Comments on: Sorry – No Credit Cards for Orders Under $15!!

By: Callow

Callow — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 21:23:00 +0000

I haven’t researched this much, but there is a merchantcouncil article about this kind of thing. According to them, American Express is the one card issuer that doesn’t forbid minimum purchase requirements. If true, the card you tried to use is the one card you had no leg to stand on as far as your complaint goes.

Another interesting thing the article stated is that merchants can if they wish indeed raise their prices, and then give discounts if you pay cash. I never seem to see this though. Frankly I’d love to skip the whole rewards game and just pay less for things by using cash.

http://www.merchantcouncil.org/merchant-account/operation/charge-minimum-pay-credit-card.php

By: billybob

billybob — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 15:07:53 +0000

unfortunately, visa and mastercard do not care if the the owner generates money. I work with the bank. the business does loose money under 5-10 depending on their rate.

By: Ramiro

Ramiro — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 20:28:11 +0000

Next time you run into this type of situation, contact Visa/Mastercard and report them. They are required, under written contract, not to charge a minimum. They can be penalized and stripped of their credit card acceptance service.

Great example article.

By: unconflictive credit cardholder

unconflictive credit cardholder — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 12:03:30 +0000

You are very persistent person! if I were you i would just pay 15$. I know that you are right and thanks to me (and people like me) we have such quality of service. But i hate conflicts and try to avoid them even somebody swindles me.

By: Ray

Ray — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 16:42:19 +0000

That’s pretty idiotic of them to set that high of a limit. I can understand they wouldn’t want lots of $1-$2 transactions as fees can be 2-3% + .15 to .25 per transaction and that is where they would be losing money over larger charges.

I don’t think a $5 minimum especially at a restaurant is a bad idea, but $15 is just not worth it, to cover an additional cost of .15 to .25 per transaction fee.

I think you should eat there again and have someone else pay for the meal that’s under $15 and do the same thing, especially since there is not sign anywhere.