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| A 20+ Year Oligopoly Teeters in forum [Market-Ticker]
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Cbxer55
Posts: 70
Incept: 2009-07-01
Midwest City, OK
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I've not seen "discount for cash signs" anywhere in a long, long time. And I usually pay cash for everything. Go to the ATM once a week, take out some cash and make all of my purchases as needed. A lot easier on keeping the checkbook balanced, keeps the banks from getting the free money for the swipes, lets the store owner keep that money.
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Rotorblade
Posts: 17
Incept: 2011-01-27
North GA
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I have seen a sign saying "All prices reflect 3% cash discount". This is mainly at a big gun store and such around here in GA. There is one store in particular that charges 3% more for credit cards on every item. If you go in and buy a 5 dollar bottle of Breakfree they add 3% more plus the sales tax on the subtotal. I don't shop there prices way to high attitudes way to bad and intelligence way to lacking.
There is another store down the road from them that uses the no "Credit Card fee's" slogan and is making good money, I know the owner cool guy reminds me of John Goodman.
Old guy I deal with now is the kitchen table type, had card machine for a little over a year and it became such a hassle he stopped using it. He stated he was charged 6% per swipe. He has a 120 day layaway now. I really like dealing with him. Open Sunday evenings
I can't find it in the article, but was this class action lawsuit?
If so I doubt they people really affected by this will see a dime of that money or benefit from it.
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Genesis
Posts: 130711
Incept: 2007-06-26
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It was a long-running and big lawsuit by retailers against the big processors, Visa and Master Card. Mostly the big guys that were behind this, but not entirely.
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I don't care if it makes sense -- only if it makes money. -- Me
Bank (n): See scam, fraud and theft. Eat a bankster -- they're low-carb.
What part of "shall not be infringed" was unclear?
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Duc888
Posts: 7368
Incept: 2008-11-06
CT, the UNconstitution State
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Quote:There has been a clause in merchant agreements basically forever (since I started taking plastic anyway) that forbid the imposition of surcharge for the cost of credit card processing. OK, I'll buy that. But what if I as a small business owner decide to offer a discount for cash transaction. My REGULAR price to paint your Sportster gas tank is $4000 if you pay by CC or check, but I'm running a special in the month of August and will charge you $175.00 + materials if you pay cash.
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...burp
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Mannfm11
Posts: 3539
Incept: 2009-02-28
DFW, Tx
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I read this a few years ago and unless I flat forget my cash, I don't ever use a credit card for a small transaction. The same is true if I am dealing with a small business. I never use a debit card, because I feel that is my cash and the banks discounting their own liabilities out of my account isn't something I want to occur. The truth is they are discounting their liabilities on all these transactions. There is some more stuff that needs to end. You put your money in a bank, yet they will charge a person you give a check for cashing it. The entire reason for banking was to transfer funds by check. It says "pay to the order $X", not pay to the order 95% of $X. They are discounting their own liabilities. They also bill you $30 for being a day late, yet give you nothing for being a day early. This is not only a unilateral condition in a contract, but as a penalty, it is a penalty against which there is no loss. They couldn't any more collect this in court, as it is unreasonable and bears little appearance as to the actual damages. The bank isn't lending anything but a persons own credit. Here is an interesting Murray Rothbard writing I read about Milton Friedman. Rothbard and a few others set up the CATO institute, but it has been taken over by a bunch of statists. I know this because they have made Friedman their patron saint. Rothbard is spinning in his grave. http://mises.org/journals/jls/16_4/16_4_....
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The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.---John Kenneth Galbraith
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Bertdilbert
Posts: 2656
Incept: 2008-12-22
CA
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Quote:This is effectively a hidden tax and it's paid by everyone, including those who pay cash and thus don't use any of the services involved. And for that reason it's wrong. Thank you Karl.
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Dear Euroland: Relax, Germany has a plan for your money!
Political Capital Defined: We are out of money but will tax our citizens for whatever it takes to "SAVE" the Euro.
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Azusgm
Posts: 2399
Incept: 2010-12-02
East Texas
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I still have the deal with my friend who retails my antiques and decoratives through her shop by which she can offer a 15% discount for cash. We've had this deal for a year or more. She has told me of a few instances of customers leaving the shop to go get cash from a bank or ATM and coming right back to complete the purchases. Most others already had enough cash to make the smaller purchases.
I do this because
1) Antiquers l.o.v.e to haggle over price. I hate it, but I don't deal with the public directly, so this saves the inconvenient phone calls and texts from whoever is minding the store.
2) The merchant fees were getting too expensive for my friend, so I wanted to stop the plastic for my sales.
3) I wanted to help train people to prepare to deal in cash when shopping at that store.
4) It feels so good to deny the banks and processors the bite they want to take. It is so satisfying to know that I am not feeding those rent seekers.
Likewise, almost all of my purchases are made in cash. I use 3-4 checks a month for the bills I pay by mail. Otherwise, it's dead presidents all the way.
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Mikek31
Posts: 4350
Incept: 2009-05-04
Chicago
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I have only a few words...
BURN, CUT, TEAR-UP, WHATEVER YOUR PLASTIC "CARDS"
If enough folks did this, it would give the authorities an absolute fit. They'd have to resort to getting rid of paper money altogether, and that opens up a whole other can of worms.
