With Adyen, this can be configured for in-person payments (terminals, Tap to Pay) and, in some cases, online payments — always subject to regional legal/regulatory compliance.
🛠 Pre-Requisites & Compliance
Before you begin:
Ensure you have the correct integration type (Terminal API, Android/iOS Tap to Pay, or supported API online) and that terminal firmware meets minimum versions (e.g., v1.108+ for max surcharge amount, v1.112+ for consumer vs commercial card differentiation).
Verify you have an API key with management permissions (e.g., “Terminal settings read/write”) to configure surcharging at the company/merchant/store/terminal level.
Confirm legal/regulatory compliance in your jurisdiction: some regions restrict or prohibit surcharging (for example, in the EEA consumer cards may not be surcharged; in the U.S. debit cards cannot be surcharged).
Ensure you have signage/disclosure in place (e.g., display outside store, at POS) and receipts reflect surcharge amounts. Adyen’s feature does not enforce the compliance burden on your behalf.
🔧 Configuration Steps
Decide your surcharge structure, including:
Which card brands/funding sources will incur a surcharge (e.g., Visa credit vs debit).
Which regions/currencies will apply.
Whether surcharge is a fixed amount, a percentage, or both.
Maximum surcharge amount (if you wish to cap).
Whether the surcharge should exclude gratuities/tips. (Adyen supports setting that flag.)
Access your Adyen Customer Area or Management API:
In the Customer Area: Go to In-person payments → Terminal settings → Payment features / Surcharge level (company, merchant account, store or terminal).
Via API: Use the GET /terminalSettings endpoint to check existing settings, then PATCH /terminalSettings to apply your surcharge object with fields such as askConfirmation, excludeGratuityFromSurcharge, and a configurations[] array detailing brand/currency/funding source presets.
Apply changes and deploy:
After configuration, ensure terminals or POS devices pull the updated configuration (either via scheduled maintenance or forced update).
For Tap to Pay integrations, confirm with Adyen Support that “single tap” mode is enabled if required.
Monitor & reconcile:
When surcharging is active, the terminal or mobile device will present the surcharge amount (or automatically apply it in certain flows) and the payment response will include a field like TotalFeesAmount.
Ensure your receipts, reporting and reconciliation processes capture the surcharge amount distinctly.
Maintain your signage and policy so you remain compliant with local card network and regulatory rules.
⚠️ Key Considerations for Valpay & Partners
Make sure you uniformly apply the surcharge across applicable card types, as required by region (e.g., in Canada, credit cards only; in the U.S., no debit card surcharges).
Surcharge + Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) cannot both apply on the same transaction. If both features are active, Adyen may skip DCC when a surcharge > 0 is detected.
Just because you enable the feature doesn’t mean you’re compliant— you must still handle signage, merchant disclosure, receipts, and network notification (if required) yourself.
If you’re onboarding multiple merchants (partners/resellers) under Valpay, document the process clearly for each merchant: verify readiness, apply surcharge settings, communicate policy, and monitor results.
Pilot first: probably wise to enable for one merchant/terminal store, validate flows, reconcile reporting, and then roll out more broadly.