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Geektastic

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#217936 19-Jul-2017 11:19
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The EU has now banned roaming charges within the member states.

 

Next on the hit list in the UK is credit card fees. I wonder if we will see that?

 

"Fees for using credit and debit cards will be banned in a move that could save shoppers £500 million a year.

 

New Treasury rules will stop retailers from adding hidden charges at the checkout, a practice that particularly drives up the cost of goods and services online. Airlines, travel agents, ticket booking websites, universities and councils were among those exposed by The Times last year for levying fees of up to 3.5 per cent.

 

Convenience stores and pubs will also be banned from imposing the fees, which can vastly inflate the cost of low-value purchases.

 

The blanket ban on such “rip-off” charges will come into force from January next year, covering card fees as well as levies for digital payments made via services such as PayPal and ApplePay.

 

The moves follows an investigation by this newspaper that exposed widespread abuse of laws designed to stop companies using card charges to pad out profits. A law introduced in 2013 said that businesses could pass on only the cost of handling a payment, estimated by consumer groups to be 0.6 per cent on average. It proved difficult to police, however.

 

The Treasury said that although many industries had acted to absorb the costs and not pass them on to consumers, the rules would end the practice. It cited research from 2010 estimating the saving for shoppers at £473 million. A ban on credit card charges is relatively rare even among large economies. Australia and the state of New York have them in place but Japan, Canada and New Zealand do not."

 

 

 

(The Times)






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sen8or
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  #1825039 19-Jul-2017 11:29
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Given that only recently we allowed it, I can't see it happening here. Prior to the law change allowing merchants to oncharge credit card fees, it was against their merchant agreements to do so. The only proviso is that they can only oncharge actual costs, not some inflated % to add to their markup. How or if this is enforced is probably open to debate.

 

 


 
 
 
 

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cadman
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  #1825049 19-Jul-2017 11:38
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 I'm happy for it to remain as-is here. It's effectively a penalty for spending in advance of earning, which I'm all in favour of.


Stu

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  #1825050 19-Jul-2017 11:39
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Scrapping of interchange fees and surcharges to consumers is being reviewed in NZ. Not holding my breath though, it could take a while.





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  #1825051 19-Jul-2017 11:39
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cadman:

 

 I'm happy for it to remain as-is here. It's effectively a penalty for spending in advance of earning, which I'm all in favour of.

 

 

That's what interest is for!





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cadman
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  #1825055 19-Jul-2017 11:49
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Stu:

 

cadman:

 

 I'm happy for it to remain as-is here. It's effectively a penalty for spending in advance of earning, which I'm all in favour of.

 

 

That's what interest is for!

 

 

The more the better. NZers didn't used to live on credit. It's just another method to the end of bonded labour.


Rikkitic
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  #1825056 19-Jul-2017 11:51
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cadman:

 

 I'm happy for it to remain as-is here. It's effectively a penalty for spending in advance of earning, which I'm all in favour of.

 

 

Not when it is applied to a debit card, which happened to me (again) recently. I bought something from PB Tech, which I knew I could get there but wasn't certain about other possible suppliers. I needed it in a hurry. When I hit the PB Tech site, I was quoted a reasonable price, which I accepted. Then shipping. Another page. Enter my address, suddenly shipping goes way up. Another page. Pay by credit card. Suddenly there is another 2.5% charge. Then GST. All of this progressive, a page at a time. I felt I didn't have a choice at that moment, but the final cost to me was nearly double the original price. I left thinking what a crappy way to gouge customers.

 

The other day I needed some cables. PB Tech was the first site that popped up. I went to Cable Direct instead. What a difference. Good price, all inclusive, everything on the first page, no BS or creeping additional charges. 

 

I will never buy anything from PB Tech again. They may think they are being clever. I think they are just being dickheads. I hope someone there is reading this.

 

 





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MikeB4
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  #1825057 19-Jul-2017 11:52
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cadman:

 

Stu:

 

cadman:

 

 I'm happy for it to remain as-is here. It's effectively a penalty for spending in advance of earning, which I'm all in favour of.

 

 

That's what interest is for!

 

 

The more the better. NZers didn't used to live on credit. It's just another method to the end of bonded labour.

 

 

 

 

Not all credit card holders use them for credit and "spending in advance of earning"




reven
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  #1825059 19-Jul-2017 11:53
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cadman:

 

 I'm happy for it to remain as-is here. It's effectively a penalty for spending in advance of earning, which I'm all in favour of.

 

 

no its not.  using a credit card, is an easier way of paying than cash, safer way of paying than debt cards.  

 

personally I have a low credit card limit that I just keep topping up throughout the month (I get paid monthly) and use it as my primary way to pay.  

 

its quicker for me to pull out my phone and touch that to a terminal, than to open up my wallet, pull out my card and use that.


cadman
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  #1825060 19-Jul-2017 11:54
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MikeB4:

 

cadman:

 

Stu:

 

cadman:

 

 I'm happy for it to remain as-is here. It's effectively a penalty for spending in advance of earning, which I'm all in favour of.

 

 

That's what interest is for!

