Lots of credit card purchases require you to sign the receipt with a pen (or a computerized pen on the screen)
But just as often, you don’t have to sign.
What’s the legal side to this?
In Britain you are required to either sign, or enter a pin every time (never both)
Not sure about everywhere else.
There have only been two situations where I have not had to sign, at the gas pump and at the drug store. In the case of the drug store, I did not have to sign, but only after they already had my signature on file from previous purchases using the same card. This usually happens in the drive thru.
Otherwise, I’ve always had to sign.
Signing protects the retailer (in theory, and the card holder), but since signing hardly accomplishes anything, many are skipping the fomality.
Airport parking lots and some cabs don’t bother, and haven’t for years.
I think it’s a choice of the retailer, or maybe it’s outlined in their agreement with the finance institution who issues the card. Where I work, the customer is only required to sign if the total is over $20. This is to save the most time possible in order to get customers through the line faster.
With a regular credit card I have always had to sign.
With a debit card, I don’t - but I must enter my PIN.
With the same damned debit card, I have had to charge my purchase - because the vendor’s system couldn’t cope with PINs - and have had to sign.
It’s only happened to me once, with a bar tab. I went out to a social, and though they had beer available, my date wasn’t much of a beer person so she wanted some hard liquor, so I opened a tab. As nights do happen to go, I had my good share of beer (and this happened to be an 8+% ABV beer, which I didn’t realize…in the days before I’d come to readily deal with them and know their kick!), and I left without closing it out.
When I came back to get my truck and credit card the next day, I was expecting to sign for it, but the tab was already closed and the transaction already went through…the price seemed about right with a fair bit for tip, but then again I really have no idea!!
Have none of you people ever bought anything online? I have yet to sign for an online purchase with a credit card.
Not really a legal issue, but most retailers have a “floor limit”. Under that floor limit they may not ask you to sign, or they may not require a manager’s approval, or whatever extra step they otherwise put in to add an extra security measure to protect themselves from chargebacks. It’s kind of an assumed risk on their part that the charge will go thru successfully and not be challenged by the card holder or the issuing bank. If the amount does get charged back, of course they are out the money, but the chance that someone stole your card and is using it to charge lunch (for example) is a lot lower than if someone stole your card and is attempting to purchase $50 worth of goods or services. By taking out the extra step of having you sign, yeah, they’re betting you’re legit, but they also get to process transactions faster, get folks thru the line faster, etc. Everybody’s happy.
I can see that they might have wanted you to sign to protect themselves against bad transactions back in the days of the sliding machine that made an imprint of the card on carbon paper. Now, though, most credit card purchases are done by swiping the card in the same machine used for debit purchases. Even at restaurants and grocery stores, the card is swiped (except they take it from you to swipe it at the register in restaurants). The transaction is approved electronically before they give you the receipt, and the receipt usually has APPROVED printed on it. So there’s not much risk of a bad transaction as long as the cashier is paying attention.
But you still have to sign in most situations I’ve encountered, although I haven’t used a credit card to pay for a cab or fast food. I guess this is some way of proving that the card is yours. (Not that they actually check the signature, of course.) With debit purchases, the PIN substitutes for a signature.
Several poeple have said it is for the protection of the retailer, but they haven’t specified how. It might be obvious to some of us, but I’ll guess for those who ask the question it isn’t obvious at all.
The signature is not required for the transaction to go through, as everyone has said. The way it protects the retailer to get a signature is if the charge is somehow disputed. A customer saying they didn’t really make that charge is a lot easier to stand up if there is no signature to check later. Most signed slips are never looked at by anyone, ever. But if there is a disputed charge, the credit card company will want a copy of the signed slip to help them in verifying the charge.
As an aside, many retailers actually do look at signatures during the Christmas Season. I’ve attributed that to the fact that fraud must be very prevalent during the holidays.
While traveling in Florida, I ran into an over-zealous WalMart worker when I handed her my husband’s credit card. She refused to accept the card since it was in his name. Fortunately, he was nearby and could conclude the transaction. My contention, however, was that if the swiper-thingy had been working, I would have been able to swipe his card and she would have never been the wiser. The twit-brain didn’t see my logic. 
I love not having to sign my slip. Most of the time on the electronic signature pads I scribble a mark that doesn’t look like much of anything anyway. It’s just one more step toward a cash-less society. While there’s plenty of :eek: s out there laying claim to death and mayhem if we migrate to a cashless society, I’m one that just won’t miss the hassle.
In many stores and situations, the signature may not do much to protect the retailer, and many retailers probably accept a certain number of charge backs as the cost of doing business.
My gf works in the bar business, however, and she regularly uses these signatures to prevent CC companies from charging back sales. This protects them from people who “don’t remember” buying so many drinks.
Please be aware that ANY mark you make that you represent as your signature IS your signature.
I work for a company that accepts credit cards over the phone. Obviously there is no signature. A lack of signature has never been a consideration in any of our disputes that I am aware of.
OTOH, if you make a different scribble everytime, they can’t prove it was you that made the scribble.
I’m not saying that I scribble a line to try to dispute the charge. I AM representing it as MY signature. I’m just lazy.
I would imagine that in that Database In The Sky, there is an electronic rendering of every way that I’ve signed my credit card. If I would go out and buy a bajillion dollars worth of stuff and then try to dispute the charge as not my signature, teh “experts” would be able to identify my scribbles the same way that they identify signatures.
I understand that by making a scribble it may be easier for someone to falsify my “signature” but at this point, I’m willing to take that chance.
For the past 2 years or so, I’ve signed EVERYTHING with “This card is stolen.”
No one has ever questioned it. Then again, I’d say about 99% of the time, no one even looks at it.
I always have to sign. (Unless it’s online.) But they usually don’t bother to have a look at the signature.
In addition to the gas station one, I’m pretty sure that none of the fast food restaurants require signatures for credit card purchases, either. But then again, I’m trying to restrict my unhealthy food intake, so I don’t frequent those places.
Okay, now I’m curious about the technicalities of using another person’s credit card. Is this legal, or do credit card companies, retailers, or the law have rules against it?
If you use someone else’s card (with their permission of course), should you sign your own name or theirs?
Could I get someone in huge trouble by lending them my credit card and then claiming I hadn’t authorized them to use it?