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How to use terminal card surcharging on the Timely iOS app

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Surcharging is becoming a more common business practice, including within the beauty industry. Surcharging means you are passing on the card processing fees from the business to your client. It is usually only a small additional amount, but can add up to significant savings for the business over time. This is why Timely has built a surcharge feature!

In this article you will learn how to set up terminal card surcharging via the Timely iOS app. You will need the latest version of the Timely iOS app for this, so if you don’t have automatic updates turned on, head to the app store to make sure you have the latest version downloaded. 

For more information on surcharging, see our help guide Frequently asked questions (FAQs): Surcharging. 

 

 

Important note: It is crucial to be aware of your local legislations, for example: On 28 July 2025, the New Zealand Government announced plans to ban payment surcharges. In anticipation of the ban taking effect and other upcoming changes in the payments system, there are resources available to support businesses. You can take a look at this article from the NZ Commerce Commission for more information.

 

 

How to turn on surcharging

Step-by-step instructions

1 Head to setup from the main menu in your Timely account dashboard, via the iOS app.

 

2 Select the settings tab, and check that you have a terminal connected under the terminal section. From there, click account settings > TimelyPay > TimelyPay settings.

 

3 Next, scroll down to the fees section where you will see the surcharge fees setting, from here select edit to expand the section.

 

4 Finally, choose the pass fee through to clients option, followed by the save button to enable surcharging. You will now see that surcharging has been enabled for your in-salon payments made through your TimelyPay terminal.

 

 

How to process a sale with a surcharge included

Now that you've enabled surcharging on your TimelyPay terminal, a surcharge will automatically be applied to the transaction total you enter in the checkout flow for any terminal payments. 
 

Step-by-step instructions

1 Simply add your services and products to the sale and the payment screen will show you the total excluding card processing fees, as well as what the total will be including card processing fees if the transaction is processed with your TimelyPay terminal.

 

2 Now you can select the take card payment button.

 

3 Here you can also see how much the surcharge value will be. Once you’re happy with the amount to charge the client, select the process payment button. This will connect to the terminal which will then beep and light up with the amount ready for the client to tap/swipe/insert their card.

 

Timely tip: if you need to adjust the amount for a partial payment, the total including fee will update to show you what amount the client will be charged.

 

4 Once the sale is complete, you will be able to see all the transactions for the sale on the left panel. Including the breakdown of the terminal card processing fee and the overall sales total including the fees. Both the invoice in Timely and the PDF invoice that is emailed to clients will display an extra row for the terminal card processing fee(s) along with a note that the fee is non-refundable

 

 

How to refund a sale where a surcharge occurred

If you need to refund a sale that has a surcharge, you will need to follow the usual refund process for a TimelyPay transaction. However, it is important to note that the amount refunded to your client will be the total exclusive of the surcharge amount. This is because the fee has already been used to cover the processing of the original sale. To find out more on refunding a TimelyPay terminal transaction, see the Refund section of the help centre.

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