as someone who has had a proper merchant account in the past, my impression is that the customer has a lot more power than the merchant, when it comes to charge

as someone who has had a proper merchant account in the past, my impression is that the customer has a lot more power than the merchant, when it comes to chargebacks. Chargebacks are super damaging to the owner of the merchant account[1], and while you can fight them, and sometimes win, my impression was that at least as a small operator, the end-user had the benefit of the doubt. I'd bet money that "we made some ridiculous claim to be able to charge you after the fact for doing something reasonable" wouldn't hold up against the chargeback. This is the thing; in most countries, America included, 'freedom of contract' is constrained by many laws, including 'reasonableness' tests. Personally, I think this is a feature, not a bug. [1]chargebacks are one of the things that changes how much 'reserve' the merchant account holds back... if you don't have great credit, and/or if you have chargebacks, sometimes the merchant account will hold your money for months before releasing it to you. You really want to avoid chargebacks, as a merchant.