in nyc, certain places charge up to 12 cents more per gallon just because you use a credit card instead of paying cash! any ideas?
2006-10-06 07:58:09 · 7 answers · asked by Dave_11375 2 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Commuting
Gas stations make very little money on selling gas, fractions of a cent per gallon sometimes.
When you use a credit card, the cc company subtracts a fee out of the sale so the gas station doesn't get the full sale amount.
For example you spend $30 on gas, the gas station only gets paid $27.
Call your credit card company, or Visa or Mastercard (find the numbers on their websites) and report the stations, I am pretty sure that this is illegal and/or against Visa/MC agreements.
2006-10-06 08:05:05 · answer #1 · answered by Gem 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They don't. It's not a charge for using a credit card, it's a discount for using cash.
It costs the station to collect using plastic, but the credit card companies are powerful enough to make it illegal to charge a surcharge for accepting a card. To get around that, many stations give a 'discount' for cash instead. Other stations just accept it as a cost of doing business, and charge the same price either way.
2006-10-06 08:45:20 · answer #2 · answered by oklatom 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because merchants must pay a certain percentage to the credit card company. They pass the cost along to the customer.
That is why on bigger-ticket items, merchants will frequently be open to giving customers "discount for cash".
Although it varies, the fee merchants must pay to the credit card companies is in the 3% range.
2006-10-06 08:06:57 · answer #3 · answered by catherine02116 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Merchants have to cover the cost of the credit card transactions.
Another way to look at it is people who pay cash should get a discount because the card fees are not part of the purchase.
2006-10-06 08:06:58 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The credit card company charges the station a fee for processing the receipt. If they don't pass the charge onto you, the station has to come up with the money to pay it.
2006-10-06 08:05:59 · answer #5 · answered by ? 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I didn't know they still did that anywhere. The reason is because the CC company charges a fee (%) to the gas merchant when a cc transaction is authorized.
2006-10-06 08:06:16 · answer #6 · answered by Akkakk the befuddled 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
For automotive repair shops Visa,AmEx,& Discover charge us 10% to take a customers card.We pass it on to them.Them being the one that has to use plastic.
2006-10-06 08:38:47 · answer #7 · answered by mikey 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