The cash-vs-card fee rule is one of the simpler nouz rules but it has real consequences for how you read your numbers. Knowing the rule and why it exists helps you interpret variance day-to-day.
01 What is the card-only fee rule?
The rule is hard-coded in calcTransactionFees in lib/calculations.ts: the fee % is multiplied by card revenue, never by cash revenue. That's why every revenue entry has separate BAR and EC columns — so the math always knows which part of a day's takings went through the terminal and which was cash, and applies your fee only to the card portion.
02 What does the fee math look like?
Take a day with €240 cash, €600 card, and a 2% card fee. The cash (BAR) carries no fee at all, while the card (EC) is charged 2% of €600 = €12,00. So the total fee is €12,00 — that's 2% of card revenue, not 2% of the €840 day total. The table below lays it out source by source.
The fee is 2% of card revenue, not 2% of the day total.
03 Why does cash give a profit advantage?
Because a cash-heavy day has higher net revenue than a card-heavy day at the same gross — no fee is skimmed off the cash. That's real money, and it's why a lot of small shops still encourage cash. Over a year it adds up: at 2% fees, a shop with €100k gross all-card pays €2.000 in fees while an all-cash shop pays €0. nouz captures this signal honestly because of the BAR/EC column split.
Over a year, the difference adds up: at 2% fees, a shop with €100k gross all-card pays €2.000 in fees; an all-cash shop pays €0. The difference is genuine EBIT.
04 How do I log digital payments with no card fee?
If you accept a digital payment that doesn't go through a card processor — say, a SEPA direct transfer from a regular customer — it's strictly neither BAR nor EC. In practice, log it as BAR (cash), since no acquirer fee applies to it. The label is a slight fiction, but the math comes out right because nouz won't charge a card fee against money booked as cash.
Was this article helpful?
Your vote helps us decide what to write next.