Let’s make things more expensive for customers… | Page 3 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Let’s make things more expensive for customers…

AllistonGT said:
I have a huge issue with it. Retailer offers customers the ability to use a CC. It's part of their business model. It's their expense. Cost of something they offer to get more sales. It's in their pricing already. Same as paying electric bill, payroll, rent, etc. If a retailer is relying on 2%, then thats not much of a business to begin with.
Being so eggar to cover these expenses, next time GP bikes has a big sale, offer to pay full price to help them out. 😉
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I always pay full price, specially for tools at Canadian Tire.
 
Relax said:
"Splitting the taxes" is BS, though. If you're accepting cash, you're not only avoiding income tax, you're also not remitting sales tax.
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I meant if paying by cheque or E-transfer. So on the books would be $283.20 plus tax, instead of the full 300 plus tax. Just saving the customer 20 bucks, but business owner loses out on $17.
 
Smaller businesses lack the clought to get better transaction rates . My hobby yacht club bar pays , 3.5% . That’s not a big deal till guys paying winter storage or summer docks at $2500 , and 3.5% goes to the bank.
But it’s only a number and we build it into our fees . I feel for small business, but being the first guy putting a 5% CC charge on an invoice, yeah that’s not going to go over well .



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C&P from the CTV story. But the bigger issue, Winder said, is that Canadians pay some of the highest interchange fees in the developed world for credit cards.
Keep in mind that these charges are absorbed by small business.
Its hard to not be salty when large retailers like WM pay less how about some government intervention to level the field?
 
we were out at the pub last night and chatting with the manager that unfortunatly I know way too well. I asked about this fee, which she says is sort of included in the house pricing structure, but they are not saying they wont try a 2-3% recovery fee if others go first. I said a recovery fee on a cost you have already taken into consideration? she smiled and said yeah, thats it ...
We then talked about the 15-20-25% options of the payment terminal , assuming you'll want one of those. Thers is an "other" button but designed to NOT be obvious. she says on average less than 2% of customers ever choose "other" . The odd one leaves zero, but they are usually really drunk.
I would imagine every business will approach this differently ,
 
This decision by the Payment Card Brands to allow surcharging is as a result of a multi-million dollar class action law suit that was settled earlier this year; it has nothing to do with the Government or taxes. Merchants can "choose" to pass on the cost of accepting credit cards to their customers as it is a discretionary measure; the merchant is not being forced to surcharge by the Payment Card Brands. This surcharging does not apply to debit cards, pre-paid credit cards and gift cards. Prior to this court decision, surcharging was not permitted by Card Brand rules. Furthermore a merchant could not set a minimum transaction amount below which they would refuse payment by credit card. The only way a merchant could recoup the cost of accepting credit cards was to offer a discount to the customer if they used cash. Otherwise the customer would pay full price if they chose a payment card.
 
robmack said:
Prior to this court decision, surcharging was not permitted by Card Brand rules. Furthermore a merchant could not set a minimum transaction amount below which they would refuse payment by credit card. The only way a merchant could recoup the cost of accepting credit cards was to offer a discount to the customer if they used cash. Otherwise the customer would pay full price if they chose a payment card.
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People keep saying this, but in practice, smaller places did this all the time. A restaurant we used to eat lunch at once or twice per week introduced a $10 minimum to use a CC - this placed served $6 meal specials, so we never hit the minimum. Then it was increased to $15, and eventually $20. We stopped going after 5 years, and they lost a minimum table of 4 once or twice per week over a couple %. Lots of retailers added a surcharge for using Visa/Mastercard, and an even higher one for Amex. As a former Amex employee, I used to bite my tongue whenever I saw this practice and simply took my business elsewhere.

I no longer carry a wallet, just my phone with all my credit cards loaded into Apple Pay, and three cards in the phone case - one physical credit card as backup, driver's license, and debit card (so I have access to cash if needed, but rarely use). The only time I need cash is when buying stuff off Kijiji or giving it as a gift.
 
I have multiple Amex cards. I know retailers pay more to accept this card, but there's four reasons I love it and will not use anything else:

1/ Customer service. It's in Canada. It's awesome. And they seem to genuinely value you as a customer - and it's been that way since 1996 when I got my first Amex. Hell, they once overnight couriered a replacement card to me 2500km from home when I had my card skimmed at a US retailer (back in the magstripe days) and I really needed a replacement.

