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3% added credit card fee
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Just had new granite countertops installed in my kitchen. The company gave me a 10% discount for cash...With a receipt, not under the table. Also a %525 credit for removing and disposing of the old countertops, better than $1k off the price.
SHOCKNAWE
NES Member
Knob Creek
NES Member
It is suppose to be illegal to charge more for a CC transaction that cash in this state. But as stated, businesses call it a 'cash discount'. Right now I'm getting 5% cash back from Amazom on Amazon purchases using their card. And 3% back from BJ's purchases and 10 cents off a gallon of gas. All my cards are giving me 1%-2% back on all other purchases.Some 3% back at Restaurants. I use to always pay cash at restaurants until the Covid thing and they started thinking cash was tainted.
Asaltweapon
NES Member
Ya. While you’re looking at the parts you need on the counter and your ride is on 4 Jack stands in the driveway.
Sure you are.
Asaltweapon
NES Member
This is what happens when you disinfect your money in the microwave.
This has been a unique issue with mostly gun shops. They usually have an agreement with Merchant service/Bank to accept Visa/Mastercard sometime American Express the same as cash. Business gets to write off expenses. Terminal/processing fees. If you went grocery shopping and the clerk asked you if you were paying cash or credit, what would you do? How many impulse buys have you made in a gun shop when you didn't have the cash? I know I have. While you are at it, look up Nancy Pelosi & Visa IPO. Nancy , it seems got some insider info. All legal too.
Knob Creek
NES Member
My wife frowns on me bring babes home.
Roadglide
NES Member
They just inflated the price so you think you got a deal. Believe me they made a profit off of you. They certainly didn’t take a loss. Sales and discounts are all bullshit to make the consumer feel happy. Manufacturers and vendors manipulate the price but are not taking a loss.
Dennis in MA
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This this and more this.
Just paid my annual Bill Galvin Memorial Go F Yourself mASS Business "tax." (Annual business renewal somethingorother.)
It's $125 if you do it by hand and send a check. OK.
But if you do it online, it's only $100.
They have 2 options: Pay by bank acct debit or cc. I chose bank acct. Got all the way through, $110. $100 and then $10 for some sort of expediency surcharge. Surcharge??? For paying online??? How about I mail a check? Nope. That's by paper and you'll pay $125 with no expediency surcharge because you're doing it the old slow way.
OK, CC. $110. FINE. Basically I just F'd the processor of these transactions out of 30% of their gross profit margin. They can go F themselves. I could see a $3 or $5 surcharge for a CC, but charging $10 and then doing it also for direct bank debit???
Had they just made it $110 or $100 (because you don't think their prices have anything to do with costs when it comes to state government) no one would complain. I bitch about this every February when I'm FORCED to file.
cstockwell
NES Member
Yup. same as doing your yearly corporate filings with MA. Costs $500 for the filing and then $20 to pay for it online.
Normally it's civil, a violation of the merchant agreement, but MGL reads "No seller in any sales transaction may impose a surcharge on a cardholder who elects to use a credit card.... any discount from the regular price offered by the seller for the purpose of inducing payment by cash, check ... shall not constitute a finance charge under section four if such discount is offered to all prospective buyers and its availability is disclosed clearly and conspicuously"
So technically, responding to "What's the cash price?" with a discount is unlawful in MA!?!
TIL the practice of charging a credit card surcharge for in-person transactions is unlawful in Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Texas, and a few other states.
ReluctantDecoy
NES Member
Government literally writes their own rules that bypass this MA law regarding "no surcharge", because: of course they do. From an article I read on this matter:
Separate laws and regulations affect the ability of government agencies and educational institutions to implement surcharges, and these are allowed even in states that prohibit surcharging by consumer businesses.
My town has a "convenience fee" to use a credit card to pay a town bill. So, instead of paying that, I just send them a physical check using my online bank account. Costs me nothing (neither postage nor the cost of the check), but they get to manually enter all the data from the note field of the check into their systems, then get the check transported over to the bank.
