The optimist with a credit card

[Rapscallion]

From many years past, this memory finally roiled once more to the surface...

An alleged lady came to my counter and bought £2.00 of chicken legs. She flashed out her credit card,r eady to pay.

"Sorry, but we have a minimum sale for credit cards," I told her.*

"Oh," she said. "I know - I'll have twenty pounds cashback."

"That's not a sale," I told her, though I had to admire her alleged cleverness.

Rapscallion

* Anyone pointing out that this is illegal by contract with the credit card companies will get itching powder in their bondage gear. We'd only just got the machine installed, and we didn't really care once we found out anyway.

[Sofar]

We've got a minimum purchase too. Fortunately most customers know so little about how the retail industry works that no one knows it's against our merchant agreement. In fact, most customers are surprised to hear that credit unions charge us a certain amount per transaction. One lady even said she'd write a letter to American Express and tell them to stop doing that.

[BlaqueKatt]

* Anyone pointing out that this is illegal by contract with the credit card companies will get itching powder in their bondage gear.


and how do you know which ones of us even have bondage gear? :p


BlaqueKatt-who admits nothing

[Juwl]

and how do you know which ones of us even have bondage gear? :p


BlaqueKatt-who admits nothing

*slowly, slowly, raises a hand*
I admit everything! Bondage gear, shackles, fursuit (no crotch zipper), everything!

[TwoScoopsSciath]

Against the law? In some places. I dunno about the States. I DO know that the company running our card machine charged us so much for the priviledge, we HAD to charge a minimum. Otherwise, no machine.

[Rapscallion]

Against the merchant contract - ergo civil law.

Rapscallion

[Jack7957]

From one of my saved Favorites, due to an issue with a motel I was staying at....

MERCHANT CREDIT CARD ABUSES: What They Cannot Ask You To Do
(http://www.gofso.com/Premium/LE/06_le_ic/fg/fg-merchants.html)

MINIMUM CHARGE REQUIREMENTS
Some stores require consumers to spend at least $20 (or some other minimum) to pay for purchases by credit card. They engage in this practice because they and their banks do not want the expense of processing a credit card transaction involving a small amount of money.

This practice defeats one of the major purposes of credit cards—convenience—and may force credit card users to spend more than they want to. In addition, minimum charge requirements vary from merchant to merchant, and there are no regulations requiring disclosure of these minimum purchase levels.

Visa's and MasterCard's regulations prohibit minimum charge amounts. American Express's regulations do not explicitly prohibit minimum charges, but its policy is to discourage any merchant practices that create a "barrier to acceptance." Amex does prohibit "discrimination" against the Amex card, however, so if a merchant has no minimum charge for Visa and MasterCard, the merchant may not discriminate against Amex by imposing a minimum charge.

TIP: If a store requires a minimum purchase for Visa or MasterCard, point out to the store manager that the practice is prohibited by the card companies.

[Rapscallion]

Bring out the itching powder!

If you don't have any bondage gear, some shall be provided.

Rapscallion