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ProhibitedLast verified: 2026-08-25

Is credit card surcharging legal in Massachusetts?

No. Massachusetts prohibits merchants from adding a credit card surcharge at checkout. Massachusetts bans credit card surcharges outright. M.G.L. c. 140D, § 28A provides that no seller in any sales transaction may impose a surcharge on a cardholder who elects to use a credit card. The same section protects the other direction: a card issuer may not stop a seller from offering a discount to induce payment by cash or cheque. A discount for cash, offered to all buyers and clearly disclosed, is the compliant alternative.

The statute

Citation: Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 140D, § 28A

“No seller in any sales transaction may impose a surcharge on a cardholder who elects to use a credit card in lieu of payment by cash, check or similar means.”

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 140D, § 28A

How much you can charge

No cap exists because no surcharge is permitted. Use a cash discount or dual pricing instead.

Disclosure requirements

If you offer a cash discount, make it available to all prospective buyers and display its availability clearly and conspicuously.

Not legal advice

This page is a research summary for merchants, not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by reading it. Surcharge rules change, they interact with card-network rules and federal law, and they can turn on facts specific to your business. Consult licensed counsel in Massachusetts before you implement or change a surcharge.

Putting this into practice on Shopify

Rules like these only help if your checkout can actually enforce them, including on Shop Pay, Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Shopify surcharge guideSee FeeLayer