You must not have ever been in the retail business!
Cash is always taken in, thusly, you can be robbed, you still have to go to the bank, you still have to verify receipts to tapes.
I hate to point out all of these inconsistencies, but just what bank do you or your family work for now?

Now, here's a guy who starts a blog by saying he ships overseas a lot and gets paid by credit card. At the end he says he wants to be paid cash. Then you say cash is always taken in. In the end the banks get blamed. Are we playing "blame the banks" today?

Now, here's a guy who starts a blog by saying he ships overseas a lot and gets paid by credit card. At the end he says he wants to be paid cash.

Maple...you obviously didn't read the article I linked to. Hell yeah I want to be paid by cash. I've lost a lot more via scams than I ever have from a robbery. I also stand a better chance of protecting my monies from a robber than I do some "Piece Of ___" over in Indonesia or Singapore. My Glock rounds won't reach that far and if you heard or tried to understand my complaint fully you would have found that my main issues were that there are NO protections for business folks out there from VISA or the banks that issue those cards.

As a biz to biz company I would much rather get checks than to be forced to pay those confiscatory fees I'm obligated to. Folks, ignore Maple Leaf. Do your independently owned businesses a favor and pay them via cash or check. Please note that debit cards are also a nightmare for a business such as mine.

Maple...you can stick it with your "blame the banks today" statement. They reap the benefits of these cards with no recourse what-so-ever to themselves. They win even if the deal goes bad. They never lose their fees and the biz like mine pays everything including eating the loss of the product sold.

So unless you actually know what is happening to businesses around the country regarding this issue I would appreciate it if you would please shut up about it until you get a bit more insight. Now go back to your teller booth and leave the real creation of wealth to us entrepreneurs.

________

"That man was Griffin Judicial Circuit District Attorney Scott Ballard".

CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE STORY

Your link was to an article by one Peter White in which he explained how he had protected himself from credit card scams from Nigeria and Indonesia. White contacted the credit card companies ("the banks") to ascertain in each case that the shipping address matched the credit card holder's address. The credit card companies cooperated and told him the address didn't match, and White didn't ship. Wise move.

How my paying local merchants in cash instead of by credit card will keep people like you from being taken by scammers from Nigeria or Indonesia escapes me.

I am sympathetic to every victim of dishonesty, and I find our government not terribly helpful. Credit cards are a huge modern convenience, just like the internet is, and I wouldn't want the baby thrown out with the bath water.

White contacted the credit card companies ("the banks") to ascertain in each case that the shipping address matched the credit card holder's address.

You can bet I will too from now on. We were never advised to do this nor were we aware of the the need. You can bet your panties we're on top of it now. I don't give a rip who presents the card in addition to the swiping the card or entering it in the machine for verification purposes we will call every time now. Now that they got me once I've got the "Pieces Of Human Debris" e-mailing us like crazy offering us credit card numbers to ship stuff via USPS. Now we're having a bit of revenge. Per Peter White we're reporting each card number given and asking them for more. Every time they give us another set we report them. We even had another scammer contact us today and gave us two cards. We reported them. I've instructed my people to close every deal they can and report every card they can. If each of us does this we can put a dent into the profitability of these scams.

How my paying local merchants in cash instead of by credit card will keep people like you from being taken by scammers from Nigeria or Indonesia escapes me.

Separate issue. Pay with cash. Leave the cash in the pockets of your local merchants rather than BB&T, Wachovia, or Citicorp. It's as simple as that. I discuss this issue with merchants all the time to get their take on this issue. 9 out of 10 biz owners are extremely grateful to receive cash in the place of credit card. Engage them in conversation and you will discover how much disdain there is toward the credit card companies and the banks.

I am sympathetic to every victim of dishonesty, and I find our government not terribly helpful

Our government is not helpful. I got scammed by an inside job for a bit over $50K in 01. Clayton County Police knew who the "excrement" was. Names, addresses,.... I mean everything. The detective told me that because they resided in DeKalb County it wasn't worth their time to pursue them. He said that if my case were a rape or murder case he'd be all over it. The clown made the comment that my loss was only a "business loss" and to turn it over to my insurance company. I guess the idiot didn't realize that insurance companies don't cover those type of losses. Please don't tell me otherwise because I've been down this road looking for coverage for years.

Take a look at how Home Depot and Walmart are enabling and subsidizing the "human debris" of our country. They've enacted policies not to prosecute shoplifting any more. WTF is that all about. You even create a bad debt with me and I'll make your life miserable for years to come. What's with those clowns. Those two companies deserve the plights they are presently enduring. I hope they steal them blind and force them into fighting shoplifting. If we give up on shoplifting we then make the path easier for the next level of crime for them to attempt.

Credit cards are a huge modern convenience, just like the internet is, and I wouldn't want the baby thrown out with the bath water.

Indeed Mr. Maple I agree. They are just over used and costly to use. I am going to start building a 5% surcharge into all the credit card sales I do from this day out. If they don't like it I'll give them a cash discount. They'll save money and so will I.

________

"That man was Griffin Judicial Circuit District Attorney Scott Ballard".

CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE STORY

It is my understanding that the excess of the credit card price over the cash price constitutes a “finance charge” under the federal Truth in Lending Act, which requires it be disclosed and taken into account in the computation of the Annual Percentage Rate (APR).

Under the Truth in Lending Act, enforced in federal court, successful plaintiffs can generally recover their attorneys’ fees. Where many customers are similarly affected, one might expect a class action. The credit card provider (the bank) is likely to be sued as well as the merchant, with the bank then very likely to bring a cross-claim against the merchant, seeking indemnification for all its expenses for the lawsuit and additional damages.

