Contactless Card Minimum Spend

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Comments

  • chattychappy
    chattychappy Posts: 7,302 Forumite
    My iZettle acceptance facility doesn't have a minimum. It's a straight percentage. The percentage reduces with turnover. I don't really take CCs much, I'm sure many retailers would be on a better deal.
  • datlex
    datlex Posts: 2,239 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    a local caf! near me charges a surcharge on card payments under £3.
    Paid off the last of my unsecured debts in 2016. Then saved up and bought a property. Current aim is to pay off my mortgage as early as possible. Currently over paying every month. Mortgage due to be paid off in 2036 hoping to get it paid off much earlier. Set up my own bespoke spreadsheet to manage my money.
  • photome
    photome Posts: 16,362 Forumite
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    blink18 wrote: »
    They eon t he o aging say where near 50p, more like 5p or less for a £5 transaction

    I was told by a retailer it is 50p , of course that may not be correct. Your example of £5 transaction is not really relevant as I have never seen a minimum of £5 but have seen £2 minimums.

    If a retailer was to take say 50p on a contactless transaction would it still be worth it to the retailer?
  • blink18
    blink18 Posts: 685 Forumite
    photome wrote: »
    I was told by a retailer it is 50p , of course that may not be correct. Your example of £5 transaction is not really relevant as I have never seen a minimum of £5 but have seen £2 minimums.

    If a retailer was to take say 50p on a contactless transaction would it still be worth it to the retailer?

    If they have a proper chip and pin machine with contactless via a bank or one of the big players they will be paying 1% or less for all transactions, so you're tanking a penny for a £1 transaction, even if they are using something like PayPal here, izettle, worldpayzinc etc that are aimed at sole traders etc then they will be paying 2.75% on all transactions, so 3p for a £1 transaction and 15p for a £5 transaction.

    Whatever their business model they can absorb the cost for the no doubt few transactions they take at that level.

    It's the reason why the EU introduce legislation for processing fees to be a percentage in place of say 25p or 50p for debit card transaction, which people taking small sums were being shafted on.
  • Ben8282
    Ben8282 Posts: 4,821 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post Newshound!
    edited 27 February 2017 at 6:44AM
    I have always disagreed with the decision to allow any additional charge to be imposed for using a card. I know that those who pay cash complain that they are subsidising those who pay by card, but any such subsidy is negligible and has to be weighed against the cost and risk of counting and banking cash. Changing the merchant agreements to allow such charges to be introduced in the first place was a mistake which has allowed small shops with their 50p charges and big businesses such as airlines etc with their disproportionate credit card charges to rip people off.
  • chattychappy
    chattychappy Posts: 7,302 Forumite
    Ben8282 wrote: »
    I have always disagreed with the decision to allow any additional charge to be imposed for using a card. I know that those who pay cash complain that they are subsidising those who pay by card, but any such subsidy is negligible and has to be weighed against the cost and risk of counting and banking cash.
    (emphasis added)

    Many years ago I had a small import-export business, selling principally to the trade. On some deals, my profit was less than 10% and my merchant fee was 4%. On top of that, my "real" card handling cost was higher because 1) occasionally I'd suffer chargebacks, 2) the charge is on the amount collected - so with VAT it was nearer 4.6% on the margin.

    I offered dual pricing on my price lists. One price was cheque/bank transfer/debit card, one was CC. Nobody complained.

    Personally I think it's anti-competitive to tell retailers they can't charge extra. Also it disincentivises CCs to remain competitive. The real issue is the "gotcha" aspect where you believe you're going to pay X and at the point of sale you get Y - by which point you've already wasted so much time getting that far. That shouldn't happen any more - provided you are given the "final price" from the start, I don't see a problem. This was not just a problem of CC surcharges, but other "fees" too.
  • Dandytf
    Dandytf Posts: 4,819 Forumite
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    DonnySaver wrote: »
    How much longer will retailers be able to get away with charging a "minimum spend" for a contactless payment?

    I've just been to a sandwich shop, saw they accepted contactless, tried to use my card and got told "It's a minimum £5 spend".

    I thought the introduction of contactless cards was meant to do-away with these types of practises ??
    £5 min local garage. Nil minimum elsewhere, think it depends on private owned or franchised.
    Replenished CRA Reports.2020 Nissan Leaf 128-149 miles top charge. Savings depleted. VM Stream tv M250 Volted to M350 then M500 since returned to 1gb
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