🇺🇸United States

Improper or non-compliant credit surcharges leading to chargebacks and forced refunds

3 verified sources

Definition

Some gasoline retailers attempt to recover card fees by adding per-gallon or percentage surcharges that exceed legal or network limits, or by failing to disclose the higher credit price clearly. These practices expose stations to consumer complaints, regulatory intervention, and compelled refunds that reverse revenue and still leave them paying the processing cost.

Key Findings

  • Financial Impact: If a 6–8 pump station processes 50,000 USD/month in credit fuel sales and 5% of transactions result in disputes, chargebacks, or refunds due to improper surcharges or disclosure, this can bleed 2,500 USD/month in reversed revenue plus associated processor fees and staff handling time.
  • Frequency: Monthly
  • Root Cause: States such as Georgia and Florida permit convenience fees or surcharges only up to the actual card cost (roughly 1–4%) and require prominent disclosure; documented examples show stations charging up to 0.90–1.00 USD more per gallon on credit—far in excess of the 1–3.5% fee range—contrary to state guidance and card-network rules.[1][2][5]

Why This Matters

This pain point represents a significant opportunity for B2B solutions targeting Retail Gasoline.

Affected Stakeholders

Station owner, Franchise operator, Accounts receivable/chargeback analyst, Legal/compliance officer, Customer service manager

Deep Analysis (Premium)

Financial Impact

$1,000-5,000 per government fleet chargeback (bulk monthly volume) + potential delisting from GSA vendor list ($50,000-200,000/year lost revenue from gov fleets) + $200-500 dispute fees • $1,000–$3,000/month from chargebacks on high-volume fuel purchases; lost repeat business as truckers switch stations • $1,000–$3,000/month in revenue variance due to chargebacks; 5–10 hours/month manual reconciliation labor

Unlock to reveal

Current Workarounds

Aggregate chargeback reports from individual stations via email; identify pattern manually; email remediation to station managers • Bookkeeper manually investigates each dispute via phone/email with trucking company, documents surcharge disclosure compliance manually, re-issues corrected invoices via email • Bookkeeper receives chargeback 5-10 days later, manually researches state law for where pump was located, determines if surcharge was compliant, writes chargeback dispute response

Unlock to reveal

Get Solutions for This Problem

Full report with actionable solutions

$99$39
  • Solutions for this specific pain
  • Solutions for all 15 industry pains
  • Where to find first clients
  • Pricing & launch costs
Get Solutions Report

Methodology & Sources

Data collected via OSINT from regulatory filings, industry audits, and verified case studies.

Evidence Sources:

Related Business Risks

Suboptimal acquirer and network selection due to poor visibility into effective rate

For a mid-sized chain processing 3 million USD/month in card volume, a 30 bps avoidable overcharge (e.g., paying 2.8% instead of an achievable 2.5%) represents 9,000 USD/month in excess fees, or over 100,000 USD/year in avoidable cost.

Credit card swipe fees consuming a material share of fuel gross margin

For a site selling 150,000 gallons/month with 80% of sales on cards, 0.075 USD/gal in card costs equates to ~9,000 USD/month in swipe fees; if average fuel margin is 0.10 USD/gal, poorly managed card costs can consume 75%+ of gross fuel margin.

State-law violations on credit pricing differentials and disclosure

A state investigation that finds thousands of overcharged transactions can trigger civil penalties plus mandatory refunds; for a busy station overcharging 0.40 USD/gal on 100,000 gallons/month for a year, exposure can exceed 48,000 USD in restitution plus penalties and legal costs.

Opaque or high credit-price differentials driving customer churn and lower volume

If a site loses even 5% of repeat fuel customers due to perceived unfair or hidden card fees, and average monthly fuel revenue is 450,000 USD with 20% in attached in-store purchases, lost gross profit can easily exceed 3,000–5,000 USD/month.

Skimming and card fraud at fuel dispensers inflating chargebacks and security costs

Industry analyses commonly estimate fuel-dispenser skimming operations can steal data from hundreds of cards per device; if even 50 fraudulent chargebacks per month at an average of 75 USD each hit a small chain, direct reversals plus chargeback fees can exceed 4,000 USD/month, excluding the capital cost of accelerated EMV pump upgrades.

Lost Sales from Repeat Drive-Off Offenders Due to Poor Reporting

$1200 per site per week (24 blocks at £50 avg)

Request Deep Analysis

🇺🇸 Be first to access this market's intelligence