Does anyone else get annoyed with credit card fees on auctions?

As a former retail vender, what the vender pays in credit card merchant fees can vary greatly, and is dependent on the kind of deal they can negotiate with the card payment processor. Small businesses with low volume and a low number of credit card transactions are going to pay a much higher percentage to the processing company, 3-5%. Places like Walmart might pay .25-.5%. Granted I don't know what the fees are today, but part of my business strategy at the time was increase volume in order to reduce credit card processing fees, and square that with reduced margins to do so.

I am glad they tack it on openly. Too many business expenses are hidden to the customer, who thinks they are getting hosed by "greedy businesses" who are pricing to cover them.
 
Too many business expenses are hidden to the customer, who thinks they are getting hosed by "greedy businesses" who are pricing to cover them.
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Things like returns on goods that can't be resold, "shrinkage", aka theft, processing those returns, etc. are all overheads that add to the purchase price of an item in a retail store - large or small.
 
...but at the shop I work at we are only charged about 1.5% by the credit card companies. How do I know? Because the owner told me. We give a 2% cash discount if customers want to run to the bank.
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The last time I signed up for the service, the fee was 1.7%. However, I haven't seen it mentioned here but the CC processing company also charges a "swipe fee" of $0.25 per transaction on top of the 1.7%. So, no matter how small the order is, they charge $0.25 for swiping the card. That is why you see many small retailers, like gas stations, state a $5 or $10 minimum order to use a credit card. If they sell you a pack of gum for $0.75 and make $0.25 profit, they lose all their profit on the swipe fee.

On top of these 2 fees, you have to either buy the credit card machine(s) you use or rent it (them) by the month, which is not cheap. Then, on top of all of this they charge a fee for the printed monthly statement of all the charges, fees, etc that they send to you to show you all the money they charged you for their service (needed for tax purposes).

It comes to about 3% for V/MC and 5% or more for AmEx. That is why many places do not accept AmEx purchases.

Somebody pays all these fees and it isn't the credit card companies or the vendors. We pay every time we use their cards.
 
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