[153677] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Dear Linkedin,
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Robert Bonomi)
Sun Jun 10 14:40:10 2012
Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2012 13:40:37 -0500 (CDT)
From: Robert Bonomi <bonomi@mail.r-bonomi.com>
To: bzs@world.std.com, nanog@nanog.org
In-Reply-To: <20436.58474.786115.356761@world.std.com>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
> From nanog-bounces+bonomi=mail.r-bonomi.com@nanog.org Sun Jun 10 13:18:06 2012
> From: Barry Shein <bzs@world.std.com>
> Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2012 14:16:10 -0400
> To: Mikael Abrahamsson <swmike@swm.pp.se>
> Subject: Re: Dear Linkedin,
> Cc: NANOG <nanog@nanog.org>, Joe Greco <jgreco@ns.sol.net>
>
>
> I was under the impression (I should dig out my contract) that
> merchant contracts also forbid charging more for a charge than for
> cash or conversely "discount for cash!" but I see so many violations
> of that particularly at gas stations I wonder if that's negotiable in
> the contract.
The 'true explanation' is even simpler -- your impression is incorrect. <grin>
In the U.S., Visa/Mastercard/Amex/Discover/Diners Club contracts all
expressly forbid charging extra for a card transaction. Using language
that applies only to a 'premium' or 'surcharge' applied to card transactions.
They do *NOT* forbid giving a discount for cash payment. They do not state
it =is= acceptable -- they are simply silent on the subject, which means that
it is not proscribed.
The logic: The card purchaser must be allowed to buy at the 'advertised'
price. Prohibiting discounts gets into a 'restraint of trade' issue.
Gas stations that offer a 'discount for cash' do not give that discount
even for 'house brand' cards -- which do not have any fees that are
payable to the issuer.
