FDUTPA (Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act)

Also called FDUTPA, Florida Chapter 501 Part II, Florida UDAP

Florida's consumer protection statute, and the actual enforcement risk for a Florida merchant who does not disclose a fee properly.

What it is

The Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, Chapter 501 Part II of the Florida Statutes, prohibits unfair methods of competition and unconscionable, deceptive or unfair acts or practices in trade or commerce. It is Florida's general consumer protection statute, enforced by the Attorney General and by the state attorneys, and it also supports private claims. For payments specifically, FDUTPA is the live enforcement mechanism where surcharging is concerned. The surcharge ban in section 501.0117 sits in the same chapter and is unenforced following the Eleventh Circuit's decision. FDUTPA is not. The Florida Attorney General's consumer guidance states plainly that merchants may add surcharges provided they are disclosed before purchase, and warns that any undisclosed fees may constitute an unfair or deceptive trade practice prohibited by Florida law, with a consumer complaint line published for reporting. That is the practical architecture a Florida business needs to understand. Florida does not currently police whether you surcharge. It polices whether your customer knew before they bought. FDUTPA reaches beyond surcharges. Any mandatory fee presented in a way that misleads a consumer about the price they will pay is potentially within scope, which is why it interacts with the state's newer food service charge disclosure law and with network disclosure requirements that already demand signage at entry and at the point of sale.

Why it matters to your business

If you charge your customers a surcharge, a service charge, an operational charge or any other mandatory fee, your Florida legal exposure is not about whether you may charge it. It is about whether the customer knew before they committed. That means signage at the entrance, disclosure at the point of sale, a separate line on the receipt, and the same disclosure on your website, your online ordering page, your phone orders and your text-to-pay links. The channel merchants most often miss is the one that is not physical. This is education, not legal advice. FDUTPA carries real remedies and a Florida attorney should review your disclosure language before you rely on it.

Where it gets contested

Unfair and deceptive practice statutes are deliberately broad, which is their strength and the reason businesses find them uncomfortable. There is no exhaustive list of what constitutes deception, and enforcement priorities shift with administrations and with complaint volume. In the payments channel, the more pointed observation is that FDUTPA applies to processors and agents too, not only to the merchants they serve. A processor that misrepresents rates or buries fees in a schedule delivered after signature is engaged in trade or commerce in Florida. The industry has largely avoided that conversation, and the political climate around fee transparency has been moving, not settling. What is unresolved is where the line sits for common industry practices. A monthly fee disclosed only in a fee schedule emailed after signature, an early termination fee buried in an addendum, or an equipment lease presented as included, are all practices that exist at scale and have not been comprehensively tested under Florida law.

How to check it yourself

Buy from your own business through every channel you offer: in person, online, by phone. Note the exact moment you learned the fee existed. If in any channel you learned about it after committing to buy, fix that channel this week.

Receipts

Claims above that are checkable, with where to check them. Published so you do not have to take anyone's word for it.

The Florida Attorney General states merchants may surcharge if disclosed before purchase and that undisclosed fees may constitute an unfair or deceptive trade practice prohibited by Florida law
myfloridalegal.com ↗
Fla. Stat. 501.0117 sits within the same chapter as Florida's consumer protection provisions
flsenate.gov ↗
Florida's food service charge law requires disclosure of operational charges on menus, websites, bills and receipts
gmlaw.com ↗