Fee for buying with credit card

dl8860

dl8860

dl8860

Soldato
Joined
25 Jul 2010
Posts
4,148
Location
Worcestershire
Just spoke on the phone to a trade seller to ask if they accepted credit card as payment, and they said yes but with a 3% charge for VISA/MasterCard and 5% charge for AMEX.

I'd like to pay with credit card for section 75 protection, but really don't want to pay hundreds of quid. And besides, charging credit card fees was now illegal in the UK. I reminded him of that at which point he started rattling on about his costs and how it would leave him out of pocket. I then said if he's unable to do credit card without a charge then I'd be happy to pay with debit, at which point he said he might be able to waive the credit card fee as some sort of discount. But 5% on £8k is £400, and I can't see him swallowing that. So it's probably some BS to try not to discourage me from the purchase.

I guess I don't have any way to compel him to offer the sale at the advertised price and accept credit card, as it's at the buyer's discretion what payment methods they take?
 
That's banned.
I'd report him to trading standards in his area.

His costs are none of your concern
 
crinkleshoes said:
It's a really stupid new law... at least in the past you had the choice of payment method and knew the associated costs... now costs will increase to cover the fees.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/cards/2018/01/cards-fees-to-be-banned-from-saturday#reportit
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crinkleshoes said:
It's a really stupid new law... at least in the past you had the choice of payment method and knew the associated costs... now costs will increase to cover the fees.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/cards/2018/01/cards-fees-to-be-banned-from-saturday#reportit
Click to expand...

Stupid maybe but in ordinary retail transactions some people were taking the **** somewhat. Charging a flat 50 p for a transaction which is unreasonable
 
Many Local shops still do it.
My local Chippy still does it, when I mentioned it the owner simply said "That's fine, Let me just add that charge to the cost of your fish then"

Summed it up perfectly to me lol
 
jamoor said:
Stupid maybe but in ordinary retail transactions some people were taking the **** somewhat. Charging a flat 50 p for a transaction which is unreasonable
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Not really no... perfectly reasonable... small retail providers have fees like that and they vary depending on the card issuer and whether debit or credit.

As long as the fees were only what they were being charged... then I had no issue with it, if you don't want to pay it - just use cash.

I don't think you'd be silly enough to think it is the businesses who will be absorbing the costs - they will be passing them on to their customers and now there is no longer the option for the consumer to not pay the fee by using alternate means of payment.
 
crinkleshoes said:
Not really no... perfectly reasonable... small retail providers have fees like that and they vary depending on the card issuer and whether debit or credit.

As long as the fees were only what they were being charged... then I had no issue with it, if you don't want to pay it - just use cash.

I don't think you'd be silly enough to think it is the businesses who will be absorbing the costs - they will be passing them on to their customers and now there is no longer the option for the consumer to not pay the fee by using alternate means of payment.
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No they weren't.

No banks charge 50p to process a card transaction. 10 pence is more realistic. Really small shops can use izettle or similar that charge a percentage which is fair on the consumer.
 
jamoor said:
No they weren't.

No banks charge 50p to process a card transaction. 10 pence is more realistic. Really small shops can use izettle or similar that charge a percentage which is fair on the consumer.
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So yes, you've never been on the receiving end of a card processing agreement.

50p per transaction as a base price... often plus a percentage of the value. That was a very common model for a low-volume transaction small retail shop type agreement.
 
Even though the retailer is getting charged for the transaction, passing that charge on to the consumer and making a fuss about it is ridiculous.
Are you going to charge the customer more because they took up some of your employees time by asking a question? Should you be paying an extra charge for this that another customer shouldn't because they didn't ask a question? Are you going to charge extra because its dark today so you had to turn the lights on? Where does it end? With this mentality all shops will end up like ryanair.
Yes, there is a cost associated with taking a card payment. But there are also costs associated with handling cash.
 
mrbazmondo said:
Even though the retailer is getting charged for the transaction, passing that charge on to the consumer and making a fuss about it is ridiculous.
Are you going to charge the customer more because they took up some of your employees time by asking a question? Should you be paying an extra charge for this that another customer shouldn't because they didn't ask a question? Are you going to charge extra because its dark today so you had to turn the lights on? Where does it end? With this mentality all shops will end up like ryanair.
Yes, there is a cost associated with taking a card payment. But there are also costs associated with handling cash.
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Exactly,cost is part of doing business and it's a small cost. Add it on to the price of goods,just like any other overhead.
It's in know,let's hope Tories don't reverse it,as it's a much needed law.
 
Costs for handling cash are really low (0.5% last I checked).

If some tool wants to pay by card for a £4 transaction and the fee eats up the shops entire margin... of course they should pass that cost onto the customer.

Somewhere like McDonalds can handle that because they'll have a large volume processing agreement, which will mean that it's just a flat fee spread across multiple locations and then a small percentage of each transaction.

Smaller shops, like your average chippy or corner shop will not get that deal.

The problem is not whether or not the consumer will be paying the fee... in both scenarios, the consumer will be paying the fee.

You both make it sound like the shop will eat the fee themselves... that's very silly.

All this is doing is pushing up the price so that the fee is included in the price and we not longer have the option to avoid the fee.
 
crinkleshoes said:
You both make it sound like the shop will eat the fee themselves... that's very silly.
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Not at all. That isasilly conclusion. When we have said it's a overhead cost like any other. Show you could come to that conclusion is mind boggling.

And yes a stupidly small increase in costs ofgoodsto cover overheads as it should be.
 
Glaucus said:
Not at all. That isasilly conclusion. When we have said it's a overhead cost like any other. Show you could come to that conclusion is mind boggling.

And yes a stupidly small increase in costs ofgoodsto cover overheads as it should be.
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If someone's spending a reasonable amount, it's easy to absorb. But then that's what most shops already did.

It's the multiple small transactions that will kill the smaller guys... all their margin gone.
 
crinkleshoes said:
If someone's spending a reasonable amount, it's easy to absorb. But then that's what most shops already did.

It's the multiple small transactions that will kill the smaller guys... all their margin gone.
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No it won't.they can add like a penny on to every item and make even more money. As well as increase there turnover massively. Places that accept cards and don't change have far more customers.this is going to kill no one off.

It'll possibly help the market out be making shops shop around for better fees and thus encourage more of a competitive market.
 
If I spend £100 with you one week, then the next week I spend £2 and you charge me 50 for using a card, I'm going to stop shopping with you and spend my money somewhere else.
 
crinkleshoes said:
So yes, you've never been on the receiving end of a card processing agreement.

50p per transaction as a base price... often plus a percentage of the value. That was a very common model for a low-volume transaction small retail shop type agreement.
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This is what I have been quoted
Mastercard/Visa Personal Credit

0.685%

Business/Premium Credit

2%

Visa/Maestro Debit

0.385%

Minimum monthly usage

£15.00

Refunds

FREE

PCI Fee ( 6 months free)

£4.99

Authorisation Fee

2p

E-commerce Gateway

£9.50 a month +_vat

Contract Length

12 months

But it begs the question what about izettle and square?
 
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