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> e.g., cash discounts at gas stations This one, oddly enough, is only possible because of the government: in states where it's possible for gas stations to gi
by _delirium 13y ago
> e.g., cash discounts at gas stations
This one, oddly enough, is only possible because of the government: in states where it's possible for gas stations to give cash discounts, this is only because state law overrides merchant agreements that otherwise prohibit it. Otherwise, credit-card merchant agreements (i.e. corporate policy, not government policy) generally prohibit differential gas/card pricing. As a merchant you could choose not to do business with Visa at all, but if you do business with Visa, you aren't allow to give cash discounts by the contract terms.
- dubfan 13y agoAs of January 27, 2013, Visa and Mastercard allow credit card surcharges. Prior to this I believe merchant agreements did allow for cash payment discounts, just not "surcharges", even though they are practically the same thing. http://www.mastercard.us/merchants/support/surcharge-rules.html http://www.mastercard.us/merchants/support/surcharge-rules.h... http://usa.visa.com/personal/get-help/checkout-fees.jsp http://usa.visa.com/personal/get-help/checkout-fees.jsp
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- mpyne 13y agoI thought that even that concession was due to a court ruling or other regulatory finding, wasn't it?
- PeterisP 13y ago... only in USA, and only because forced by laws/litigation.
- wpietri 13y agoIt was a long time ago that I worked a register, but at one point merchant agreements definitely disallowed cash discounts. I knew because on a slow day I actually read the fine print. The boss, correctly, didn't care that their discount for cash was forbidden, but I was young enough to be a little scandalized.