posted on October 30, 2001 11:18:12 PM
Well everyone always likes to spout about the rules on this issue, you can't do it, it's against the law, it's against the rules of the credit card company, it's against the user agreement you sign with ebay, PayPal, etc. etc. etc...............
Well maybe if we could get these guys to accept our credit card transactions for us.
That's right folks, the state of California charges a "convenience fee" to use your credit card.
If the state of California can do it then why can't we? eBay and PayPal have always maintained that among other things it is California law that you can't charge the card holder a fee?
eBay fees are like being slowly pecked to death by chickens!!!
posted on October 31, 2001 04:27:30 AM
Because the sate of California makes the laws for the state of California and obviously have given an exemtion to government agencies who allow the state residents to pay them with a credit card.
When we grow up to be state agencies maybe we will be exempt too
posted on October 31, 2001 05:06:21 AM
But some who pay via paypal don't use a CC, they use their account balance... so you can't just say $4 to use PP.
posted on October 31, 2001 05:32:42 AM
I took this issue up with Visa and Mastercard when I saw this on another government site about 8 months ago. They told me that it was NOT a surcharge, because it applied to ALL of the payments made online (even though the only payment they take online is a credit card).
They both told me that "convenience fees" were perfectly legal in this case, and were NOT considered a surcharge. It is only a surcharge if it applies to ONE kind of payment.
Interesting, huh?
[ edited by kidsfeet on Oct 31, 2001 05:33 AM ]
posted on October 31, 2001 05:45:25 AM
I was just reading my renewel statement for my license plates for the year, you have a few choices for payment, IE: check, money order, cash or Credit card, but they clearly state that if you pay by credit card, you add a surcharge of a minimum of $3.00 for payments under $100 and it really goes up from there.
It's not a convenience fee or it would be added to all payments, it's only added if you use a CC to pay for the renewel. Property taxes have the same charges, really sucks that they can get away with it.
posted on October 31, 2001 06:58:29 AM
How's this for a convenience fee-I looked into buying some theater tickets online for a Christmas play. $14.00 per ticket is added! Give me a break!
posted on October 31, 2001 07:37:22 AM
wranglers--The State of Illinois has started charging a service fee also if you use your CC to pay your taxes at the Court House. I tried to tell them that this was not allowed by the cc companies and they told me I was wrong.
[ edited by heygrape on Oct 31, 2001 07:38 AM ]
posted on October 31, 2001 09:13:47 AM
We process our own transaction as well at take PayPal. I looked into this a lot about a year ago when PayPal started charging. PayPal is the one running the transaction, so really the charge that they hit us with is a convenience fee to take the card. If you read all the rules from the CC companies, and if you get into what the law makers have to say, there is some contradiction both with in the rules and the law let alone comparing them.
there are two things it boils down to. 1) if you charge a convenience fee it has to be disclosed from the start, you can't say it's 5.00.........oh wait you want to pay with a credit card? it's 9.00, which is what the state is doing. 2) getting away with it because you are processing a large volume of transactions. It still may violate the CC companies rules but they will look the other way because they get their percentage.
This would be another good argument for a auction sellers union, if you could petition people like ebay and PayPal and say we are 50 thousand strong with sellers that post 40,000,000+ in auctions a month that we will be charging a one or two dollar convenience fee for on line payments starting on XX/XX/XX if you end one persons auctions we will ask that you end all of the card holders auctions. With even a few hundred or thousand people you would carry the weight of a small state, or at least a very, very large company.
Amy
the rules and laws apply the same to everyone, however if you are big enough, or are proceesing enough transactions I'm sure you can get away with anything. My guess is they are not exempt but are just breaking their own laws, if they disclosed on the renewal paperwork that they were going to charge a fee to use a CC they would be a little closer to being "legal".
capotasto
sure I can, it's a convenience fee to use PayPal, I have a business account so no matter how you send the money I get charged a fee, and it takes more time, resources, and money on our part to take PayPal but is the lazy way for a person to pay so a convenience fee is pretty accurate.
eBay fees are like being slowly pecked to death by chickens!!!
posted on October 31, 2001 05:37:24 PM
Wranglers...no, many laws do not apply to all equally. In many case there are exemptions that allows certain groups to be outside the scope of a law.
Law and credit card company policies are two different things. It may be against the credit card merchant agreement, but not against the law. I still am willing to bet that if you look into the California laws on credit card surcharges you will find that at some point the law was ammended to allow the local tax collector, the DMV, the probate department (for probate sales) and others to assess a "surcharge" on payments made with a credit card.
I would be willing to bet that the reasoning was that agencies like the tax collector was collecting revenue that was then used to fund the police, fire, schools, libraries, hospital, public transit etc and the revenue shouldn't be reduced by the charges from the credit card companies.
The credit card companies are not going to argue with the state law makers on this because the law makers can make laws that could hurt the credit card companies.
I worked in county government here in California for 15 years, my husband for 25...believe me, there are many laws that have "exemptions" which allow one group or another to be exempt from following the law.
posted on October 31, 2001 06:11:47 PMamy is absolutely correct.
Here is the section of California's legal code that allows government and public agencies to charge a credit card surcharge:
(Section 6159)
(f) Notwithstanding Title 1.3 (commencing with Section 1747) of
Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code, a court, city, county, city
and county, or any other public agency may impose a fee for the use
of a credit card, not to exceed the costs incurred by the agency in
providing for payment by credit card. These costs may include, but
shall not be limited to, the payment of fees or discounts as
specified in paragraph (3) of subdivision (c). Any fee imposed by a
court pursuant to this subdivision shall be approved by the Judicial
Council. Any fee imposed by any other public agency pursuant to this
subdivision for the use of a credit card shall be approved by the
governing body responsible for the fiscal decisions of the public
agency.