'Splain to me how this saves the taxpayers money.
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A few others have said it, but yes in MA illegal to charge extra for using a credit card fee, but you can offer a discount for paying cash. The difference is, you cannot advertise the cash discounted price alone. Need to advertise CC price, or both.
PaulR
NES Member
This.
This is what my research has indicated as well, however I'm not an authority.
However, if you figure out the difference between this and charging more for cards, let me know.
(edit) looks like Sal explained it pretty well above.
Knob Creek
NES Member
Quit following me around.
steven grammont
NES Member
Cash is king , and I live by that motto.
.
Amputee Marksman
NES Member
Way back in the day I used to buy a lot of motorcycle parts at a place in Allston. I think it was named Cycle Craft. They used to have a big sign behind the register that said "3% cash discount. All prices include cash discount."
Fees on debit cards are limited. This is because there is no risk on a debit card. The money is already there. Fees on credit cards theoretically reflect a certain amount of risk that the purchaser will not pay the bill. The interchange rate paid by the merchant is based on many different factors and in some cases is limited regardless of the transaction amount. Large ticket items, such as cars, have typically refused CC payments or limited the amount charged so the profit is not eaten up by fees.
Bottom line, CC have fees. The merchant can adjust prices to cover the fees regardless of payment method or they can can give a lower price if you pay cash, check or debit. The irony is the cost of handling cash can sometimes exceed the CC fees and there is the increased possibility of employee theft with cash and getting robbed.
Fees on debit cards are limited. This is because there is no risk on a debit card. The money is already there. Fees on credit cards theoretically reflect a certain amount of risk that the purchaser will not pay the bill. The interchange rate paid by the merchant is based on many different factors and in some cases is limited regardless of the transaction amount. Large ticket items, such as cars, have typically refused CC payments or limited the amount charged so the profit is not eaten up by fees.
Bottom line, CC have fees. The merchant can adjust prices to cover the fees regardless of payment method or they can can give a lower price if you pay cash, check or debit. The irony is the cost of handling cash can sometimes exceed the CC fees and there is the increased possibility of employee theft with cash and getting robbed.
CrackPot
NES Member
Your perspective is not wrong .... for 1999. With the gig economy and places like square, intuit, etc we have fixed fee structure vs variable. In the "old days" you had to sign up with MC, Visa, Amex, Diners, etc all separately. You might get a clearing house processor like Leaders or similar that would handle it all for you (for a fee), but you still had individual accounts with every possible processor. Some had monthly fees. some had minimums. some charged fixed fee per swipe plus %. some charged a % only. The % might be fixed or it might be variable based on whether the card was basic, premium or rewards. CC processing was highly variable and expensive to manage and impossible to predict.
Then the gig economy came along. Square charges no monthly and no swipe fee, just a fixed % per swipe and a higher fixed % per key in (internet, no card, etc). It does not matter if it is a platinum Amex or a debit card, they charge the same fee. They make a lot of money on debit swipes and can lose money on the super premium swipes. Over all they make a good penny for their processing services.
Small business are better aligned with the Squares than the old school processors. Big box, restaurants, other high volume places do better on old school processors.
In the gig economy your choices are VERY limited as a gun shop. You can find plenty of old school processors that will take your business, but most of the new ones wont touch you. Paypal and Square being two of the biggest think you are selling children. I use Intuit who is fine as long as I swipe but said they would cancel my account if I ever keyed in (no selling guns on the internet they say).
So unless you know who the shop is using to process payments, you don't know their fee structure. Yes, traditional debit is same as cash, but not if you use a Gig processor. The best I can do is echeck where it is only 1% fee instead of close to 3%. Debit is still the same as credit.
Margins are not flexible enough to price everything as if it was being paid for with credit. It is not an accident that the Deli Ticket Emporium in Woburn publishes cash and non-cash prices.
Dennis in MA
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I'm considering shipping a box of pennies next time. Loose pennies.
I'm pretty sure the taint is further down.