That may leave the merchant holding two tigers by the tail and not too much time or resources to do anything else. The privilege of being able to accept credit cards will be withdrawn, and without the possibility of credit card sales a merchant is likely to have a rough time.

There is a reason merchants are forbidden to charge more on credit card sales than on cash sales, and it is largely to be found in the Truth in Lending Act and the related federal regulations.

There is a service station in Fayetteville who advertises that gasis so much with a credit card, and less per gallon for cash.
Please write in English whether or not this is a violation of their credit card agreements and the law.
You confuse and confuound the issue with lawyerize.
Can he charge more for gas if you use a credit card, or not? I don't care what he calls it.

The following is a statement I found on the internet:

The Federal Truth-in-Lending Act prohibited surcharges on credit card purchases until 1984; since then, there has been no Federal law on that subject. (Other provisions of the law are still in force.) The states of CA, CO, CT, FL, KS, MA, ME, NY, OK, and TX have laws against surcharges, according to Bankcard Holders of America.

Discover allows surcharges on credit card purchases, except in the above states. Visa and MasterCard prohibit them. American Express discourages them in general, and specifically prohibits them by merchants that also take MasterCard or Visa because Amex doesn't allow merchants to discriminate against it.

There is a loophole: merchants are allowed to give cash discounts. This means in practice that they can't charge you more than the labeled price if you pay by credit card, but they can charge you less if you pay cash. Some companies announce (usually in tiny print in the catalog) that all prices "reflect cash discount" of x% so credit card users must pay x% more than the stated price. This may be legal but it certainly violates the spirit of the law or the regulations. I don't know about the "service fee" charged credit card users for things like ordering tickets over the phone, but they're certainly not allowed to charge you a higher price in person than if you pay cash.

There is another loophole according to Bankcard Holders of America (BHA). Certain government agencies are not allowed (by law) to pay "discount fees" which are the processing fees the bank charges merchants for handling credit card slips. Since the banks won't handle these for free, you may well have to pay a surcharge for the privilege if your state lets you pay license fees by credit card. However, BHA says that there are no exceptions for retail merchants.

How then do some of our gas stations have two gas prices for the same octane? One with credit card, one without.

They are just over used and costly to use. I am going to start building a 5% surcharge into all the credit card sales I do from this day out. If they don't like it I'll give them a cash discount. They'll save money and so will I.

They really are overused. Sometimes I think Congress' spending is just a reflection of the average American with credit card debt equal to his disposable income.

Unlike Congress, the average Joe at least does with his own money.

It's amazing the rights you give up with signing that credit card agreement. Ours says that offering a cash discount permits the bank to void our entire agreement!

The normal agreement with a stockbroker waives your right to a jury and forces you to binding arbitration with them picking the arbitrator!

The cash method is sounding better and better.

I thought that 3 digit code on the back of the card was supposed to "prevent fraudulent transactions"?

Did you ask for that code? 90% of online sites seem to require them nowadays.

Sorry you took such a financial bath.

Hey Bas!

We had the 3-digit code. The code does help indeed to verify that the presenter is in possession of the actual card. I am truly confused as to how these bad guys do this so easily. Perhaps a combination of the 3-digit and a one-time password that is issued from the CC company, passed to the card holder and then given to the seller might help. However, I do not think there is much incentive for the bank to look after the businesses.

Sorry you took such a financial bath.

Thanks. In addition to myself one must consider the tax revenue the county, state, and feds lose. Conservatively 40% government revenue is lost not to mention the drain of capital that I would have used to purchase equipment, payroll, etc., which would have created more jobs and tax revenues. Now if this happening across our entire country on a consistent basis then one has to ask ourselves why the guv and the banks don't close those loopholes to protect our domestic capital. I guess I could ramble on.... but to what avail.... other than try to warn other businesses and individuals.

________

"That man was Griffin Judicial Circuit District Attorney Scott Ballard".

CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE STORY

Several years ago we were members of the Federal Employees Credit Union,[the name has changed now] but some scumbag in California wrote them a letter requesting that the mailing address be changed to someplace in North Hollywood Ca. Well being the obliging fools they are the credit union changed the address without even comparing the signatures, which were totally different and the only way we caught it before they went on a spending spree with our credit was the Secret Service called me to let us know something was going on.
They couldn't get into the mailbox the scum was using, but they could look in the slot and my bank statement was on the top thank goodness, well having a last name that is sort of rare{I'm the only one in the metro Atlanta phone book] they had no problem tracking me down and this was stopped before it cost us any money. Still cost us lots of time though.

I yam what I yam...Popeye

And yet when I gave someone without an account a check from that bank, she tried to cash it and had to put on her fingerprint! For some tiny amount of money, it's been a while but I want to say it was around $30. And they cashed one for thousands??

Git, I also feel bad you lost out on that one, I bet it's hard to weigh the risk vs. income potenial on overseas transactions like that. Especially now that you know that even the transactions where you're given the code off the back of the card can be scams. That's the first I've heard of that being the case - scary.

And Jenn, I can tell you I'm not a novice. What I can tell you is the bad guys are coming at us from every direction. Yeah...you can imagine the let down I had when I found out the 3-digit was useless in this case. I do understand it's purpose fully but it does have some extreme limitations and I feel it gives both the card holder and the merchant a false sense of security.

________

"That man was Griffin Judicial Circuit District Attorney Scott Ballard".

CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE STORY

This is horrible, and it is scary.