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Everyone keeps looking at the system and saying "it's not working, it needs to be redesigned somehow." It's working exactly the way the people who own it intend it to work.-Sutluc
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Clintb350
Posts: 1453
Incept: 2008-01-19
Southern AZ
Online
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Have raked in over $500 in rewards so far this calendar year and paid zero interest. Don't think CC Companies are making any money off me, even including merchant fees...
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Pay_lay_ale
Posts: 251
Incept: 2010-09-16
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Say goodbye to the frequent flyer mile and cash back cards. This was effectively a tax on merchants and the public as a whole and the beneficiaries were people who have these rewards cards and don't carry a balance and of course the banksters.
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Pay_lay_ale
Posts: 251
Incept: 2010-09-16
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"Have raked in over $500 in rewards so far this calendar year and paid zero interest. Don't think CC Companies are making any money off me, even including merchant fees..."
To get $500 in rewards means that you would have had to spend between $25,000 and $50,000. The banks got 2-3% of that amount. You got 1-2%.
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Sailordeek
Posts: 553
Incept: 2011-06-08
Boston
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I have asked contractors, store owners, retail stores for a no receipt cash price. 20% is the usual savings. Always dealing with the owner, I won't tolerate theft. They are going to crush us or regulate cash away.
Truth is, everything time the Govt or other. imposes a new tax, those who can't afford it get around it. And others take advantage of it.
It's getting to the point when no one can afford it. I can't tell if TPTB know how close we are. Makes me think "they have a plan for that."
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Clintb350
Posts: 1453
Incept: 2008-01-19
Southern AZ
Online
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Pay - No way - Special offers of 5% back on certain items, Discover one-time $250 for $1,500 per month Dec 2011 through Apr 2012. Total spent is about $10K. Banks lost $.
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Gen_maximus57
Posts: 4580
Incept: 2007-09-03
Tampa
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Quote: Have raked in over $500 in rewards so far this calendar year and paid zero interest. Don't think CC Companies are making any money off me, even including merchant fees... Ditto... Although I think I'm over $1,000 in free giveaways this year due to promo cards |
Rjsasko
Posts: 67
Incept: 2009-03-23
aurora, IL
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"No receipt cash price" is another way of stating "income tax evasion". Fifty cents spends like a dollar if Uncle Sam doesn't know about it.
Debit cards are great at a flat 25 cents per transaction. Yeah, it sucks for the retailer for very small purchases so building in a few cents here and there into prices to pay for it is a small price to pay I think. At the retail level I wouldn't accept checks at all unless the amounts were large enough to justify the expense of Telecheck verifying the account and amount to guaranty payment. Avoiding NSF checks is a very big incentive for debit cards. If a customer doesn't have a debit card the chances that their check is bad are pretty high.
As for credit cards? The actual users should either pay for the percentage charges or use another form of payment like debit or cash. Or the providers or new competitors can change the model to a flat fee like debit cards. I can't tell you how many times we had customers bitching about us not taking Amex. Those bastards wanted 4% fees. They can take that card and shove it up their ass.
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Atmartin
Posts: 92
Incept: 2011-12-24
PNW
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Hah, debit cards in the age of ID theft? Yeah I'll use those once I get solid guarantees they won't lock down my bank account for days or weeks to investigate and then charge me with overdraft fees etc.. Where banks are often the ones at fault due to their own malfesance or idiocy? No thank you.
I can tolerate paying the charge fees on credit cards in many circumstances. Lately the main place I see it has been with gun dealers. The story I heard on that was due to the credit fee cuts into their already low profit margin. Many seem to make it up on accessories though.
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Mortgageguymn
Posts: 1562
Incept: 2009-03-09
North Coast
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Rich people don't use debit cards. Just saying'.
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Seven8n2
Posts: 886
Incept: 2008-04-20
SW Virginia, USA
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As a small business owner who deals mostly with big corporations, we have been compelled over the past 10-15 years to accept their "procurement" credit cards, or suffer a long wait (up to 90 days) for regular billing through their accounts payable. This has annoyed me to no end, since if we sell product with a typical margin of 25%, we are giving up about 12% of our gross margin (i.e., 3% off the top) Usually we just try to charge these customer higher prices. Hopefully now we can recover some of the merchant fee expense by adding the fee to the invoice. It may not work in all cases but we will apply whenever we can get away with it.
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O mia Patria, sì bella e perduta!
O membranza sì cara e fatal!
-G. Verdi
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Oddone
Posts: 85
Incept: 2008-07-14
About 10 miles from Genesis
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My family has run auto repair shops for about the last decade and we've almost always offered a 5% discount off the pre-tax total for cash or local check payments (with local checks being cashed out and the cash deposited in the company account - we try to avoid even letting the bank process a check if we can avoid it as the banks in our area love to hold checks) on auto repairs, which can add up to some rather substantial savings for customers. It's also rather substantial on our end as well, as even at a "decent" card rate you still lose a pretty healthy chunk of change when you're working with thousand-dollar invoices. On a totally unrelated note, hey Genesis, next time you hit KFC step next door to Marshall's old building and say "hello!"  |
Genesis
Posts: 130711
Incept: 2007-06-26
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KFC? BAH!
Which building? PM me an address or let's go get a beer.
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I don't care if it makes sense -- only if it makes money. -- Me
Bank (n): See scam, fraud and theft. Eat a bankster -- they're low-carb.
What part of "shall not be infringed" was unclear?
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