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patrickong
VP-CART New User

Singapore
58 Posts

Posted - January 24 2004 :  19:59:09  Show Profile  Visit patrickong's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Hi!

In Singapore, the merchants always practice the habit of adding the 3% credit card charges back to the total amount if the buyer pays by credit card. This is because of the thin margin from selling electronic goods in a brick and mortar shop as opposed to a restaurant or service offerings.

I wonder if VPASP could add an option for merchants to add a certain percentage (depending on which payment gateway he uses) to the total sales amount if they choose to pay by VISA.

This could appear in the very last line at the checkout page to reflect this add-back.

Edited by - patrickong on January 24 2004 20:01:48

markerussell
Starting Member

United Kingdom
5 Posts

Posted - May 05 2004 :  14:59:03  Show Profile  Visit markerussell's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Yes, i agree I have the requirement here in the UK too.

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jonmadrid
VP-CART New User

USA
192 Posts

Posted - May 05 2004 :  19:32:55  Show Profile  Visit jonmadrid's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Hi there,

The cart would need to asses the fee after the customer enters their card information since you won't know if they are using a VISA or not until that point. The problem with that is that they will never see the "final" price until after the card is processed and they get to the receipt page (shopthanks.asp).

If you are going to charge the fee to all credit cards -- regardless of type -- you could do that with just a small change of the code to multiply like this: (total price * percentage) + total price = FINAL PRICE.

Are you only assesing the fee for VISA, or for all card types?

All the best,

Jon Madrid
--------------------
Madrid Communications
Web Design, Development, and Hosting
www.madridcom.com
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devshb
Senior Member

United Kingdom
1904 Posts

Posted - May 06 2004 :  02:40:05  Show Profile  Visit devshb's Homepage  Reply with Quote
it's not just cards which cause this kind of "don't know how much it'll be until it's been settled" problem, because, for example, if you had a worldpay account that allowed more than one currency then the user can choose any of your set of currencies to settle in on the worldpay page (regardless of what you've submitted in your gateway form as the ccy) using worldpay's current rates rather than your own and not taking account of any additional exchange costs you may encounter on your side.
because of this, and because of jonmadrid's comments about choosing cards which is the same problem, jonmadrid's right in saying that you'll never know exactly how much a transaction will end up costing until after it's settled (unless you're doing absolutely all of your own card/payment processing rather than using a gateway)

i'd do what jonmadrid says and stick a premium on ALL card payments by default which'll cover the maximum extra cost, but it does depend on whether or not you're using a gateway as to how much per-card/ccy logic you can put in place on your own site.

the fact that using a gateway won't g'tee a certain card/ccy is chosen is probably why the vpasp people haven't already built in a per-card additional cost feature and just left it to individual sites how to deal with this as there are too many permutations for vpasp to create a one-size-fits-all solution.

the easiest thing to do is just to hike all your prices up to cover the maximum handling charge.

Simon Barnaby
Freelance Developer
Java-E UK
[email protected]
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greatphoto
VP-CART Super User

USA
304 Posts

Posted - May 06 2004 :  22:22:06  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
According to this topic: http://www.vpasp.com/virtprog/vpaspforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2632
credit card surcharges may be illegal in some countries and violate card company agreements.

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devshb
Senior Member

United Kingdom
1904 Posts

Posted - May 07 2004 :  02:41:43  Show Profile  Visit devshb's Homepage  Reply with Quote
yes, that's why i'd just hike up all the cprices by, say, 5% and just leave it at that; nice and simple. if your prices are such that the margins are so narrow than a card fee can be the difference between profit/loss, then the prices are too low in my view (or costs are too high, whichever way you look at it)

Simon Barnaby
Freelance Developer
Java-E UK
[email protected]
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GTM
VP-CART New User

USA
122 Posts

Posted - May 10 2004 :  03:17:44  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
That's the way to look at this is to add the 3-5% margin on your total price, the question is that do you want to take a chance of having your merchant services suspended or revoked because of adding a surcharge to a major credit card or minimize your customer base because of adding extra fees.

Greg

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Cam
VP-CART Super User

Australia
361 Posts

Posted - May 11 2004 :  11:31:47  Show Profile  Visit Cam's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Would not the legality of the addition of a surcharge be based on the laws in the country the merchant is in?

For example in Australia we can do this if we want. The law of the customers country would not affect this right.

Cheers,
Cam

*************************************
Cam Flanigan
YourVirtualStore Sales
e-mail:
http://www.vpasp.com/sales/shopcustcontact.asp
web: http://www.yourvirtualstore.net

Build you own YourVirtualStore!!!
www.yourvirtualstore.net
*************************************
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GTM
VP-CART New User

USA
122 Posts

Posted - May 12 2004 :  03:18:44  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Not neccesarily the country but cardholder policies. If it's legal in your country then I would double check with your merchant provider. You can view a mastercard complaint form here or a visa FAQ here

Greg

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advancedasia
Starting Member

34 Posts

Posted - May 21 2004 :  13:25:40  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
It's definitely LEGAL to add a C.C. surcharge in Australia, as long as the customer is clearly informed of the surcharge prior to payment, and the surcharge amount is reasonable.

Visa and Mastercard fought against this in the Australian Court system, but they lost their fight.

Now they grudgingly accept it.

Within Australia, it's actually ILLEGAL for Visa and Mastercard to withhold or withdraw a C.C. service from a merchant, on the basis that they charge a C.C. surcharge.

The rationale is, why should someone who uses a fee-free payment method (such as direct bank deposit) subsidise the overheads incurred by the customer who pays by credit card ??

However, most companies in Australia still DON'T charge a C.C. surcharge, as they see it as generating bad customer relations.

There are a couple of notable exceptions though. QANTAS Airways and Telstra Telecommunications both charge a C.C. surcharge. But the surcharge they charge is quite low. QANTAS charge a flat 1% surcharge for all cards. Telstra's surcharge differs (between 1% and 2 %) depending on the card type, with the (Visa / Mastercard) surcharge being less than the (AMEX / Diner's Club) surcharge.
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GTM
VP-CART New User

USA
122 Posts

Posted - May 21 2004 :  19:16:55  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Something else merchants are doing is charging a convenience fee which is charged to all payment methods. The payment method must provide a convenience, is in a non-face-to-face environment, and is outside the merchants normal payment channel.

For example: a convenience fee id typically to customers who pay over the phone, but not to customers who go into the store or office. The convenience fee does not relate to the form of payment but rather how the payment occurs.

According to Visa, the convenience fee must be a fixed amount regardless of the amount; it cannot be a percentage of the amount paid or based on a sliding scale of the amount paid. This differs from MasterCard, which does permit percentage based and tiered rate convenience fees. The convenience fee must be disclosed to the cardholder prior to completion of the transaction. Convenience fees cannot be advertised by the merchant as an offset to the cost of accepting credit cards. There are other fees that may be added to a transaction such as a handling fee or processing fees. These fees are not part of the credit card acceptance and are added regardless of payment.

Greg

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markerussell
Starting Member

United Kingdom
5 Posts

Posted - June 23 2004 :  11:29:14  Show Profile  Visit markerussell's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Yep, i agree this feature would be great as a standard function as i had to code it.

It obviously is down to the individual merchant if they are selling low margin products they may need to cover this cost.

regards

Mark
www.villacentre.co.uk, www.event-travel.co.uk, www.ajetski.co.uk, www.villaworld.co.uk, www.concert-zone.co.uk

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taylorphoto
VP-CART New User

USA
53 Posts

Posted - July 08 2004 :  22:56:13  Show Profile  Visit taylorphoto's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Remember back in the 80's (showing my age here) when Chevron gas stations gave a discount for paying cash?

Just increase your price by the percentage you are wanting to and then give any possible discount to those who pay cash or check.

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