A surcharge is a small, transparent fee added to a transaction to cover the merchant service fees (MSF) associated with card payments. It’s a little helper on your EFTPOS machine that balances out fees for those payment options.
Card processing carries a fee. With Shift4, you decide: absorb it effortlessly on our flat-rate Low Fees plan, or eliminate it completely with No Fees surcharging.
One terminal, total flexibility.
As of today, surcharging remains fully legal across New Zealand.
With Shift4, you can take advantage of our “No Fees” plan and never have to worry about compliance, tallying costs or manually applying surcharges again. It’s all taken care of for you.
Navigating surcharging rules in New Zealand? We keep your merchant obligations simple. Governed by the Retail Payment System Act 2022 and overseen by the Commerce Commission, these rules ensure surcharging is clear and fair for both businesses and consumers.
You can only surcharge payment methods that incur processing costs (MSF) for your business—such as credit cards and contactless payments (payWave, Apple Pay, Google Pay). You cannot surcharge cash or physical EFTPOS/debit card insert or swipe transactions.
Surcharges must be reasonable and cover only your actual cost of acceptance. Shift4 pre-configures your terminal with your exact rate, so you stay 100% compliant.
The surcharge must process automatically inside the main transaction—never collected separately or in cash. Our Android terminals handle this on the fly.
The fee must be clearly itemised on the customer's purchase record. Shift4 Android terminals automatically print receipts showing the exact surcharge breakdown.
Be upfront! Display clear signage at your counter so customers know a surcharge applies before they tap, giving them the freedom to choose how they pay.
Shift4 is New Zealand’s only payment provider offering a fully compliant surcharging solution paired with ultra-low rates. We take the guesswork out of compliance—making transaction fees completely transparent, fair, and simple for both you and your customers to understand. Plus with our surcharging solution, you can bring your payment solution costs to $0.
Under Commerce Commission guidelines, a surcharge must only cover a business’s actual cost of card acceptance. While average benchmark rates in New Zealand generally sit under 1% for contactless debit (payWave) and 1.5% to 2% for credit cards, your specific rate depends on your merchant facility. Shift4 configures your terminal to apply your exact cost of acceptance so you stay fully compliant.
Our Android Low Cost Tap & Pay terminals do the math for you! They automatically apply your pre-programmed rate to eligible contactless and credit card transactions. The customer views the fee on the touchscreen, accepts it, and completes the payment. Check out our guide on how surcharging works on your Android terminal for full technical steps.
Yes! To comply with NZ guidelines, businesses must offer a surcharge-free payment method. Customers can skip paying a surcharge by inserting or swiping a physical debit/EFTPOS card and selecting CHQ or SAV. Learn more about how customers can bypass the surcharge on our terminal.
Absolutely. You can add a surcharge specifically for contactless NFC payments, covering tap payments made via physical cards, smartphones, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and smartwatches.
You can surcharge credit card payments made via Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, AMEX, Diners, and JCB. If a customer inserts or swipes a credit card and selects "Credit", your preset rate applies. For contactless payments, surcharging applies to any NFC-enabled card or device.
Yes. You can pull and print surcharge reports directly from your Shift4 Android terminal or log into the Shift4 Business Hub to view daily, weekly, or monthly breakdowns. Our system logs credit card insert/swipe and contactless surcharges separately for seamless bookkeeping.
From zero monthly terminal rental* to 7-day settlements and 24/7 local Kiwi support, read why businesses choose Shift4 for a smarter, simpler payment solution.