 

 

The more the better. NZers didn't used to live on credit. It's just another method to the end of bonded labour.

 

 

 

 

Not all credit card holders use them for credit and "spending in advance of earning"

 

 

Most are. And it's the end game for the providers.


sen8or
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  #1825068 19-Jul-2017 12:03
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Rikkitic:

 

cadman:

 

 I'm happy for it to remain as-is here. It's effectively a penalty for spending in advance of earning, which I'm all in favour of.

 

 

Not when it is applied to a debit card, which happened to me (again) recently. I bought something from PB Tech, which I knew I could get there but wasn't certain about other possible suppliers. I needed it in a hurry. When I hit the PB Tech site, I was quoted a reasonable price, which I accepted. Then shipping. Another page. Enter my address, suddenly shipping goes way up. Another page. Pay by credit card. Suddenly there is another 2.5% charge. Then GST. All of this progressive, a page at a time. I felt I didn't have a choice at that moment, but the final cost to me was nearly double the original price. I left thinking what a crappy way to gouge customers.

 

The other day I needed some cables. PB Tech was the first site that popped up. I went to Cable Direct instead. What a difference. Good price, all inclusive, everything on the first page, no BS or creeping additional charges. 

 

I will never buy anything from PB Tech again. They may think they are being clever. I think they are just being dickheads. I hope someone there is reading this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm assuming its a debit visa/mastercard?

 

Because you presumably used it like a credit card (using whatever web method of payment they use), they would have been charged merchant fees on the transactions. Same goes for paywave transactions, they all attract merchant fees, whether or not its actually a credit card. I think mightyape are one of the few to offer web eftpos?

 

I dislike their "plus GST" way of advertising, reckon it borders on breaching fair trading act as although it doesn't specifically mislead the customer (states after the figure + GST and gives a GST incl figure), its dodgy at best (was there recently, they had large signs on the computers, all their figures were in large font but the GST incl price was much smaller, almost in the fineprint but not quite)


Paul1977
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  #1825072 19-Jul-2017 12:06
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cadman:

 

 I'm happy for it to remain as-is here. It's effectively a penalty for spending in advance of earning, which I'm all in favour of.

 

 

In many instances this simply isn't true though. I use my credit card for everything I can (unless there is a surcharge) but I always have enough cash readily available in other accounts to pay the balance.

 

There are many online stores in which you can choose credit card (with surcharge) or bank deposit (without surcharge), but if paying by bank deposit there is a delay for payment to clear before the items are shipped.

 

Also for people using credit cards to spend beyond their means, I don't think the surcharge has any real deterrent factor in those instances.


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  #1825169 19-Jul-2017 13:29
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I don't use cash, I don't use EFTPOS unless I _really_ have to, I use Paywave/PayPass for all physical transactions I can, and of course online purchasing require a credit/debit card.

 

Rather than credit card charges, I'd much rather see them charge a surcharge for places that haven't adopted Paywave/PayPass, and make you fart around with cash or EFTPOS. If we start charging 20% extra for cash and EFTPOS purchases, we'll encourage people to stop using these crappy old technologies faster.

 

 





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sidefx
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  #1825171 19-Jul-2017 13:33
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cadman:

 

 

 

The more the better. NZers didn't used to live on credit. It's just another method to the end of bonded labour.

 

 

 

 

So everyone used to pay cash in full when they bought a house? how long ago was this?





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MikeB4
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  #1825184 19-Jul-2017 13:35
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Lias:

 

I don't use cash, I don't use EFTPOS unless I _really_ have to, I use Paywave/PayPass for all physical transactions I can, and of course online purchasing require a credit/debit card.

 

Rather than credit card charges, I'd much rather see them charge a surcharge for places that haven't adopted Paywave/PayPass, and make you fart around with cash or EFTPOS. If we start charging 20% extra for cash and EFTPOS purchases, we'll encourage people to stop using these crappy old technologies faster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep

 

I hate cash, it is a pain to get out ones pocket especially in a wheelchair and it dirty germ ridden stuff. I don't mind eftpos but most retailers have terminal so slow you would think we were in 33.3k modem days.


hio77
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  #1825193 19-Jul-2017 13:44
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Lias:

 

I don't use cash, I don't use EFTPOS unless I _really_ have to, I use Paywave/PayPass for all physical transactions I can, and of course online purchasing require a credit/debit card.

 

Rather than credit card charges, I'd much rather see them charge a surcharge for places that haven't adopted Paywave/PayPass, and make you fart around with cash or EFTPOS. If we start charging 20% extra for cash and EFTPOS purchases, we'll encourage people to stop using these crappy old technologies faster.

 

 

 

 

Exactly this. though 20% may be slightly extreme..

 

 

 

places that still don't support paywave frustrate me to no ends... have to get out the eftpos card etc... no way would i use a chipped card that just gets silly! "Please insert card" "please scan card" "please insert card"

 

 

 

IMO, the fee for paywave needs to go away, atleast for Debit cards.

 

Always makes me cringe seeing "NO PAYWAVE" stuck over the top of a terminal.

 

 





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Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

 

 


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