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The night before any holiday where greeting cards are involved, I wind up at the stationery store. My goal is always to spend $1.99 (plus tax). But since I don’t carry that kind of cash, I have to whip out the plastic. And whipping out the plastic means I must also grab an extravagant bow, holiday-appropriate candy corn, and a stuffed Mr. T rear-view mirror accessory.
The purchase of these ridiculous items is dictated by a sign taped to the register. Scrawled in green marker on notebook paper with maddeningly frayed edges, the sign says, “Minimum Credit Card Purchase $10.”
And according to Bottom Line Personal, a magazine I didn’t realize I received, that sign violates the terms and conditions imposed by Visa and MasterCard.
“Did you know that merchants who accept Visa and MasterCard cannot require a minimum purchase? If a merchant insists on a minimum purchase amount, contact your card issuer to complain.”
The Consumerist has the actual wording, from Visa:
“Always honor valid Visa cards, in your acceptance category, regardless of the dollar amount of the purchase. Imposing minimum or maximum purchase amounts is a violation.”
Now, your local merchants might argue that paying credit card fees on miniscule purchases eliminates their profit margins. And that sounds pretty reasonable. But my point is this — if you wind up a few dollars short of an arbitrary limit, and you’re the kind of person who argues about signs taped to cash registers, you won’t have to walk out with unwanted purchases.
Or you can just start carrying around more cash. Anyone have any good/embarrassing stories of stuff you bought to reach a minimum purchase limit?
This happened to me once. I went to an oriental market with my friend, and there was a sign on every register that said in order to use a debit or credit card, one must purchase ten dollars or more.
(I live in Tampa, FL.)
posted by Alyssa on 11-27-2006 at 2:51 pm
I was at a party supply store and just wanted to buy some streamers or something, but there was a five dollar limit, so I bought these insanely long, blue tipped false eye lashes. They were great for Halloween, though.
posted by Molly on 11-27-2006 at 4:23 pm
i charged .17 at kinkos
posted by matt on 11-28-2006 at 7:54 pm
I charged 1 cent at a gas pump!
posted by Clyde on 11-29-2006 at 1:43 pm
But they also have the right to refuse service to anyone… so if you started arguing with them about the sign, couldn’t they just refuse to serve you at all, and get away with it?
I’m just thinking of some of the swarthy and surly folks who’ve rung me up over the years and what might have happened had I protested…
posted by Laura Ellis on 11-29-2006 at 2:17 pm
I actually work at a place that has a “suggested” $10 minimum, which I usually don’t enforce, because we charge such wildly inlfated prices, anyway, I can’t imagine the few cents my boss is losing on the credit card transactions is really making a dent in his profits.
A couple of times I have made a big deal of out it, but usually only with people who make a big deal out of it first. Like, if I ring someone up for $8.62 (a common figure at our place), I’ll let them use their card. For less than $5, I’ll usually turn them down, mostly because I know my boss will get mad when he goes through the tape at the end of the night.
posted by Alex on 11-30-2006 at 11:39 am
Think about it from the shopkeeper’s point of view:
If I sell you a piece of cake, I’m making about $.50 profit. The bank charges me $0.50 to run your card. And I have to pay tax on the transaction.
So I loose money when you make a small purchases with plastic.
Thanks for supporting local independent business!
posted by Mark on 11-30-2006 at 2:09 pm
i work at a store that charges a $.25 charge for any purchase below $3.00. it covers most of our bank charges. since most of our transactions are for candy bars and drinks (which, i hate to say, isn’t as marked up in some places as people may think), we’d end up losing a lot of money if we didn’t have the charge.
posted by tom on 11-30-2006 at 4:29 pm
Oriental? Woah, what is this, 1942?
posted by Ryan on 11-30-2006 at 7:11 pm
Ryan, I think it’s still okay to use “oriental” to describe food or a place where food is sold…
posted by Mary on 11-30-2006 at 7:20 pm
THINGS are “oriental”
PEOPLE are “Asian”.
the MARKET is oriental,
the PEOPLE who own it are “Asian”.
posted by sarah on 11-30-2006 at 9:31 pm
I LOVE the guy who spent .17 at Kinkos. I work there. He can come to my store ANYTIME and I’ll take his card! My only problem is that they charge you 20% interest on stupid little purchases like that!! But being a retailer..it’s up to you…I’ll be more than happy to take it..Matt…come visit me in Plano Texas..I’ll check you out at the register!
posted by Toby Ralls on 12-1-2006 at 8:23 am
As long as this is a triva site, and we’ve moved to the subject of Kinko’s, when I was a college student in the ’70s I used to get copies at the ORIGINAL Kinkos. Anyone (else) know where that was? Or why it is called Kinkos?
posted by Vic on 12-1-2006 at 9:47 am
Or you could just buy $10 worth of stuff, or whatever the minimum is, and return what you didn’t need. Make sure you check the return policy first.
posted by Nick on 12-1-2006 at 9:55 am
I work at Wholefoods market. There is no way that you are getting out of there under 50 cents or even a dollar, so I really dont have to worry about any of this!
posted by ZoundsPadang on 12-2-2006 at 1:03 pm
A local (Cupertino Ca.) gas station charges 50 cents if you use your credit card. People pay too.
Probably because they’re right next to a freeway with no other station within clear view.
I don’t buy gas there. (just that once)
posted by mike on 12-3-2006 at 10:47 pm
I want to know where the original Kinko’s is/was located and why it got it’s name…please
posted by Veronica on 12-19-2006 at 7:27 pm
It is Kinko’s in Columbus OH named after the founder’s curly hair
posted by Christine on 1-10-2007 at 2:44 pm
The first Kinko’s was in Isla Vista, California, next to UC Santa Barbara. It started in September 1970, the very month and year I entered as a freshman.
And it was named after his kinky hair.
–Tim May
posted by Tim May on 4-6-2007 at 10:58 pm
I read your thoughts regarding the minimum purchase amount to use credit cards. This has been a long standing problem without a way to combat it -until now. While Visa and Mastercard take the report and get results, there has never been a group to follow-up with the consumer to let them know the problem is solved. We recently launched “Citizens Against Minimum Purchase.” Feel free to visit out website www.citizensagainstminimumpurchase.com. The site was established to give consumers a voice against minimum purchase amounts. On the site you can also report establishments that have a minimum purchase requirement. Please email us if you have any questions or would like additional information.
Citizens Against Minimum Purchase
www.citizensagainstminimumpurchase.com
info@citizensagainstminimumpurchase.com
posted by Citizens Against Minimum Purchase on 12-16-2007 at 12:29 pm
If I don’t have $10 cash on me to buy something with, I expect to be able to charge it if it’s important. If I run a business, I need to find a way to justify that “loss” in increased customer goodwill and repeat business.
posted by kittymama on 2-22-2008 at 4:34 pm
If a store is being billed a .50 fee on a .50 purchase they need to change the bank they use to run transactions. The credit card companies bill a percentage fee of only a few percent per purchase, so the fee on miniscule purchases is so small it really shouldn’t matter. The stores bank may bill a fee too, which may be where the issue is. I had a friend who accepted cards with her business and she had to shop around for credit card processing.
My thinking is, they are making so much extra money by accepting cards, that they should just deal with some of the small transactions.. it’s part of running a business, and your fees are probably tax deductible anyway.
posted by Shopper on 2-22-2008 at 5:45 pm