New merchant VISA and MC surcharges on credit cards!
 

You should be aware of the new surcharges now allowed by merchants who accept VISA and MC credit cards (antitrust settlement reached in 2012, effective Jan. 27, 2013). Debit and prepaid cards are not affected by this change, but you can bet that some merchants will try to add the surcharge.

Visa’s Operating Regulations also continue to prohibit surcharging outside the U.S. unless there is a local law or variance that requires merchants be permitted to engage in the practice. Although the settlement affected only the US and it's territories, you can expect it to pop up in certain locations, especially those merchants who use DCC.

It would be interesting to know which EU members allow this practice.

*Retailers must limit the amount of the surcharge to the applicable merchant discount rate for the credit card transaction surcharged. In cases where the applicable merchant discount rate exceeds 4% of the underlying transaction amount, in no event can the merchant assess a surcharge above 4%."

http://usa.visa.com/personal/using_v...ees/index.html
http://www.mastercard.us/merchants/s...rge-rules.html

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.

BTW flanneruk eurostar, if you purchase tickets through their web site, charges 4% for using a credit card but I think nothing for a debit card as does Easy Jet.

Both visa and mc have made it clear in their operating manuals that local law supersedes their operating procedures so this has always been true.

Finally in my replay above where the last paragraph got garbled (my apologies my cataracts act up from time to time making it difficult for me to read what I type and this silly board does not allow post posting corrections like most do today a pet peeve but oh well) I was making the same point about surcharges always being part of the scene at many English merchants including Eurostar.

But it's not just Americans who complain about surcharges so it's not necessary to spew out your anti Yankee venom on an issue such as this.