“New York has banned the ban. In the wake of court filings this week that effectively ended a challenge to surcharges on credit card transactions in New York, merchants in the Empire State can indeed embrace those fees, contingent upon stating those costs to consumers up front.
The merchant plaintiffs and the state of New York filed motions on Jan. 8 to dismiss a challenge to such charges, seemingly capping a battle stretching back years. Now, merchants must disclose those surcharges as part of ‘total’ prices in dollars and cents. The requests from those parties to dismiss the case came after an appellate court in the state ruled that merchants have the right to levy the charges, and the tally of states with such bans in place has now dropped to six.
In a statement emailed to PYMNTS, CEO Jonathan Razi of CardX, a payments technology company that automates compliance with rules for credit card surcharging, said that ‘with today’s resolution, we expect the New York law will survive, but in a far narrower form — and “no surcharge” will simply mean “no surprise.” Now, New York merchants are allowed to pass on their credit card fees, so long as they make the required consumer disclosure.’”
