Bill, I do not think Harry "gets off on screwing small vendors". I doubt he is buying a pop to screw the store, I bet he just wants a pop, and the store advertises it accepts Visa/MasterCard as a form of payment.

All, Cash is not a "fee free" transaction. You need a cash register, counting equipment, the time it takes to give change and count the cash, and sometimes a service like Brinks to transport the cash. Also, there is a lot more risk with cash including incorrect counting, stealing/shrinkage, and counterfeit bills. Credit card dollars are nearly instant, and require much less back office work.

GoatHerderEd

My company grosses about $100M a year in credit card buisness, we pay about $3M in credit card fees. Just how it goes.

Set your sales margin's accordingly.

Wormfather

alkone123

Bill55

Any store that sets a minimum purchase amount for all customers regardless of payment is also in violation of their credit card merchant agreement because there is still the improper setting of a floor minimum for the credit cards. This is still a violation of the merchant agreement even though check and cash customers have the same floor limit - since there is no contract stating that the store cannot have a floor minimum for cash and check transactions.

Fees for credit card transactions are a store operating cost and, like payroll and electricity, the store has to pay these costs of doing business. It may well be that a store has to raise prices on smaller "convenience" items to discourage small purchases [this is a convenience price, common in convenience stores]. Maybe the store elects not to carry low cost items to avoid having the cost of the sale exceed the profit earned. Maybe the store has to reduce overhead to afford the fees associated with accepting credit cards. Maybe the store should decide not to accept plastic at all.

If any store owner does not like the fees associated with taking credit cards then any such store owners should not voluntarily agree to take credit cards in their stores.

It is not the customer's fault that floor minimums are prohibited or that the store owner has agreed to take credit cards under an agreement that prohibits floor minimums.

CommentHarry

Grow up.

Most of those businesses are mom and pop restaurants, which means the average bill is far above $5 or $10. The merchant is just trying to protect themselves from the customer whom orders a single diet drink, sits at a table for two hours at peak dinner hours and then stiffs the teenage waitress for a tip.

The merchants could implement an across the board $5 or $10 minimum. A minimum that must be paid by all customers even those paying cash. Such minimums are perfectly legal. Of course then you would whine about the minimum purchasing requirements. The merchant could just charge $10 for everything on the menu.. and give you an $8 discount when you purchase a meal with your $10 drink, but that would be a book keeping nighmare for a small business.

The bottom line is credit card companies raise merchant rates at will, add surcharges at will, and screwover the merchant on stolen credit cards. So why can't the merchant try to maintain a profitable business?

Don't like showing your photo ID? Tough. Stolen credit cards cost merchants more than employee thefts and shoplifting combines. I don't want to know your personal details, I am hoping the picture is a person of the same sex and race as the person on the other side of the counter and the names on the credit card and photo ID kinda of look the same.

Don't like a minimum purhcase? Tough. $3.17 is my current Visa fee for ANY credit card tranasction. Buy something for $2 and charge it to your credit card and I (the merchant)am out $1.17 plus the cost of the goods. Damn right I am going to charge a minimum transaction amount.

StevieD

marnen

LBWalker2

Also, as far as American Express goes, I have read here and on other sites that AmEx "discourages" these practices (minimum charges, transaction fees) but does not outright prohibit them. AmEx DOES however prohibit discrimination against their cards by the merchant, meaning that if the merchant doesn't have a transaction fee or minimum amount for their Visa and Mastercard purchases (since they can't), they can't for AmEx purchases either as this would be discrimination against the card.

macaddictg4

idledebonair

claire333