Merchants hear two opposite stories: processors selling 0% say it's totally fine everywhere; skeptics say it's a lawsuit waiting to happen. Both are lazy answers. Here's the actual rulebook, program by program.
Dual pricing — legal in all 50 states, run correctly
Displaying two prices and letting the customer choose is price display, not a fee. The obligations are about transparency: both prices visible before checkout, clear signage, receipts that reflect the program. There's no state that prohibits showing a cash price and a card price — the failures are always disclosure failures.
Cash discount — legal everywhere, with one bright line
Discounting for cash is explicitly protected — it's been standard at gas pumps for decades. The line you can't cross: posting a low price and adding a fee for cards at the register (the "non-cash adjustment" scheme). That's a disguised surcharge and it's what actually triggers card-brand enforcement. Discount off the posted price: fine. Fee on top of it: not. Full guide.
Surcharging — legal in most states, with a real rulebook
- Credit cards only — never debit or prepaid, even when run as credit
- Capped at 3% and never more than your actual cost of acceptance
- Card brands must be notified before you start, and disclosure is required at entry, at the register and on the receipt
- A small number of states still restrict or condition it — we check your state before filing, every time
What enforcement actually looks like
Card brands don't sue mom-and-pops; they flag violations through the processor, demand correction, and shut down programs that don't fix it. Every enforcement story traces to the same three sins: hidden fees, missing signage, or surcharging debit. Run the program the way it's designed and you're inside lines that millions of merchants operate in daily.
Compare all three programs on Zero Fee Programs, or read the program-by-program comparison.