No they weren’t allowed to charge a fee before. They had to build it into the cost of doing business like every other thing that goes into the price. Visa isn’t “allowing” them to SHOW the fee, they’re being forced to allow the fee (surcharge) to be added on because of bills the feds passed.
I guarantee this isn’t working out in your favor. That’s why these businesses fought so hard to have the fee. Visa and MasterCard wanted merchants to not do this because it makes credit cards less attractive if places charge fees. The thing I’m particularly skeptical about is how much they charge. The fees are like 2 to 3 percent. Checks and debit cards are flat like a few cent fees. Allstate charging 5 dollars for debit or 2 dollars for bank transfers is fucking insane.
It does work out in my favor if I pay cash. Which I’m in favor of, though these days you have to carry a lot of it. This way cash customers don’t help pay the fees of credit customers.
Thing is, no one is doing that for online services. They’re just charging fees to make extra money. The number of people paying cash is so small in general and most of us aren’t doing that so all that really happens is the raise prices in the usual sneaky fuck you way they do where you don’t know up front what things will cost. It’s ridiculous honestly.
No they weren’t allowed to charge a fee before. They had to build it into the cost of doing business like every other thing that goes into the price. Visa isn’t “allowing” them to SHOW the fee, they’re being forced to allow the fee (surcharge) to be added on because of bills the feds passed.
I guarantee this isn’t working out in your favor. That’s why these businesses fought so hard to have the fee. Visa and MasterCard wanted merchants to not do this because it makes credit cards less attractive if places charge fees. The thing I’m particularly skeptical about is how much they charge. The fees are like 2 to 3 percent. Checks and debit cards are flat like a few cent fees. Allstate charging 5 dollars for debit or 2 dollars for bank transfers is fucking insane.
It does work out in my favor if I pay cash. Which I’m in favor of, though these days you have to carry a lot of it. This way cash customers don’t help pay the fees of credit customers.
Thing is, no one is doing that for online services. They’re just charging fees to make extra money. The number of people paying cash is so small in general and most of us aren’t doing that so all that really happens is the raise prices in the usual sneaky fuck you way they do where you don’t know up front what things will cost. It’s ridiculous honestly.