not a religion.
Let's start with your statement.
Before we recommend dual pricing or anything else, we read your current statement and show you, line by line, what you're actually paying. It's free, takes about a day, and there's no obligation on the other side of it.
Impeccabyte, LLC is an authorized agent of Maverick Payments. Program terms, caps, and disclosure requirements are set by the card brands and our processing partner and are subject to change. Figures shown are illustrative — your actual rates and savings depend on your volume, card mix, and current pricing.