2 They side with YOU first in the case of any discrepancies, suspect charges, or frauds..and make the other end prove their case instead of you having to fight with them over an issue. Which I experienced with another card - looking at you, TD Visa...still out my $400. F you.

3/ In the last 3 years or so we have benefited somewhere in the range of $5000-$6000 worth of rewards which has paid the entirety of several vacations and cruises. The Cobalt card is AWESOME.

4/ Did I mention #1 and #2? Yeah.

Anyhow, I do use discretion where I use it. Mom and pop restaurant or a small business? I'll pay debit. I know every percent counts for these places. Big grocery stores? Home Depot? Walmart? Big American chain restaurants? Gas stations? Yep, I'm using it. I made $5 just an hour ago on my Amex at Food Basics buying $100 in groceries.
 
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People keep saying this, but in practice, smaller places did this all the time. ...
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I know stores which tried this tactic. It was completely in violation of the agreement all merchants have with their acquirers. All I used to do was tell them that they were violating terms of their merchant contract. If the proprietor argued, I'd take down details such as their merchant ID and terminal ID and threaten to open an incident with their processor / acquirer. That usually brought them around.
 
PrivatePilot said:
I have multiple Amex cards. I know retailers pay more to accept this card, but there's four reasons I love it and will not use anything else:

3/ In the last 3 years or so we have benefited somewhere in the range of $5000-$6000 worth of rewards which has paid the entirety of several vacations and cruises. The Cobalt card is AWESOME.

I made $5 just an hour ago on my Amex at Food Basics buying $100 in groceries.
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And those rewards are exactly the problem... the CC companies aren't eating a dime; they just pass the cost of those rewards programs on to the retailer.

I get why you like it, but there's no such thing as a free lunch - for every dollar in rewards you receive, a retailer is paying a $1.05...
 
OntFF said:
And those rewards are exactly the problem... the CC companies aren't eating a dime; they just pass the cost of those rewards programs on to the retailer.

I get why you like it, but there's no such thing as a free lunch - for every dollar in rewards you receive, a retailer is paying a $1.05...
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Like I said, I’m selective where I use it.

And when retailers drop their prices by an equal percentage for which they’ve already jacked them up to account for CC overhead (which we absolutely positively 100% know they won’t), then I’ll stop using them.
 
No one is going to drop their price to accommodate. Retailers will just double dip as they’re already including the fee in CODB, and this is just another X% of profit.

You know…recession and inflation are only for those on the bottom. The constant flow of ‘record profits’ reports for massive companies isn’t helping.
 
A lot of people have clearly never taken an economics class. The retailer doesn't pay the extra cost, the cardholder does. You get your 1% cash back, but the retailer has unintentionally raised their prices by 3% to account for that expense. When this goes into effect, prices for goods will come down because retailers want your money and will lower their prices to compete with other retailers or new retailers will come into the market. Double dipping will only occur for a short period of time. People are upset that retailers might double dip, but mention nothing about the card companies that charge 2% to use then double dip with usurous 18% interest rates.
The legislation preventing this was horse$#!t to begin with. Stores couldn't charge the card fees, but try paying ANY level of government with a credit card. They themselves wouldn't accept them. My guess is this is a move to slow inflation rather than raising interest rates. And it's to society's benefit. All credit cards did was inflate the economy for a short period and then eroded it with high interest rates. The average person carries something stupid like $30k worth of personal debt. The interest on all that personal debt goes directly into the pockets of....NOT THE ECONOMY. The economy will take a hit for a period of time, but in the long run is to everyone's benefit that doesn't hold stock in credit card companies.
Also, no one will now need to carry pockets full of cash. Debit card transactions will NOT be subject to these fees. Debit card transaction costs are very cheap and not a percentage of the transaction amount.
Lastly, businesses that work off high volume where their products are necessary (gas and groceries to name two) most definitely work with very low margins, that is the nature of those businesses.
I could end up being surprised by the resilience of stupidity where people keep using their credit cards and pay the 2% on top of the 18% interest, but I'm an optomist.
 
Government grrrrrr! I was told when my wife passed in March that i would recieve up to 60% of her cpp as a survivors benefit. However there is a limit to how much an individual can recieve. Therefore my cpp went up by $20.
The government keeps the rest.
 
GreyGhost said:
Add that crap to the list of reasons I stopped paying into cpp years ago. Keeping the money and investing it myself is a far better return on investment.
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I didn’t even know that was an option. Thought as self employed you had to pay both employee and employer portions.
 
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