Don_Kiddick Posted March 27, 2008 Posted March 27, 2008 R-lass has just bought a £6.99 item using a connect (debit) card & the shop added 50p charge for doing this!!! Is it legal?
SYorksDeano Posted March 27, 2008 Posted March 27, 2008 Afraid so, if they had notices up mentioning a card fee. Most places do this now
noisyandy Posted March 27, 2008 Posted March 27, 2008 It tends to be little corner shops that do this: the big supermarkets can absorb the charges but small grocery shops find this much harder to do. I suppose that when your margins are wafer-thin, then being hit by a transaction charge for each card purchase could make a massive difference.
Chopsie Posted March 27, 2008 Posted March 27, 2008 Shops are charged a fee for processing card payments - anything from a flat fee of 20p to 2.5% of the transaction value (sometimes more depending on how good a deal they get from their card processing provider). That's why a lot of shops have minimum spend levels before you can pay on card. Personally I think it's bad customer service - the fact that there is a cost involved in processing transactions is accounted for in the markup on the goods you're buying. I don't charge customers for paying on card in my shop, nor do I impose a minimum spend for cards. It may reduce my profit margin drastically on small transactions, but I'd rather have happy customers... what is more irksome, is that the only place I've seen charging an admin fee was a large national retailer who can surely afford a few transaction fees?
JFKvsNixon Posted March 27, 2008 Posted March 27, 2008 Would there also be some sort of service charge by the bank for the business that banked a large amount of cash each day?
Chopsie Posted March 27, 2008 Posted March 27, 2008 Would there also be some sort of service charge by the bank for the business that banked a large amount of cash each day? Yes, with most business accounts you're charged a fee for cash counter deposits. Not a huge sum, mind.
JFKvsNixon Posted March 27, 2008 Posted March 27, 2008 Yes, with most business accounts you're charged a fee for cash counter deposits. Not a huge sum, mind. So it is a scam then, as the business doesn't pass this fee onto the customers does it?
Don_Kiddick Posted March 27, 2008 Author Posted March 27, 2008 The irony is it wouldn't have been on card as she'd set off with cash. But the exhorbitant entrance fee to actually get in the place relieved her of all that! The shop belongs to a visitors-day-out type place. Glad I didn't go!
ASPGuru Posted March 27, 2008 Posted March 27, 2008 Would there also be some sort of service charge by the bank for the business that banked a large amount of cash each day? Possibly. Remember that banks are businesses whose purpose in life is to make money for their shareholders. It's not their role to provide a free banking service, although the UK is lucky in that, for most people, the banks do just that, although if the bank charges court cases go the wrong way this may well change for all of us. By wrong way, I mean if the court finds against the banks and makes them refund all bank charges. I consider it the wrong way because all that will happen is that instead of levelling charges against those who can't manage their finances properly (going overdrawn etc) they will level charges against all their customers. I know which I'd prefer.
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