Charges for using credit cards?

Speaking from the accounting/bookkeeping side of the issue...merchant services fees are becoming ridiculous. For a small business, it's tempting to forget the high monthly fees and just not accept cards, but a business can not survive like that any more. It's expected that you take plastic. I have seen smaller transactions where as much as a quarter of the funds taken in are immediately gone for merchant fees, it all depends on the fee structure in the business' contract. Credit Card Merchant fees are beginning to place a burden on smaller businesses and nonprofits who want to accept credit cards.

Plus on top of the c/c merchant fees, if the business wants to accept American Express, they're forced to sign an additional merchant services contract with AMEX Merchant Services, as they are seperate from VISA/MasterCard/Discover and make you pay extra on top of your other merchant fees. This is why many businesses do not accept AMEX...they can't afford to.

So, as for this fee, it's going to be a choice between raising their prices on EVERYONE, or just add on a share of the merchant fee to those using that service. Honestly, I prefer the fee for C/C users, instead of being penalized when not even using a card and paying cash.

I allways have $100 to $300 in my wallet or stashed away at home. I may only go to the bank once a month but when I'm there I cash a check so I always have cash. My friend who owns a tackle shop said if someone spends under $10 in their store and uses a charge card they don't really make any money off the transaction. That's been years back sense he told me that and I'm not sure how much that has changed over the years.

My friend who owns a tackle shop said if someone spends under $10 in their store and uses a charge card they don't really make any money off the transaction.

That's what I was just saying about the smaller transactions. I know some convenience stores around here won't accept a card if the transaction is under $5.00 for that very reason....after fees, they'd be literally giving their products away for nothing.

That's what I was just saying about the smaller transactions. I know some convenience stores around here won't accept a card if the transaction is under $5.00 for that very reason....after fees, they'd be literally giving their products away for nothing.

I saw your post right after I posted mine. She required a $10 purchase if using a credit card but that's not legal or maybe it was against the contract with the merchant. Can't remember.

The system use to be simple until Visa and MastarCard cornered the market and started demanding more and more percentage/fees from merchants. Of course, merchants like Wal-Mart and Safeway have negotiations power unlike the mom and pop shop so they get a more favorable deal. Small merchants no longer have a choice but to pass on the cost unless they want to give 2% to 3% of the cost of goods to Visa/MasterCard.

A legislation was put forth to limit Swipe Fees and passed last year but it is only for debit card fees (gee, I wonder why?).

Retailers score in swipe fee fight with credit card giants - Jun. 23, 2010 (http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/23/smallbusiness/small_business_interchange_fees/index.htm)

p.s. Visa and MasterCard are ripe to be supplanted by something like Google Wallet (http://www.google.com/wallet/) through Paypal or Google checkout. I hope it takes off.

I'm so glad I got out of the small restaurant biz. But to TMC's point, I would've just raised prices slightly to cover the increase in fees.

I saw your post right after I posted mine. She required a $10 purchase if using a credit card but that's not legal or maybe it was against the contract with the merchant. Can't remember.

I would think it would be the latter. It's not illegal that I am aware of, many businesses have a minimum credit card transaction amount. However, the credit card merchant companies are ruthless, they DO write things in their contracts to really rip their clients off and make it difficult to get out of their contracts with huge fees to get out early. I've seen merchant companies require businesses with separate locations all under the same Fed Tax ID and using the same bank account to register each location as a separate merchant ID, allowing them to charge extra fees as opposed to if it were properly set up as a single merchant # for the business as a whole. Separate locations do not merit separate accounts if the money is all going to the same place.

They're con artists. If you're not careful, they'll suck your business dry. Thankfully,you CAN negotiate the terms.

Cash is so antiquated these days. I haven't experienced any of these new fees myself.

B]]Cash is so antiquated these days[/B].[/B] I haven't experienced any of these new fees myself.

Kids now days.

Yeah, kids...using credit cards, Excel and Viagra for fun. Sheesh.