Gas Station semi-rant

[SparkyJJO]

Originally posted by: Virtual Conan
Who is charging 5% for credit card processing? The highest I have heard of is 3%. Debit cards are flat rate which is why businesses prefer them.

What if you use your debit as a "credit" card? 😀

 

[StageLeft]

Only heard of it last year and saw it a touch. I wish more stations would do it so that I could get it cheaper, since as it is now they mix the cash/credit and come up with a single price for the rest of us.

 

[DrPizza]

You know... paypal & ebay fees prohibit passsing on fees to customers.

But, I wonder if you could get away with this: $15 shipping and handling. $5 discount given to people paying with non-credit card paypal

 

[oogabooga]

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO

Originally posted by: Virtual Conan
Who is charging 5% for credit card processing? The highest I have heard of is 3%. Debit cards are flat rate which is why businesses prefer them.

What if you use your debit as a "credit" card? 😀

It gets charged as a credit card. I'm not kidding. Don't enter the PIN code and it's a credit transaction.

I'm pretty sure it's against MC/Visa rules (as you can report merchants for having these violations). But I don't know if theres a special exemption for gas? One of the gas stations near my place charges less for cash, and only advertises the cash price prominently - they have the "credit" price hidden near the back after you pull in.

 

[adairusmc]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
You know... paypal & ebay fees prohibit passsing on fees to customers.

But, I wonder if you could get away with this: $15 shipping and handling. $5 discount given to people paying with non-credit card paypal

I usually give free shipping plus 10% off of all of my ebay sales if the buyer doesn't use Paypal at all. I just jack the price up on the auction higher to justify it if they do decide to pay with paypal, and just make a mention of contacting me if they want free shipping and 10% off in the description.

For a while paypal was putting every sale I had over $100 on hold until positive feedback was left, and I would offer a small discount for people who bypassed the ebay checkout system all together and sent me a direct payment to my paypal e-mail instead - bypassing their on hold BS.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: Crono

Originally posted by: SandEagle

Originally posted by: Crono
It's to cover processing fee for credit card companies. They aren't making a profit on that price difference.

really? i haven't seen it in any of the surrounding suburbs or in any of the tri-state area. i'd think it'd be national if this was the case?

I don't think it's allowed by credit card companies, but I have seen it before.

And 20 cents is probably more than it costs them. It's less than 10 cents per gallon, IIRC. I used to work as bookeeper for gas station company.

Technically, they can't charge you more to use a credit card...but they CAN give a discount for cash...:roll: (like there's really any fucking difference)

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: SandEagle
here in Detroit there are gas stations that charge different prices for regular gas, depending on if you use cash or credit. I've seen this before and thought a 6-8cents difference was nothing to complain about. Now I'm seeing a lot more of these places charges up to 20 cents more per gallon if you use credit. wtf. is that not gouging?

i just dont bother giving them business anymore, but still it irks me to see that this is allowed.

Some stations here in Chicago 30 cents difference.

Absolute fucking bullshit

Just about all of them have gone to this shit now too.

May as well rip out the card readers out of the pumps and/or make them illegal.

 

[chuckywang]

You guys are thinking of it wrong.

Gas stations give you a BREAK if you use cash. The price on the big signs is the price they advertise, and you can use your credit card to pay for it. However, if you are nice enough to use cash and give the gas station a break on CC fees, then they will charge you less.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: chuckywang
You guys are thinking of it wrong.

Gas stations give you a BREAK if you use cash. The price on the big signs is the price they advertise, and you can use your credit card to pay for it. However, if you are nice enough to use cash and give the gas station a break on CC fees, then they will charge you less.

Have I got some prime Arizona swampland for you!

You don't get a "break" when you pay with cash...they just jack the prices up, then offer a "discount" for paying cash...The few stations around here that do this sell their "cash discount gas" for the same price as all the other stations. Their "credit sale gas" is much higher priced.

 

[chuckywang]

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Originally posted by: chuckywang
You guys are thinking of it wrong.

Gas stations give you a BREAK if you use cash. The price on the big signs is the price they advertise, and you can use your credit card to pay for it. However, if you are nice enough to use cash and give the gas station a break on CC fees, then they will charge you less.

Have I got some prime Arizona swampland for you!

You don't get a "break" when you pay with cash...they just jack the prices up, then offer a "discount" for paying cash...The few stations around here that do this sell their "cash discount gas" for the same price as all the other stations. Their "credit sale gas" is much higher priced.

"jacking the prices up" is a very crude way to say "cost of doing business". They get charged when people use CC, so of course they need to charge more. It's similar to when sellers set their BIN prices to be a little bit higher than what they really want for their item cause of Paypal fees.

 

[villageidiot111]

Weird, around here (Fargo, ND) I have seen several gas stations charging 6cents less per gallon if you pay with credit.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: villageidiot111
Weird, around here (Fargo, ND) I have seen several gas stations charging 6cents less per gallon if you pay with credit.

Just wait a bit.

Obviously life happens extremely slow out there in no mans land.

They'll get around to fucking you over like everyone else eventually.