The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act specifically allowed merchants to set credit card minimum purchases of $10 or less. Any contract terms to the contrary are unenforceable. Interestingly enough, the law does not specifically mention minimums for debit cards.
As part of the Walmart anti-trust litigation settlement, both Mastercard and Visa agreed to modify the “Honor All Cards” rules in the United States. Merchants that honor debit cards are required to honor all debit cards of the same brand, but are not required to honor credit cards. Similarly, merchants that honor credit cards are required to honor all credit cards of the same brand, but are not required to honor debit cards. Different rules apply outside of the US.
Ah, yes. I forgot that it wasn’t completely eliminated. Set to $10. Not that places around here care. The local pizza place has a $20 minimum. So, just like before where nobody paid any attention to it anyway.
We sell silver and gold bullion in our store. We do not take credit cards on these sales because we pay 3% to the card company and our profit margin on the items is quite often 5-9% We can’t afford to lose half the profit. We take a debit card up to $2000. d0llars on gold and silver. I think we pay 50 cents per transaction.
On jewelry and normal coins(not bullion), we take credit cards as our profit margin is much higher.
Could there be laws behind the action? I recall distantly that certain products cannot be bought with a credit card in certain localities. Lottery tickets for one. I have not tracked down a cite for alcohol yet. Wine with dinner at a restaurant is in a different category than a 6 pack at the grocery store or a round at the pub. Different liquor license classes.
Or more or less. If this is an industry that is having a lot of problems with card fraud, or if this is an industry where the finance company thinks that there is a lot of margin, the % may be higher.
My daughter had the opposite problem, sort of, visiting the U.S. with a Thai debit card marked ‘Visa.’ It didn’t work as a debit card (e.g. in ATM machines), but merchants were happy to treat it as a credit card (and pay the fee). I since learned that this problem apparently affects all Thai debit cards except those issued by Bangkok Bank. (Since this bank is also the only Thai bank allowed to accept checks or deposits from the U.S. Treasury, it makes choice of banks here easy for a U.S. ex-pat.)
I’m surprised the fee on credit card usage is still not well known. I was getting discounts for cash back in the 1970’s. (Like negotiating with a streetwalker who might be a cop :rolleyes: the legal key was who solicited whom first!)
