So, what should we do ? Use Amexco ????

It will not be implemented by any merchant which has a brick and mortar presence in any of the various states that forbid it. IOW it is very UNLIKELY to happen.

Dukey......although this is off topic as it doesn't affect Europe please note NY is one of the enlightened states which prohibits credit card surcharges. Yet the majority of gasoline stations now surcharge as much as 10 to 12 cents a gallon for using a credit card. I have complained to the NY State Attorney General and the answer I get back is that no these are not surcharges....these are cash discounts which are legal and as a matter of fact encouraged.

When somebody can explain to me if I go into a gasoline station charging $3.65/gallon for cash and $3.77/gallon for using a credit card that this is not a 12¢ ditvjsthr zo eo;; vtu imv;r/ zimyo; yjsy yo,r. yjod od s to[ pgg ejovj yjr hpbrtm,rmy trgidrd yp fp smuyjomh snpiy yp rmgptvr oyd ;se/

zkidy yp slr yjod trd[pmdr s noy tr;rbsmy. og upi nppl ritpdyst yovlryd pm yjr ritpdyst/vp, ern doyr. yjrtr od s 4% surcharge for use of a credit card but none for use of a debit card.

What was that, xyz???

Some shops and webshops here (the Netherlands) charge for using a credit card.
Most restaurants, hotels, petrol stations etc do not.
Many shops, including supermarkets, just don't accept credit cards at all.

It will only be a matter of time before the practice moves across the pond to EU merchants because of the fact that some countries already allow the additional surcharge, but you are supposed to be notified when it is being added (just like when using the DCC to convert the cost to your home currency, for your convenience).

As noted, most smaller merchants with a brick and mortar presence will not do it (as most already include a credit card surcharge in their pricing), but larger operations like El Corte Inglés will adopt the practice in due time, and if you don't notice the surcharge, it will be like the DCC, easy money.

As far as Amex goes, they usually charge the smaller merchants a fee of 7% or more because most of their transactions are less then $100 in value, which is why so many refuse to accept the card.

As far as anyone traveling to the States, you need to be aware of this practice. Only 10 states prohibit the surcharge.

Regarding France, it has the lowest VI/MC commission in the world -- most merchants only have to pay 0.60-0.80% commission for transactions and everybody likes it the way it is. So there will never be a 4% surcharge here.

In the UK, for about the past decade and a half. merchants have had the right to charge customers for using credit cards. Quite right: why should cash customers be expected to subsidise card users' fecklessness?.

It's standard practice at, for example, Ryanair though generally rare elsewhere.

A change in American law is utterly irrelevant, though there have been a few deranged posters here over the years insisting that Visa's internal code of practice overides the law of sovereign states, and proud Yanks being expected to obey UK law on this should insist on their alleged rights to disobey our laws. Posturing claptrap, of course.

Nice to see America following us at last in putting the rights of small businesses ahead of the bullying tactics and propaganda from the bankers' oligopoly.