Retail payment processing for the counter, the floor and your online store
Terminals that read chip and tap at the counter or on the floor, refunds that go back to the original card, and interchange-plus pricing that shows what every card type costs you.
Short answer
Retail payment processing is how a store takes card payments at the counter, on the floor and online, and gets the money into its bank account. To keep costs and disputes down, read every card by chip or tap instead of keying it, refund returns to the original card quickly, and ask for interchange-plus pricing with each card type itemized.
What retail businesses need
Retail is volume: hundreds of sales a day, many of them small, plus returns, gift cards and the customer who splits a bill across two cards. Small tickets make the per-sale fee count, and volume makes every tenth of a percent add up. Pricing that passes each card's actual cost through, known as interchange-plus, can cost less than one flat rate, depending on your card mix and volume.
Many shops sell online too. In its August 2026 release, the Census Bureau put ecommerce at 17.1% of US retail sales for the second quarter of 2026, seasonally adjusted, so the counter and the website often need to work from one setup. Our online payments page covers hosted checkout and fraud screening for the web side.
What Clearo provides for retail
Terminals from our partners
Countertop, wireless and portable terminals from partners such as Clover and Helcim. Chip, tap and swipe, plus Apple Pay, Google Pay and Interac debit in Canada.
One rep for every store
A dedicated rep who knows each of your locations, so a question about one store doesn't start from scratch.
Interchange-plus pricing
Every tap and swipe is billed at its actual interchange and network cost plus a disclosed markup. Depending on your card mix and volume, that can cost less than a single flat rate.
Terms you can leave
No long-term contract and no cancellation fee. Before you sign anything for hardware, compare the lease total with the purchase price.
Why does a keyed card cost more than a tapped one?
Because the card networks charge less when the terminal reads the card. On Visa's US interchange schedule effective April 18, 2026, a debit card from a bank exempt from the federal cap costs 0.80% plus 15 cents when dipped or tapped and 1.65% plus 15 cents when keyed. Mastercard's 2026-2027 schedule prices a Core consumer credit card at 1.65% plus 10 cents at its Merit III base rate and 1.95% plus 10 cents when key-entered.
Say a gift shop keys 250 sales a month at a $40 average because a reader keeps failing: 150 on Mastercard Core credit and 100 on exempt Visa debit. The keyed credit sales cost 12 cents more each, or $18 a month, and the debit sales 34 cents more each, or $34. That's $52 a month, or $624 a year, for one bad reader. On this sale, debit cards from large banks cost the least either way: Regulation II caps them at 21 cents plus 0.05%, plus 1 cent, which is 24 cents on a $40 sale.
What should a store's terminal setup include?
- A connection to your POS, so each total reaches the terminal without anyone retyping it.
- Chip as well as tap. Under Visa's liability shift, counterfeit fraud losses fall on the party that hasn't adopted chip technology (Visa).
- Encryption at the reader. Merchants using a PCI-listed point-to-point encryption solution have fewer PCI DSS requirements to meet, according to PCI SSC.
- Partial approvals for prepaid and gift cards. Visa requires prepaid issuers and acquirers to support partial authorization, which approves what's left on a card so the customer can pay the rest another way (Visa).
- A plan for internet outages. Visa notes that US EMV cards and online-only terminals typically don't support offline approvals (Visa), so sales a terminal stores during an outage and sends later can come back declined, and that loss is yours. Set limits, or switch offline mode off.
Our guides to store and forward and partial authorization cover the settings.
How should returns and refunds work?
Back to the card that paid, and quickly. For credit cards, Regulation Z gives a merchant that accepts a return 7 business days to send the credit to the card issuer. Visa began requiring authorization on refunds in October 2018 for US and Canadian merchants above set return volumes, and in April 2019 for everyone else (Visa). If the original card has been closed or replaced, Visa's refund guidance lets the refund go to a different Visa card after you confirm the original purchase was on a Visa account.
Partial returns should be just as clean. Say a customer bought a $36 lamp and a $54 rug, $96.30 with an example 7% sales tax, and brings back the lamp. Refund $36 plus $2.52 in tax, $38.52, to the same card, rather than refunding the whole sale and ringing up the rug again. A mistake caught before the batch closes can usually be voided instead; our void vs refund guide explains the difference.
When can a store go cashless or charge a card fee?
Check your state first. Some require stores to take cash: New York's General Business Law section 396-ii makes retail stores accept cash and bars charging cash payers more, and Delaware's code also requires stores to accept cash.
For card fees, Visa caps a US credit card surcharge at the lesser of your merchant discount rate or 3% (Visa), Mastercard at the lesser of your average effective rate or 4% (Mastercard), and neither allows one on debit or prepaid cards. Louisiana's Act 751 of 2026 also bars retail businesses from surcharging debit card payments, from August 1, 2026. In Canada, the Visa and Mastercard cap on a credit card surcharge is 2.4%, and a store in Quebec can't charge a card fee at all. To surcharge correctly, your terminal has to tell credit from debit and print the fee on the receipt; if it can't, leave the fee off. If it can, our surcharging program covers compliance, disclosure and setup. These are the rules as of October 2026, so confirm them with the linked sources.
