@bshelmer when you "surcharge" how it would work in practice is you charge $1,000 base amount

Then you charge the customer 3.5% for the cc fee

Your merchant provider would then charge 3.3816%

Base Charge: $1000

Surcharge 3.5%: $35

Customer Pays: $1,035

Fee paid to merchant: $34.99956

Your revenue is increased, and the fees are still incurred and written off.  It is just a tool to facilitate the compliance measures for surcharging.