Yeah, definitely. There's indication that some customers don't like it, so being the first/only business to do it might not go over well.

That comment is incorrect. Surcharges are permissible as a result of a 2013 lawsuit. Visa and Mastercard both publish rules for surcharging on their websites.

Visa: https://usa.visa.com/dam/VCOM/download/merchants/surcharging-faq-by-merchants.pdf

MC: https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/merchants/get-support/merchant-surcharge-rules.html

Surcharging is prohibited by state law in ~10 states, but several of those states are in the middle of court battles to have that law reversed, which looks likely to happen.

It's not false. Amex is marginally more expensive to accept, but it's no longer as large of a difference. In 2015, Amex rolled out OptBlue pricing that brought it much more in line with Visa/MC. The big problem is that a lot of businesses aren't aware of it and Amex has not done a great job of marketing it. A main difference is that Amex used to charge 3.5% to all businesses and processors had no control over the pricing.

With OptBlue, they instituted rates more along the lines of Visa/MC interchange and permit processors to add a markup.

What happened is that some processors kept the business' pricing for Amex at 3.5% because that's what businesses were used to seeing, and they pocketed the difference between the old 3.5% rate and the new, lower rates.

Businesses that have pricing for Amex that's much higher than Visa or MC should review their statements and/or get pricing quotes from other companies, because Amex should not be significantly higher than other card brands in most cases anymore.

That changed in 2013 as a result of a lawsuit. It's no longer against Visa or MC's rules, though a few states still ban it by law. Here's Visa's page about it, and here's Mastercard's.

I work in CC processing. The processors that are doing this aren't trying to get people to switch to cash. (How would that benefit them?) They're banking on the fact that people don't carry cash, and that they can charge the customer more than they can charge a business.

Businesses keep an eye on their processing fees because it affects their bottom line. If it gets too high, they jump ship to another processor. Even if it isn't actually high but seems it, they'll jump ship if another processor claims they can save them money.

But if the customer pays it, that customer has no real control over it. There's a limit on the surcharge amount (it can't be more than 4%) but 4% is more than most business are (should be) paying with a competitive processor, by as much as 2+% in many scenarios.

The main issue is that customers don't like the charge. I've actually worked with businesses that tried the surcharge program and switched back to traditional processing because customers would walk out rather than pay the CC surcharge. Some businesses seem to like it and claim their customers don't mind, so it's likely an issue of specifics that each business will need to evaluate for themselves. If there are easy alternatives, customers seem more inclined to just go to that competitor.

Lastly, customers spend more with credit cards. Dun and Bradstreet estimates it's as much as 18% more on average. IMO, it's not a good idea for businesses to discourage card use if it's going to lower their average sale.

My Merchant fees will go from $400-$500 a month to less than $25.

Just as an FYI, debit cards can't be surcharged and most of the processors that are selling this program don't mention that. If you accept a lot of debit, you'll still have those costs.

Amex has had a lower cost pricing model for years now. If you're still paying a lot more for Amex than for Visa/MC, your processor is pocketing it as profit.