Is it legal for a company to charge extra if you use a debit card?

Question

I'm also wondering about price gouging.. the gas station up the street sells Red Bull for $2.69 + tax for one of those 8.3 fl oz. small cans...is that not price gouging?

I appreciate the feedback I am getting already, you folks are great..

I am familiar with credit card processing, chargebacks, etc. In fact, I've been to a couple of seminars hosted by First USA Paymentech; I worked for a mail order company some years ago, who, in fact, owes me about $20,000. Rip off, slum lord, the owner is.. we did $1.6 million dollars in mail order tshirts one year, just 7 of us running the show and we didn't even have running hot water. We were lucky to get cold water, and the owner's mom ( the real owner I guess ) has fired people because she went out and spent $10,000 the night before at one of the casinos here in Connecticut. Well, the guy screwed the next company that did website and computer stuff for him, after I left, apparently for $50,000. I think they might have taken him to court. I'd really like to find a lawyer who wants to put this guy out of business. He owns a pot pipe shop in the state and has ripped tons of people off and he needs to be stopped.

A customer of mine, an antique shop in Essex, CT. Few years ago, a Salesman, but maybe part owner began visiting us like crazy, even consigned some antique furniture to us; our shop, in business for 25+ years at this point, we had a pretty secure CC procrdog company.Well, salesman convinces us to switch; showing a 1 percent $avings plus misc. other savings, adds up!. As great as it should have been, it was a big mistake.Not long after the switch, customer purchases a $5,000 ring from our website. We key in the charges by hand because factoring in shipping, insurance, etc. ain't easy. Well, CC company has no history for us, so they put our ENTIRE ACCOUNT( on hold, thought it might be fraudulent. We sell plenty of expensive jewelry, going to happen again? Well, it did. It has been such a pain in the neck, and of course they have different policies, so there were even more kinks. I recommend doing massive research before going through something like this. could happen with any business

It's Me again!! Whew.. I type fast though, real fast if I try.

Anyway, great answers. For the most part, someone nailed it.

About the Red Bull and gouging, was being sarcastic... though I think $2.69 is a lot for an 8.3 fl oz drink. I don't drink that much of it.. just making some random comment..

Answer 1

It is legal for a company to charge for a pin debit transaction - think of it as an ATM network fee. When you enter your pin # you are making a cash withdrawal from your account to pay for a transaction. If the company you are purchasing from accepts credit cards as well as debit cards, though, they must run your debit card as a credit card upon request. This type of transaction is called an offline debit transaction and will cost the company significantly more than an online (PIN debit) transaction. The fee that you are charged for your pin debit transactions is most likely actually charged by the company's credit card processor, which does not profit as much from an online debit transaction.

It is against MasterCard and Visa regulations to charge a fee for a credit card or offline debit card transaction or to have a minimum sales amount for these transactions. If you see this anywhere, inform the company that you will be notifying your card issuing bank if they do not waive the surcharge or minimum. If they don't waive, then follow through with notifying your bank.

As for price gouging - I agree with the comments above. I don't think that Red Bull would even be a candidate for consideration in the gouging category. Price gouging occurs when a commodity is unfairly priced based on its actual supply/demand model. A great example of this is the $4-$5 gas prices charged on the evening of 9/11 by some unscrupulous station owners even though their pricing had not changed and the gas supply was not at risk.

Red Bull, on the other hand is a pure demand product and can be sold for whatever consumers will pay for it. As long as you'll pay $2.69 a can they will continue to charge it. If they raise the price to $3.09 and people stop buying they will have to adjust.

Answer 2

Almost anything a credit card does, whether legal or not, is very hard to fight. I have a card, and it is prepaid, if I use it as a debit, they charge me a dollar, if I used it as a credit card, it is free. Also, when I went to rent a car, the credit card charged me and extra 15% of what the rental company charged me. I was so angry. When I called the card company, they told me that it would be refunded as soon as I brought the car back, well, it's been almost 7 months now, and I still have not seen a dime. It would not be a big deal, but it is like $300 that they owe me, because I had to keep the car for a long time. You can try and fight it, but you most likely won't get anywhere, sorry. As for the price of the red bull, that is a bargin, I pay 3.99 for the small can. You would think they would pass out condoms with them because you know you are getting screwed!

Answer 3

Yes, it is legal for a business to charge more anytime you pay with a card that bears the VISA or MaterCard logo. VISA and MasterCard both charge a fee for that store to accept their payments. Often times, stores will pass that fee on to you, the consumer. This is legal and practiced often.

Price gouging refers to many businesses overcharging for the same product. If every gas station in your area was charging $4.50 a gallon for gas (about twice the national average) that would be price gouging, especially if they are doing so based on public panic. Taking advantage of a desperate situation. However, they just overcharge for Red Bull. Don't like the price? Go to the guy that sells it cheaper.

By the way, Red Bull is about $48 a case, wholesale. That's $2 a unit. Factor in the time it takes to sell a case when sold individually, and 69cents profit per unit, is not that outrageous.

Answer 4

It is legal for a bank or institution to charge a transaction fee to use your debit card - but this information must be disclosed to you. Check your user agreement or call your bank for verification of all fees associated with using your debit card.

Price gouging only occurs when there is a potential limited quantity of and high demand for something and the company uses that to their advantage to make a large profit. So long as you are able to reasonably go to another location to buy the same product at a lower price, it would not be considered price gouging. Generally, price gouging only occurs on necessity items, such as food, water and gas.

Answer 5

Yes it legal. In the U.S. if your debit card has a MasterCard or Visa and you request the card to be run thought as a credit card (signature transaction) merchants are not suppose to charge you a transaction fee. This is against MasterCard and Visa policy. Merchants can and are allowed to charge your for running the card as a pin transaction. In the U.S. most pin based go through Nyce, or Star network.

Some banks also charge you a fee for a pin based transaction. My bank has not done this yet.

Answer 6

It is legal for them to charge you extra for using a debit card, but VERY annoying...I have come accross that myself. I just never go back to that establishment again. Price gouging is different than what you are describing...you are simply describing "overpriced." Read more about price gouging here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_gouging

Answer 7

when they use a credit card terminal they are charged a percentage for the transaction, they can charge that to you, it is crappy but legal. don't know anything about red but though sorry.

Answer 8

yes they can