this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2024
12 points (100.0% liked)
Moving to: m/AskMbin!
235 readers
6 users here now
### We are moving! **Join us in our new journey as we take a new direction towards the future for this community at mbin, find our new community here and read this post to know more about why we are moving. Thank you and we hope to see you there!**
founded 1 year ago
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Merchants don’t have to pay processing fees for checks, which is why they may not accept credit cards, or require a minimum for a card, and/or may pass along the processing fee to the customer.
Like cash, there’s still costs associated with them. Someone has to record the checks and take them to the bank. But more importantly, checks have an even worse risk of fraud than credit cards. A business doesn’t know that the account has sufficient funds, is even an active account, or that the check writer is even the account holder (can check ID, but what about business checks?). They can call the bank and verify funds, which obviously is awkward and time consuming, or there are 3rd party check verification services, which have to be paid for monthly. And then if someone bounces a check, often banks charge a fee to the depositor for that.
As a business owner, who accepts checks and charges fees for credit cards, I’ll take a check from a trusted party any day over credit cards when they want to avoid the processing fee, but I still have their credit card on file in case the check bounces.
edit: Further, it is a royal pain in the ass to accept a credit card payment, then have someone dispute the charge as if their card was stolen. The amount of energy spent taking checks to the bank is nothing compared to the energy, effort, and documentation needed to prove to a credit card company that the charge was legitimate, so you actually get paid and not take a total loss.
Checks work for situations where you know and trust the customer, and can do things like have their CC on file. Less so for situations like casual retail or trade shows.
I thought credit card processing agreements tend to forbid charging an extra fee for using a credit card. Maybe that’s changed, idk.
See my edit, and you are very far behind. Years ago VISA and MC (at least) specifically made it legal to pass along fees. A short internet search should confirm this for you.
Yes, I did look it up. It’s more complex than that, though.
This site sums it up: https://www.lendingtree.com/credit-cards/articles/surcharges-and-convenience-fees/
good for you, my practices have been well vetted, so I’m not wasting my time reading it.
That’s great. You sound really awesome.
Sorry you take offense. I just didn’t provide a fully comprehensive reply, and don’t need someone who just learned about this to educate me on the subject.
It’s more for the benefit of anyone else reading who may be interested. I’m sure you know what you’re doing. I haven’t used traditional credit card services in a while (I ran a retail store and art business 2000-2012 or so).
So then you probably should have indicated that so I was aware of your intention, and either way your last reply wasn’t needed.
My original comment said "Maybe that’s changed, idk." Clearly this entire conversation wasn't needed.
Came here to say.