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Card Surcharges and Price Display Rules
Find out if your card surcharge is allowed, how much it can be, and fix your till, signs, menus and receipts to match the rules.
Find out if your card surcharge is allowed, how much it can be, and fix your till, signs, menus and receipts to match the rules.
- For retail store managers
- Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and more
- Worldwide: works in any country
- Trilly approved this version
This skill gives general information, not legal advice. Talk to a lawyer about your own situation.
See the difference. Same question, two answers.
Trilly ran this request on an AI, with and without the skill, and picked this pair. It's an example, not a measured test.
The whole example
You ask
Without the skill
I haven't looked at Square yet, so I can't give you your real fees. Here is what I'd do, and where I'd stop.
1. Check actual fees (read-only)
- Pull Square's fees report for card payments over the last 3 months, with card sales, processing fees and fee by card type.
- Work out fees ÷ card sales. Under Australian rules, a surcharge can't exceed what it costs you to accept the card.
- Read the service charge list and find 'Card fee 1.5%'.
2. Waiting on you If your real cost is 1.2% or more, 1.2% is fine. If it's lower, the surcharge must go down to match. Once I have the numbers, the legal options are:
- 1.2% (if cost supports it)
- A lower rate matching your true cost
- No surcharge, with the cost built into prices (rounded to 0.10)
Please also check whether the Reserve Bank's card surcharge ban or changes apply to you as of today. I can't confirm that from here.
3. After you confirm I'd edit the service charge in Square: rename it 'Card fee 1.2%' and set the percentage to 1.2%. I'd read it back to check, then ask whether to update it on any open orders or saved items.
Draft menu footer (assuming 1.2%) 1.2% surcharge applies to all card payments.
Draft note for regulars
A small change to our card fee Good news: our card processing costs have come down, so we're lowering our card surcharge from 1.5% to 1.2%, starting 21 October 2026. There's still no surcharge on cash. Thanks for supporting your local café; we appreciate every one of you.
The Wattle Lane crew
If you'd like to go ahead, say so and I'll start with the fees report. If your actual cost turns out to be different from 1.2%, I'll update the footer and note to match.
With the skill
SURCHARGE AND PRICE RULES
Verdict: I can't lower it to 1.2%. Since 1 October 2026, surcharges on eftpos, Mastercard and Visa cards (debit, credit and prepaid) are banned in Australia, so the fee has to come off entirely. This is general information, not legal advice. The Reserve Bank of Australia and your payment provider can confirm.
Square read: I would read, read only, three months of card sales and card fees, to work out your real cost (card fees / card sales). Nothing has been read yet, so no figure is shown. It's "to check", and it only matters for the options below.
Fee to delete: Square doesn't switch off a card fee set up as a service charge, a sales tax or an automatic tip, so you have to delete "Card fee 1.5%". Square Dashboard, Settings, Account & Settings, Payments, Service charges: the three dots, Edit, Delete service charge, Confirm. Also remove the menu footer line "1.5% surcharge applies to all card payments", and check that no receipt text or online checkout still adds the fee.
Options:
- Absorb the cost.
- Fold it into prices: price x (1 + cost x share of sales on cards), rounded up to the next $0.10. I need the Square figures first.
- Offer a discount for paying another way, which is still allowed: "Prices shown are our prices. Pay by [method] and get [x]% off."
Note for regulars: From Wednesday 21 October 2026, we've dropped our card fee. The price on the menu is the price you pay, however you pay. Thanks for coming in. The Wattle Lane crew
| Date | Who | What |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday 21 October 2026 | Mel | Delete the service charge, change the menu footer, check receipts |
| October 2027 | Mel | Yearly review of fees, rules and till settings |
How would you like to handle the deletion: I fill in the Square page for you to check (I'd stop before Delete and Confirm, which you press yourself), or I walk you through it step by step?
Add the surcharge decision, the card fee rate (to check) and the review date to your business file?
With the skill
Without the skill
How it's going, from real use.
How the numbers workNot enough data yet
No reviews or use numbers yet. Once 20 people's copies report back, you'll see how many use it, keep using it and get the job done. The maker can't change them.
How Trilly tested it: Trilly tested version 1.0.0 on 21 October 2026. This version changed its instructions and hasn't been tested yet. What the badge means and how we test
Safety and what it can reach.
Reads and uses
Square or StripeRead three months of card sales and the fees on them for the cost check, and the fees or service charges added to recent sales. It only reads.
Files you give itOnly the files you add to the chat.
Makes or changes
Files for youIt creates files for you to keep.
Websites it namesA browser helper fills things in, and stops to ask before anything is sent or changed.
