Credit cards fees charged left and right!

[Zizou]

Hi

There is such an increase of merchants charging a fee for paying by credit cards. I just paid a doctor bill online and there was a $1.53 CC charge on the bottom of the bill.

I forgot where I was but a couple of days ago another merchant told me of the fee prior to pay with Visa.

They basically cancel the cash rewards.

Thxs

Pat

[JoeRockhead]

I guess merchants are getting tired of footing the bill for the use of CCs. There are a few states where it's a no-no to do so, or the fee has to be disclosed and/or can't exceed what the processing fee charged to the merchant is.

[visionsdivine]

These are the times when it's good to keep a checkbook or just use cash. My mechanic charges a fee to take credit card payments, so I'll just write him a check. Old fashioned, but not completely obsolete yet.

[CreditCuriosity]

I think merchants that accept credit cards should eat the fee it is called the cost of doing business.   Either take cc's and dont charge a mark-up or be "cash" only.   I obviously would take CC's and just make cash/cc all one price and no extra charge for CC's and just put it into cost of goods to avoid complaints

[markbeiser]

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@JoeRockhead wrote:

There are a few states where it's a no-no to do so, or the fee has to be disclosed and/or can't exceed what the processing fee charged to the merchant is.

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Texas is one of the states where it is illegal to charge a service fee for taking a CC.
The law exempts government entities, but shockingly, not all of them actually charge the fee they are allowed to!

[Gregory1776]

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@CreditCuriosity wrote:

I think merchants that accept credit cards should eat the fee it is called the cost of doing business.   Either take cc's and dont charge a mark-up or be "cash" only.   I obviously would take CC's and just make cash/cc all one price and no extra charge for CC's and just put it into cost of goods to avoid complaints

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They're not "eating the fee"

they adjust their prices to be competitive if they want to offer you the ability to use a credit card. 

basically you pay more because everyone uses credit cards or cards 

[longtimelurker]

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@Gregory1776 wrote:

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@CreditCuriosity wrote:

I think merchants that accept credit cards should eat the fee it is called the cost of doing business.   Either take cc's and dont charge a mark-up or be "cash" only.   I obviously would take CC's and just make cash/cc all one price and no extra charge for CC's and just put it into cost of goods to avoid complaints

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They're not "eating the fee"

they adjust their prices to be competitive if they want to offer you the ability to use a credit card. 

basically you pay more because everyone uses credit cards or cards 

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RIght, though to be fair when @CreditCuriosity said "put it into cost of goods to avoid complaints" that's what was implied.

In any event, the whole "cost of doing business" is somewhat elastic.   If enough major merchants decide to charge more for credit cards, that becomes the standard, and the new "cost of doing business" assumes that credit card fees are covered by extra charges.  There is no rule (well, outside the states where there is!) that it's the merchants job to absorb the fees, either by reducing profit or by increasing prices for all.

[Tdatb64]

It seems like most of the merchants on Gunbroker who accept credit cards charge a fee of anywhere from 2.5%-5% to use one.

At worst, if the fee gets passed on to consumers it should, by law, be disclosed beforehand and should be exactly the fee charged them by the processing network: no charging customers the Visa fee when they use an Amex.

[FicoMike0]

I haven't seen this, but I'll watch for it.

[ptatohed]

I remember quite-some-years-ago, I bought something at a gas station, inside.  It was a 99c soda or something.  I swiped, he gave me the receipt, and there was a 25c charge on there.  I asked what is this??  And he said, you paid with a credit card.  I glared at him and said you should have told me ahead of time.  He threw his hands up and said wo wo, here you go, and he opened the cash register and handed me a quarter.