Dealers charging a fee for using a credit card


I’m wondering if this is the new trend of dealers charging customers anywhere between 3 and 4% fee on the total sale if paying by credit card?   I was going to buy a brand new item online for 5K, but stopped dead in my tracks when I found I was going to have to pay a 3.9% fee for using my Mastercard!  The fee would have been almost $200.00!   Since this dealer has mostly online sales, it sounds like a big money grab to me. Between the 5K price, add $275.00 for shipping and 200 for paying by CC plus sales tax of $300.00, it would have cost me $5775.00.  I cancelled before I clicked send.  I called the dealer and was told that is the cost of doing business on the internet, so I basically told them to pound sand. 
 

Two weeks ago, I had all new brakes and rotors replaced on my 2020 Tucson with only 22K miles on it.  The bill was $1375 and I paid with my card.  When I got the statement, there was a CC fee of $37.00 added to the bill.  I went back to the Hyundai dealer and was told all businesses do this and he pointed to the sign.  I told them I saw the sign but paid with my DEBIT CARD, not a CC.  I was told it didn’t matter.  When I asked how many transactions were in cash, the service writer told me one out of fifteen pay in cash.  This makes me sick to my stomach.  
 

I would like to hear from others who have dealt with this. 

stereo5

Audio concepts Dallas Texas does not charge a credit card fee 

I have purchased many things with credit cards never once was charged a credit card fee I even asked is there credit card fee more than one occasion he said no. 

 

Thought I’d throw in an Aussie perspective. 

We have four of the biggest banks in the world, and they rake in billions in profit every year.  By and large they all try everything they can to rip off their customers, and routinely get fined for doing so.

Very few Aussie retailers add a processing fee for card transactions, and by law they can be no more that the retailer is charged by the bank.  Low cost operators like Aldi add 0.5% to most card transactions but we accept that with good grace alongside their low prices.

There is a move by the banking regulator to ban surcharges for card use.  It is much more efficient to transfer money electronically, as compared to tying up resources in wads of cash.

But when the internet fails, the failure takes bank transactions and streaming services with it!

I recently bought a Holbo air-bearing turntable from Slovenia, and would have preferred to use PayPal.  In the end I decided I could trust Bostjan Holc and did a direct bank transfer instead.  My trust was well placed.

We fairly recently did a five-week trip to Iceland and Norway, in the middle of their winter and way north of the Arctic Circle, and never once saw or used cash.

Don’t think that would work in the real outback, back of Bourke, where the only phone or internet service is by satellite, but I have not been recently.  The test case would be the Roadhouse at Rabbit Flat, the most isolated Roadhouse in the world (apparently).

I simply don't do business with those who charge a percentage of the cost of the sale as a fee. I might possibly be able to see a couple of bucks to cover the electronic transaction, but if I can buy my gas with a card without a fee, and I do all the time, so they can sell me equipment as well.

From my perspective it's just piracy and another non-essential revenue stream they're trying to create.
Besides, there are plenty of retailers online out there who do not charge a fee for card use and many have free shipping as well.

For decades I got some great prices when asking a dealer if cash would get me a better price…

@stereo5 

@parkergetdean 

@qjm101 

can’t you guys, just once in awhile, take the 6th grade playground back-and-forth somewhere else….for the sake of the rest of us?   DM each other, go on Reddit or Twitter/X, or write each other postcards (I’ll cover the stamps)….

obviously, not specific to u 3 guys, but it’s just so exhausting.     
 

pretty please??