Can A UK Merchant Charge A Customer A Fee To Pay On A Credit Card?

hippey

It's not law about the card charges. But the facility is in the aquirer agreements. The point about descriminating cards is clear, you cannot refuse on card over another but you can pass on your charges for credit cards to the customer. You must not do this for debit card.

It's a commercial decision about adding a surcharge but if your direct competitors are not doing it then I would seriously consider it as you could commit commerical suicide! Some customers accept it many do not.

p00hsticks

ashburnham wrote: »

Maybe I'm reading the wrong rules (it does seem to be a US link but I was directed to it from UK website)?

ashburnham wrote: »

Maybe I'm reading the wrong rules (it does seem to be a US link but I was directed to it from UK website)?

I'm pretty sure that these rules are either out of date and/or not applicable in this country - it used to be the case that you couldn't differentiate between payment methods, but that changed a few years back. As other posters have pointed out, there are many retailers of high value items who do pass on an additional charge for credit card payments (e.g. travel agents, airlines and car dealerships).

Can't you ask your merchant acquirer for advice ? Incidentally, they are only passing on the fee structure which has been put in place by the card companies - a fixed amount for a debit card, but a percentage of the transaction value for credit cards.

NickX

hippey wrote: »

you cannot refuse on card over another but you can pass on your charges for credit cards to the customer. You must not do this for debit card.

Are you sure about this ?

The reason I question it is that Ryanair charge an extortionate surcharge (per passenger per flight) that is the same whether you pay by Credit Card, Debit Card and next year even Visa Electron.

lisyloo

I certainly wouldn't shop anywhere that surcharged me for using my card.

I think this is a little short sighted.

Some companies that surcharge are much cheaper than other suppliers.
For some items it might be unavoidable e.g. if I avoided my local theatre I'd never go to the theatre.
You won't get many cruise holidays without a surcharge.
Sometimes cashback exceeds the charge.

I'd certainly be willing to pay a 1% fee if the item is 20% cheaper.

I think some of you must be cutting off your nose to spite your face.
How do those of you that avoid charges, pay for your holidays? because most holiday companies do charge this way.

NickX

lisyloo wrote: »

How do those of you that avoid charges, pay for your holidays? because most holiday companies do charge this way.

I would pay a minimal deposit on a Credit Card (along with a minimal surcharge) and the rest on a Debit Card (with no surcharge).

This means the entire purchase is still protected under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

Personally I object to these surcharges, but it is not the retailer's fault that they are getting such charges imposed upon their business.

lisyloo

I agree with you Nick. Good points.

I'm just wondering whether there really are people out there who will never go to the theatre or on a cruise because of this?
Perhaps it's easy for them to have these principles because none of the items they buy fall inot these categories, but for many people it's impossible to stop shopping at these retailers.
It's possible to use a different method of payment, yes (which I often do), but not possible to stop shopping there entirely unless you don't want to go on holiday or go to the theatre etc.

p00hsticks

NickX wrote: »

Are you sure about this ?

The reason I question it is that Ryanair charge an extortionate surcharge (per passenger per flight) that is the same whether you pay by Credit Card, Debit Card and next year even Visa Electron.

I'm not sure that that's quite the same thing. I think that Ryanair refer to the charge that they make (which I believe is a fixed £5 per person per flight) as an administration fee to cover the booking process as a whole, not the passing on of card fees - so similar to a booking fee for theater tickets rather than related to the method of payment.

The fact that they have chosen to have a 'special offer' for people who pay by Visa Electron card to not pay this fees means that, because the fee is not paid by everyone, it can be excluded from their headline prices. They could just as easily have chosen to extend the 'special offer' to people with a 'X' in their name, or with blue eyes, or some other arbritrary criteria.

Eric_Pisch

ashburnham wrote: »

We sort of fall in the middle (not a small local shop but not a big player by any means). We are a small independent broker that sells insurance services (so everyone hates us already ).

Just phoned HSBC merchant services (our payment acquirer) and they said they could not advise me on this?! All he could say was that we should include any charges we incur in the product we are selling. Well yes, that's obvious I know but in our line of business means this is impossible as we have to declare any additional charges on top of the insurance premium.

As an insurance broker we can make as little as 10% on the price of a policy (after tax is taken off) so when your payment provider is taking 2.2% of the price of a policy (including tax), we are talking about 25% of the money we are making going on credit card charges!

I really don't want to charge a credit card fee as I hate companies that do it as much as all of you guys. Just wanted to encourage people to pay on a debit card where possible without breaking merchant rules as a debit card transaction costs us just 25p regardless of the amount of the policy.

Free Wispa bar if you pay on debit card Im in :T

p00hsticks

NickX wrote: »

I would pay a minimal deposit on a Credit Card (along with a minimal surcharge) and the rest on a Debit Card (with no surcharge).

This means the entire purchase is still protected under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

Personally I object to these surcharges, but it is not the retailer's fault that they are getting such charges imposed upon their business.

I think that that maybe a bit like having your cake and eating it though... because I suspect that it's these 'surcharges' that are actually funding the Section 75 protection that the card companies legally have to provide.

ashburnham

Eric_Pisch wrote: »

Free Wispa bar if you pay on debit card Im in

Not a bad idea... :rolleyes: