Is This Legal

I get this question a lot.

"Interesting, but, I am concerned. Is it legal in my state to charge a fee for accepting credit card payments? How did you get the exception?"

I very, very, very much appreciate this concern.

Individual State General Business Laws

There are 11 states that currently have laws on the books addressing you - the actual merchant - charging a surcharge based on method of payment. However, every state allows certain third parties to charge a fee for the service the third party provides in the safe and secure delivery of the payment data into and out of the card payment network.

The states with laws addressing this issue we are aware of as of Oct 2008 are:

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma, and Texas.

We understand the key to our service in these states is that our payment is from the person making the payment - the same way Federal Express charges the person sending the package, and our business relationship is with the person making the payment when they agree to pay and accept our fee.

Individual State Insurance Departments

We have received a formal, written Opinion from the New York Department of Insurance specifically allowing our Electronic Payment Delivery Service. Here is a link to that Opinion: