Online gun transactions

[hotpig]

3% charge for the use of CC because it was something that gunbroker required

He gave your some BS. GB does not care how you pay for a item.

All they care about is charging the sellers credit card for the auction fees.

 

[Louisiana Carry]

You can report merchants who add a fee for credit card transactions (or, for example, who refuse to accept your card if you do not show them your ID)

Here is the MC web page to report merchants

I provide this link, even though I am a CC merchant. I believe in following the rules if you are going to do business.

 

[hotpig]

As Louisiana Carry suggests I would LOVE to see other fire arm merchants raise their prices 3 or more %. I could compete better since I do not have a cash discount or credit card surcharge.

 

[Louisiana Carry]

A merchant is allowed to offer a cash/check discount- the point is that you cannot advertise/agree to one price, and then raise it later, based on payment.

 

[asknight]

Lousiana Carry, sure you can. As long as it's clearly posted where all customers are sure to see it or they're verbally told before money changes hands.

If I see a price tag on a handgun of $500 and I tell them I'll buy it I cannot be too shocked when they ask for $543.75! 8.75% sales tax is a heck of a bit larger surcharge than a 3% credit transaction fee, especially on an item with an 11% federal excise tax already factored in. Sales tax is never clearly posted for all to see. If it were, I might not would have purchased some of the items I have in other towns/cities with exorbitant sales tax rates.

A 3% transaction fee on the above $543.75 gun would come out to about $16. Not an outrageous amount considering the convenience afforded the buyer. Now if you draw it out over a long period of time @ 19.9% APR then you're gonna get just what you ask for.

I continue to see that us folks in the hobby are extreme tightwads...

 

[Louisiana Carry]

No, you are incorrect. Your merchant account can be suspended for that, according to the merchant agreement that you sign to be able to accept cards. This is not my opinion, this is clearly spelled out in the contract. The link above is the one for Mastercard, and it clearly counts as a 'merchant violation.' You can offer a discount for other forms of payment- you may not mark up for CC sales.

Again, I am not concerned about the price of things, heck, I have over $3000 into just my AR- I just feel that if you sign a contract with someone, you should stick to it. I am a contractor, so I have spent many an hour and many a dollar meeting the terms of my contracts, as written- why shouldn't others?

 

[hotpig]

Most places that do this clearly spell it in their auctions or post it in the shop. Some of the largest Distributors in the country also have this 3% fee or what ever you want to call it.


The way that I see it is we can report these guys.

The best case scenario is the Credit card companies ignore our complaints.

The second best thing is we see prices go up at least 3% as these guys build the cost in like I do.

The worse case scenario is this gives the Credit Card Industry a excuse to start cutting off gun transactions by credit card.

For this reason I will put up with the companies that do the 3% even if it annoys me.

 

[Louisiana Carry]

A more likely scenario is that the dealers do what I do, which is perfectly within the contract (it says explicitly that you can do this):

Offer the price that you are offering now, no 3% markup or anything. Give notice that "These prices reflect a cash/check discount. Customers choosing another form of payment may be subject to our normal rates, which are slightly higher."

Everyone is happy, no emergency. No price changes, but people have notice agead of time what they are agreeing to, without a switcharoo after a deal is agreed to.