Credit card processing and merchant services in Burlington, ON

Since May 1, 2025, every short-term accommodation in Burlington has needed a licence from the City. By-law 001-2025 defines one as a dwelling unit rented for no more than 28 consecutive days, up to 183 days a year, and it prohibits advertising a short-term accommodation without a licence. So the licence comes first and the listing second, before any guest's card gets charged.

The price in that listing has a federal rule behind it as well. The Competition Bureau says drip pricing, advertising a price that can't actually be paid because mandatory fixed fees get added later, is against the law unless the extra charge is imposed by government, such as sales tax. A host who shows $140 a night and then adds a $60 cleaning fee that every guest must pay is advertising a price nobody can book. Fold the cleaning fee into the nightly rate, or show the full total from the first screen. HST can still go on top, because it's a government charge.

A credit card surcharge is a separate question. Ontario allows one on Visa and Mastercard credit cards, capped at 2.4% or your cost of acceptance, after 30 days' notice and with the fee disclosed before the guest pays. We haven't found Competition Bureau guidance on whether a surcharge counts as drip pricing, so if you add one, follow the card networks' disclosure rules exactly.

Deposits are easier by payment link. Send one from our virtual terminal and the guest types in their own card number, so it never sits in your inbox. Shops and studios in a city of 186,948 people face the same advertised-price rule whenever they add a mandatory fixed fee of their own. A free statement review shows what you pay to accept cards now, and our Ontario page has the provincial rules.