Few retailers opt to impose credit card ‘checkout’ fees
A multibillion-dollar settlement reached in July 2012 between credit card issuers MasterCard Inc., Visa Inc. and millions of retailers gives merchants the option to pass on a surcharge of up to 4 percent of the purchase price to cover the “swipe” that MasterCard and Visa charge merchants. However, it appears few retailers plan to impose such a surcharge.
“I don’t see businesses necessarily doing that, small businesses especially,” said Kelly Sharp, owner of Heart of America Market Place in Valley Junction, who doesn’t plan to impose a surcharge. “I don’t want to penalize them for using their credit card; I don’t think that will go over well. I would just as soon as have the customers come in and pay the way they want to pay.”
Representatives of Greater Des Moines-based Casey’s General Stores Inc. and Hy-Vee Inc. similarly said their stores have no plans to charge a checkout fee.
Among large national chains that have said they will not add surcharges are McDonald’s, Target and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.. The Home Depot and Lowe’s have also said they do not plan to add surcharges.
J. Craig Shearman, a spokesman for the National Retail Federation, said reports of widespread fees are “propaganda” from the card industry. “Not a single retailer we spoke to has any intention of charging fees,” he said in an interview with Fox Business. “The settlement does not represent the retail industry as a whole.”
In November, the National Retail Federation and more than a dozen retailers asked a judge to reject the proposed settlement. In a brief submitted to a U.S. District Court judge in Brooklyn, N.Y., the trade organization wrote that the new fees threaten a merchant’s ability to keep prices low for customers.
At Heart of America, which also sells online, about 75 percent of purchases are made using credit cards, which means a large annual cost for accepting credit cards, Sharp said. She’s now looking into the payment options offered by Des Moines-based Dwolla Inc., which bypasses the credit card processing network and charges a flat 25-cent fee for transactions over $10.
“I’m looking at it and trying to figure it out,” Sharp said. “I absolutely want to keep my costs in check and I’m looking at options to reduce my costs. But I don’t think you want to penalize your customers, either.”