Merchants across the country have been waiting for their local and national government to step in and take change of rising credit card processing fees. Vermont has recently enacted legislation with the following provisions:
● Prohibits credit card companies from fining merchants for their pricing displays or for offering a discount to customers who use a credit card with fewer fines on the merchant;
● Allows merchants to set minimum and/or maximum transaction amounts without being fined or penalized by the credit card companies;
● Prohibits credit card companies from forcing a store owner to use their credit card at all of their store branches if they choose to use it at one;
● Prohibits credit card companies from mandating the acceptance of all of their cards if the merchant chooses to accept one of them;
● Prohibits central price setting by the major credit card companies.
This amendment will be included in S.138, An Act Relating to Credit Card Fees, currently being considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Does this really help merchants? It certainly does if your average sale is $5. How many of us have an average per customer sale of $5? We sure don't! This bill is mainly targeted towards retailers with a low average sale, mainly convenience stores. The biggest concern for merchants is the consistent rising cost of merchant swipe fees, but this doesn't seem to be addressed in this legislation at all. Merchants should stop waiting for the government to bail them out and contact Ideal Cost to fix their fees. Contact Ideal Cost today at www.idealcost.com.
