Community Chat

[Laura14]

My employer has done this for decades. We are currently at 3% to match our cost of handling the card, but other forms of payment are free.

The credit card fees the business pays add up significantly and have to be passed to the consumer if they want the convenience. 

My employer does about one million dollars in sales annually. 3% of that is a $30,000 annual bill. That's most of my salary so to keep me employed, he passes on the cost of that one thing to our customer base.

The other fees that we have to endure and what really kills us with credit card patrons is the disputes.Even if a dispute is settled in our favor, it's an automatic $25 per dispute and then another $25 if the charge is refunded.

That adds up and most of the people who dispute through credit cards with our business are not successful. It's a ploy in our industry to utilize our services and then try and get them for free.

We usually ban those people and our owner takes pleasure in making the phone call to the person who claims his card was never here even though we can not bill a credit card without it physically being swiped at our terminal so it's the fraud that really is the culprit.

And if you can use ACH or debit cards free of charge, please know those services are also paid for by the business. They are usually at a 1.5% fee which businesses are for the most part still ready to absorb for you. 

[We rescue cats]

A friend uses a salon that has a 5% surcharge for debit cards or the customer can write a check. . . she had a wedding party that chose to write a check, it was over $700. The check bounced-it was a closed account.
I taken to carrying my checkbook again, something I've not dot for 6 years according to my check register!

[Sunshine Kate]

If a merchant charges a credit card fee, I shop elsewhere.  That's the only way one can let them know you don't like paying the fee.

The merchant has a business and part of having a business is using credit cards.

[Sunshine Kate]

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@shoekitty wrote:

I also think many of us just use our cards for convenience or points businesses know this. I have started to carry cash, not more than I can afford to loose...but enough to get around. I laugh because sometimes the young kids have trouble counting back cash in small stores where the cash register may not tell them. lol. Or they have trouble counting money. My mom used to teache me to count back money with her. It was fun, and good math lesson. 

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That's how it is around here.  Some of the younger cashiers don't know how to count back change.  I've seen them count the cash I give them 3 times to make sure it's right.  Counting back my change is another story.  (I'm not talking about a large sum of money either).

[Hayfield]

I've been noticing that a lot too.  I haven't carried a check book in years and I really don't want to start carrying one again.  DH & I golf and we tip the guys when we drop off our carts, just a couple of dollars.  Anyway, I go to the bank at the beginning of the month and get a least $500 in cash, small bills for tipping and for anyother services I do pay cash for.  I get mani/pedi's and pay cash for those and cash for other tipping. DH uses cash for his haircuts.  I stopped using a debit card after it got hacked twice and since it's tied directly to my checking account too,  and I just use my credit cards for everything else.  I don't use the ATM machine either.  This works best for me.  As far as restaurant's go, you can tip less but I don't because I don't want to "punish" the server, not their fault.  

I remember when I was a growing up, my Dad always had a cash drawer at home for things he liked to pay cash for, so I have a cash drawer too now.  Find what works for you.

[Lucky Charm]

I won't discontinue patronizing a business because of a credit card fee.  Especially if it's a small business owner, plus I do like to shop local. 

The town where I live there are no department stores, actually.  For national chains, we have CVS, Walgreens, Acme grocery stores, and a hardware store that I think is a national chain.  ETA:  Oops, there is a McDonalds, a Dominos, Starbucks).  Every other restaurant, clothing, and home furnishings boutiques, souvenir shops are all independently owned.

If a local store has something I like and want, I'll use cash if there's a cc fee.

[skatting44]

   In my area . most Doctors offices and businesses  want cash or check  to avoid cc fee

[Shelbelle]

My nail shop also charges 2.5%, I pay in cash. 

[Bonkers1]

@Kachina624 

So true and also depressing.

[stevieb]

Sorry to be crude, actually, no I'm not; it's an effed up world in which we live. Prices are and have been increasingly staggering for some time and yet everybody increasingly wants the customer to pay the freight. I remember not so long ago when checks were frowned upon. Many of us even stopped carrying them, and really, who hauls around hundreds in cash? Some might, but not many. Someone above suggested the Care Credit card. It can be useful, but beware, it's another Synchrony Bank money making option and the interest can be quite staggering if one loses track of when their 'promotional periods' end. Bend over consumer and prepare to be kicked. It all comes down to yet another no-win situation.