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I got a lot of interesting feedback back. I say interesting because there are actually people out there who don’t mind the fee’s. As a small business owner, I could not and will not ever charge an extra charge for one of my clients to use a card. Could you imagine your hairdresser being like “oh hey girl btw I’m gunna begin charging $3 for you to use your card.” I just don’t think it’s right but because it turns ME off when business try to pass that charge down onto me for wanting to use my card. Those credit card and merchant fee’s are our responsibility for owning the business, not our patrons!
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It actually might be illegal here in the states but everyone does it! It makes me wonder, are they writing off the fees even tho customers pay the fee because if so, then they’re cheating the system! And being a business owner myself, I do not charge an extra fee. That’s part of owning a business! I get so turned off every time
….so in California, it is illegal
Comments
As a business owner you should know that credit card processing costs money. It isn’t a free service. The merchant fees are between 1.5% and 3.5% of each transaction. So you have two options: don’t charge a fee and take a loss, or charge a fee and break even.
Also, read the laws, many states passed laws that they can pass on the fee.
Also, re: California
Exceptions:
There are a few exceptions, such as mandatory fees charged by restaurants, bars, and other food vendors, but these must be clearly and conspicuously displayed along with the price
We didn’t charge fees. We just raised prices by 4% for everyone. Math always wins with me. If it’s part of the cost of the dish, it goes in the equation.
TANSTAAFL. The customer always pays.
Karsh
A write off is not a dollar for dollar savings. Use cash instead and you won’t have any issues.
In Russia we had law that price for final buyers (persons) must be same despite method it’s paid. Now de facto businesses charge more for payments that doesn’t require paying bankers as much for operations ‘cos cost for payment processing ‘median worst case’ is now part of THE price. That’s another way to look at it.
OTOH i’d heard that in US lot of stores display price without local/state sales tax and it is applied at checkout – well, that looks like outright con for us. But we no longer had sales tax.
As long as the business is clear about it I have no problem. I can choose to pay for the convenience of not carrying cash or bring cash to avoid it.
I didn’t know it was illegal anywhere in the US anymore. I think it’s perfectly legit for a merchant to charge the customer the 2 or 3% he would otherwise lose when the customer pays with a card. Fuck the banks.
Even the effing DMV here does it. There was a fee for even using a debit card. The payment was like $250, so not like when some businesses have a CC fee for amounts under $5 or whatever.
I agree with this. Just add 3% or whatever to the cost of everything. Most people pay with card anyway.
In California it’s illegal to charge a separate fee. But you can include the fee as part of the cost of items.
In British Columbia you can now legally charge 2.4 percent on credit card transactions but have to include it on the invoice and let the customer know. The business pays those credit card fees so how is that fare to the small business to pay for your points that add up to several thousands a year.
As a person who pays cash 95% of the time, it’s not fair for me to pay 4% more for a product because others like to use credit to accumulate points.
The users should be responsible for the fee.
>It actually might be illegal here in the states
The IRS itself and most municipal governments charge you a fee for paying taxes using a credit card.