Plumbers, electricians, HVAC techs, landscapers, roofers, contractors — you spend your days solving other people's problems. Meanwhile your card processor quietly takes 2.5% to 3.5% of every payment you collect. On a $3,000 HVAC install, that's $90 gone. On a $5,000 roofing job, $150.
You didn't become a tradesperson to subsidize Visa's profit margins. There's a legal way to stop.
Here's what most trade business owners don't think about: your processing costs scale with your ticket size. The bigger the job, the more you lose.
A retail store selling $15 items pays maybe 45 cents per transaction in fees. Annoying, but survivable. You're billing $800 for a water heater install, $2,500 for an electrical panel upgrade, $4,000 for a new AC unit. At 2.9%, those fees add up to real money fast.
On $60,000 a month in card volume, you're giving away roughly $1,740 every month. That's $20,880 a year. That's a service van. That's a helper for the summer. That's yours.
Most trade businesses share a few things that make dual pricing and surcharging work especially well.
Nobody gets an HVAC estimate that just says "$4,200." It's broken out: equipment, labor, materials, permit fees. A processing fee or a cash/card price difference fits right into that format. It's just another line on the invoice.
A 3% fee on a $12 coffee is 36 cents. A 3% fee on a $3,500 job is $105. Multiply that across 20 jobs a month and now we're talking about real money that should be in your pocket.
Plenty of your customers pay by check. Some pay cash. Others want to put it on a card because they need the float. Dual pricing gives cash and check customers a clear discount and card customers a clear choice.
You're not behind a counter all day. You need payment solutions that go where the work is: a customer's kitchen, a construction site, a commercial rooftop. We've got equipment built specifically for that.
If you send quotes then bill after the job, which is how most trade businesses operate, surcharging slots right in. One price on the invoice. If the customer pays by credit card, a clearly labeled fee gets added. Check and cash customers pay the quoted price. Nobody questions a line item on a $3,000 invoice.
If you run a shop where customers come to you — a plumbing supply counter, a small engine repair, a locksmith storefront, dual pricing is the simpler path. Post both prices, let customers choose, done.
A lot of trade businesses use both: surcharging for the field invoices, dual pricing at the counter if they have one. We'll set it up however makes sense for how you actually operate.
Battery-powered, 4G and Wi-Fi, built-in printer, front and rear cameras for scanning. The VP550 goes wherever the job takes you and handles dual pricing automatically. Most trade businesses qualify for one at no upfront cost through our free terminal program.
See If You Qualify →Don't want to carry more equipment? TouchPay turns your iPhone or Android into a payment terminal. Customer taps their card to your phone and you're done. $9.95/month, no hardware to buy or charge. Good for smaller jobs, callbacks, or a backup when the terminal's in the other truck.
Learn More →| Monthly Card Volume | Current Fees (at 2.9%) | Monthly Savings | Annual Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| $25,000 | $725 | ~$689 | ~$8,270 |
| $50,000 | $1,450 | ~$1,378 | ~$16,530 |
| $80,000 | $2,320 | ~$2,204 | ~$26,450 |
| $120,000 | $3,480 | ~$3,306 | ~$39,670 |
Savings reflect ~95% recovery rate accounting for cash and check payments.
Some might ask about it. Very few will walk. Think about it from their side: they're paying you $2,800 for a new furnace. An $84 processing fee isn't going to change their decision, especially when the alternative is a discount for paying cash or check, which many of them prefer anyway. The customers who complain the loudest are usually the ones who would have written a check regardless.
Most field service management platforms support surcharge line items or can be configured for dual pricing. We'll look at your specific setup during the analysis. In most cases it's a configuration change, not a software swap.
Yes. A surcharge can be added as a line item to any invoice, QuickBooks, FreshBooks, or whatever you're using. We'll show you the cleanest way to set it up.
Same rules apply. If they're paying by card, the fee or dual price applies. If they're on autopay, we can configure recurring billing through our gateway with the appropriate pricing built in. No manual work on your end.
FeeSlicers was founded by Aaron and George, two payments industry veterans who built and sold a payment gateway together. George has worked with trade businesses for years and knows the realities: seasonal cash flow, the 30-60-90 day receivables cycle, customers who "forgot their checkbook," the truck payment that's due whether you had a slow week or not.
When you call, you're talking to George. Not a call center, not a bot. A person who's going to give you a straight answer about whether this makes sense for your operation.
We were doing $95K a month in card volume and just accepting the fees as a cost of doing business. George showed us the actual numbers and set us up in a week. We're keeping an extra $2,500 a month. Should have done this years ago.
I run three crews and we take payments on-site after every job. The VP550 terminals travel with each truck. Customers see the cash and card price, they pick one, we move on. Nobody's complained.
Free analysis. Real numbers. No obligation. If it doesn't make sense for your operation, George will tell you that too.
Or call George directly: (574) 238-1397