What to check before you sign for terminals or processing
Read the hardware terms as closely as the rate. An FTC business alert describes owners paying thousands over a lease for equipment that would have cost a few hundred dollars outright. Then get, in writing, the price for chip, tap and keyed sales, the contract term and any exit fee, and whether the terminals will work with another processor if you leave. If you run several stores, ask for every location to be quoted on the same terms. At $60,000 a month in card sales, a quarter-point gap in your effective rate is $150 a month, or $1,800 a year.
A free statement review will show your effective rate and how many of last month's sales were keyed rather than tapped. Our retail POS system guide covers the software side.
Retail payments FAQ
Under Regulation Z, a merchant that accepts a return on a credit card purchase has 7 business days to send the credit to the card issuer. Refund the returned items, with their tax, to the card the customer used, and do it the same day if you can. A customer still waiting a week later may dispute the charge instead.
Card networks set lower interchange when the terminal reads the card. On Visa's April 2026 schedule, an exempt debit card costs 0.80% plus 15 cents dipped or tapped and 1.65% plus 15 cents keyed in, and Mastercard prices key-entered Core credit sales higher too. A reader that keeps failing raises the cost of every sale staff have to type in.
Not as a surcharge. Visa and Mastercard allow surcharges on credit cards only, and Louisiana's Act 751 of 2026 also bars retail businesses from surcharging debit card payments from August 1, 2026. A cash discount, where every card pays the posted price and cash payers get money off, is treated differently; check your state's rules first.
Sources
The rates, network rules and state laws on this page come from these sources, checked in October 2026. Laws and card rules change; check the source before you act on them.
- Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales, 2nd Quarter 2026 (US Census Bureau) (www2.census.gov)
- Visa USA Interchange Reimbursement Fees (usa.visa.com)
- Mastercard 2026-2027 U.S. Region Interchange Programs and Rates (mastercard.com)
- Regulation II, Interchange Fee Standards (Federal Reserve) (federalreserve.gov)
- Visa to Help Accelerate EMV Chip Migration and Support Merchants (usa.visa.com)
- Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) - PCI Security Standards Council (pcisecuritystandards.org)
- Visa Partial Authorization Service (usa.visa.com)
- Visa Minimum U.S. Online Only Terminal Configuration (usa.visa.com)
- § 1026.12 Special credit card provisions - CFPB (consumerfinance.gov)
- Improve the Customer Return Process - Visa (usa.visa.com)
- Processing Refunds to Cardholders in a Merchant Store - Visa (usa.visa.com)
- New York State Senate, General Business Law Sec. 396-ii, Cashless policies prohibited (nysenate.gov)
- Delaware Code, Title 6, Chapter 25H, Consumer Equal Access Protection Act (delcode.delaware.gov)
- U.S. Merchant Surcharge Q and A (Visa) (usa.visa.com)
- Mastercard Credit Card Surcharge Rules and Fees for Merchants (mastercard.com)
- Louisiana Legislature, Act 751 of 2026 (Senate Bill 254), enrolled text (legis.la.gov)
- Surcharging FAQ for businesses (Visa Canada) (visa.ca)
- What merchant surcharge rules mean to you in Canada (Mastercard) (mastercard.com)
- Paiement par carte : frais interdits (Office de la protection du consommateur) (opc.gouv.qc.ca)
- Credit card processing "deals" may be scams (Federal Trade Commission) (ftc.gov)
Disclaimer: general information, not professional advice
This page is general educational information, not legal, tax, accounting or financial advice. Rules and rates vary by place and change, so confirm them with the official source and a qualified professional before you act. Full terms are in our Terms of Service.
Other industries we serve
Clearo works with businesses across the US and Canada. Find your industry below.
Related Services
Everything you need to accept payments and reduce costs.
Payment Processing
Transparent interchange-plus pricing
Merchant Services
Full merchant services stack for small business
Credit Card Processing Fees
Understand fees and lower your effective rate
POS Terminals
Countertop, wireless, and portable terminals
Online Payments
Secure website checkout and payment gateway
Mobile Payments
Accept payments from phone or tablet
Virtual Terminal
Phone and remote payment processing
ACH Payment Processing
Bank-to-bank payments for invoices and B2B
Chargeback Management
Tools and a rep to keep disputes in check
PCI Compliance
Support for keeping card data secure
Surcharging Program
Pass processing costs to credit card users
Pricing
See our interchange-plus rates and how we compare
Guides for retail stores
Hardware and POS
Retail POS system: how to choose one for your store
Hardware and POS
What is a POS system? How it works and how to choose
Hardware and POS
Choosing credit card processing machines for small business
Hardware and POS
Cash register vs POS system: differences and when to switch
Payment basics
Split tender: one sale, two or more ways to pay
Hardware and POS
NFC payment: how tap to pay works and what you need
Let's talk about your payments
Tell us a bit about your business and how you currently take payments. A Clearo rep will reach out within one business day with a personalized recommendation. No generic pitch, no pressure.
If we can save you money and improve your setup, we'll show you exactly how. If we can't, we'll tell you that too.
Ready to save on processing?
Fill out a quick form and a Clearo rep will reach out within one business day with a personalized recommendation.
Get Your Free ConsultationNo obligation. No pressure. Takes 2 minutes.