"'Vejita' S. Cousin" wrote:

In article , Roy Smith wrote:
When I paid my bill, I was astounded when they tacked on a few extra
bucks to cover credit card transaction fees! It wasn't a whole lot of
money, but I've never heard of anybody ever doing anything like that.
I didn't even think it was legal.

It's done but not a common practice. The University of Washington
(where I'm a student) charges $4 processing fees for payments below $250
and a $20+ (forget exact amount) fee for credit card payments above that.
Most busniess eat the fees (ie. pass it along in hidden costs) for
processing and eqp. Some don't. It's crap either way thou...

If they accept Visa or Mastercard, both would be VERY interested in hearing
this. It is a violation of their merchant agreements.

http://global.mastercard.com/my/consumer/cust_serv.html
http://usa.visa.com/media/business/e...erch_guide.pdf

By the way, credit card fees generally range from 1-3 percent. The fees are less
if the card is presented and swiped in person and/or address verification is
used. Because PIN based debit transactions (online debit) cards have a very low
fixed fee (not based on price) stores hate when debit cards are used with a
signature (offline debit) as these use the credit card networks and have credit
card style fees involved. That is why supermarkets and the post office can give
you cash back at the register (and are happy to do so, because it reduces their
cash handling costs since they give it to you). Offline debit transactions have
very slightly less fees than pure credit cards, but the difference is
negligible.

This fee disparity is the genesis of the recently settled lawsuit between
Wal-mart, Sears, et al vs. Visa and Mastercard. As a result of the settlement,
the fees for offline debit are falling.