Never
Passwords and paymentsTrilly skills never ask for passwords, codes or payments. If this one does, stop and report it.
Running codeIt can't run code.
Acting in your accountsIt can't act in your accounts.
Risk area: legal.
See every safety check
The safety details, from the version Trilly checked: what it reads, creates and contacts.
- The internet
-
- By itself: it contacts no websites.
- Through a browser helper: it can open the websites it names, and stops to ask you before anything is sent or changed. See "Websites for you" below.
- Through apps you connect: see "Apps you've connected" below.
- Runs code
- No
- Files
- Reads files you give it, and creates or changes files
- Tools in your AI app
- None (no email, calendar or web tools)
- Apps you've connected
-
Only if you've connected them to your AI app. It works without them too.
- Payments (for example Square or Stripe): Read three months of card sales and the fees on them for the cost check, and the fees or service charges added to recent sales. Reads: Card sales and the processing fees on them for the last three months; Fees and service charges added to recent sales Doesn't create or change anything. Without it: The owner pastes the fee and card sales totals from their statements, or uploads a statement or till screenshot.
- Where your information goes
-
- Card sales and fee totals, the fee settings and the menu prices: Stays in the chat; the skill contacts no card company or provider. Only totals and fee settings are read: no customer names or card details.
- The hand-off card: the surcharge rate, the locations, the tax setting and the names of fees to remove: The business's own till settings page, through the owner's own browser agent The agent enters only what's on the card and stops before Done, Save, Delete or Confirm, and at any sign-in.
- Websites for you
- Some steps use a browser helper on websites it names. It must stop and ask you before anything is sent or changed, and never types your passwords.
- Risk area
- Legal
What it does, in full
Written in English. Answers in your language
Card fees eating into your takings? Tell it where you trade and what you charge or want to charge. It checks the rules there: whether card surcharges are allowed at all, on which cards, the most you can charge and how prices must be shown. It works out your real cost of taking cards from your statements, then sets out the legal options with figures: a surcharge where allowed, the cost folded into your prices, or a discount for paying another way.
You get a list of every till and online checkout setting to change, sign and receipt wording, new menu prices and a yearly review date. It never changes anything itself: your browser helper can fill your till's settings page and stop before the final button, so you press it.
If Square or Stripe is connected, it can read your card sales and fees, and it only reads. It gives general information, not legal advice.
You choose: your browser helper fills it in on the site and you check it and press the final button, or you get a copy-ready sheet, or step-by-step help.
What you get
Ask. Works in the AI apps it's made for. Paste or upload what you have, and it does the job right there in the chat.
Works with your apps. If you've connected your payments app to your AI app, it can use it to do more of the job for you. You choose: it works without them too, from what you paste or upload.
Does it for you. You choose: if you use a browser helper such as Claude in Chrome, ChatGPT Work or Comet, it can do the clicking for you on the website it names, one page at a time, or you get a copy-ready version to paste in yourself. With the browser helper, you check every answer and press Delete yourself. It never types your passwords or card numbers.
Remembers you. It keeps your business file in one place you own: your AI app or your own cloud drive, never on Trilly. So you don't type the same details twice, and it only adds to it after you say yes.
How each part works
Works with your apps.
- Payments (for example Square or Stripe): read three months of card sales and the fees on them for the cost check, and the fees or service charges added to recent sales. It only reads.
Does it for you.
The apps it can use
- Payments Square Only reads Also works with Stripe
Choose your apps Your version: Square · in Claude
Try asking
Once it's added, ask your AI something like this. Not sure it loaded? Is my skill working?
-
Can I add a 3% card surcharge at my cafe? Card fees are eating 2% of our takings.
To check it's working, the answer should start with "SURCHARGE AND PRICE RULES".
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can i add a card surcharge
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credit card surcharge rules by state
Get Card Surcharges and Price Display Rules
A$129
Buy for A$129New in version 1.0.4 (28 Oct 2026): The Grok copy now says when a reference file isn't attached, instead of answering from memory.
Added through your linked AI? You already have it. Downloaded a copy? Download the new version.
Price details
- Price in Australian dollars (A$). Trilly isn't registered for GST, so no GST is added.
- About in your currency, from the 's rate on , rounded. An estimate only. Prices are charged in A$, and your bank sets the final amount. Change
- How buying works
- Sold worldwide.
- A$129 once for you; A$129 per seat a year for teams. A person buys a one-off skill once. A company seat can move from one person to another, so it's paid yearly.
- Updates arrive by themselves.
- Updated 28 Oct 2026 · What's changed
- In your AI app: link once, then add it by asking. How
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