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Well, credit cards seem like a good deal to customers especially the reward cards but as usual nothing in life is really free. I own a restaurant and my fee for accepting credit cards was over $3,000 last month. Also when a customer pays with a cashback or rewards card the percentage rate charged to me is double or more than if you paid with a regular card. And if your card doesn't swipe and has to be keyed it costs me triple the percentage and a 50¢ keyed fee per transaction. I can't charge service fees to the customer so for me and everyone else that accepts credit cards those costs are built into prices of all goods and services. If everyone paid cash I could lower my prices at least 10%.
 
Well, credit cards seem like a good deal to customers especially the reward cards but as usual nothing in life is really free. I own a restaurant and my fee for accepting credit cards was over $3,000 last month. Also when a customer pays with a cashback or rewards card the percentage rate charged to me is double or more than if you paid with a regular card. And if your card doesn't swipe and has to be keyed it costs me triple the percentage and a 50¢ keyed fee per transaction. I can't charge service fees to the customer so for me and everyone else that accepts credit cards those costs are built into prices of all goods and services. If everyone paid cash I could lower my prices at least 10%.

Great post! This is why Costco does not accept most credit cards. They custom negotiate lower rates with one exclusive credit card company. Unfortunately, smaller retailers can't do this.

Also for everyone else, if you are using a card that supports both debit and Visa/Mastercard you should always choose DEBIT for the transaction type. The retailer will pay lower fees and there is no down side for you. For big dollar transactions with small business like car repairs I always write a check. My mechanic pays no special fees for that. :)
 
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