Card payment

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I had a client who paid his balance by card and I asked him what kind of card he was paying with and he told me a Mastercard debit.

About a month later, I have just got my streamline statement in and it wasn't a debit card, but a credit card.

So, instead of costing me 29p to process it cost me £6.00 I know this isn't a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, but it has annoyed me slightly.

What would you do? Ring the client and tell them? Send a bill or just ignore it and put it down to experience?

[Penfold42]

What would you do? Ring the client and tell them?
Ring them...

I asked him what kind of card he was paying with and he told me a Mastercard debit.
You ask the question.

Why should you pay it. :)

[[email protected]]

Learn from your mistake..... and don't do it again...

[Pe7e]

What would you do? Ring the client and tell them? Send a bill or just ignore it and put it down to experience?

The first thing I would do is to check my agreement with Streamline, unless I'm very much mistaken, you will have agreed not to surcharge your clients for any credit card payments you accept, unless you trade in a high ticket, low profit industry ie air ticket bucket shops. and have an agreement with them to do so

[Dynamic Entertainment]

Learn from your mistake..... and don't do it again...

How can he learn from his mistake? Or not do it again? :)

Every card payment relies on the person on the other end knowing what card they have. It could have been a honest mistake from the cardholder, or not (but i dont see why they wouldnt as its no skin off their nose whichever way they pay).

Daz, i would write it off to experience (unless you think you can get the money off them, but if youve done the gig then i doubt it), and possibly stippulate that you do not accept credit card payments in the future, due to the high admin cost to process. Most people would understand, and accept that, i think :)

[discomobiledj]

As soon as I saw Mastercard Debit I thought that was a bit strange.

[CRAZY K]

As soon as I saw Mastercard Debit I thought that was a bit strange.

I have a Mastercard ( credit card )

Steve are you saying you have to rely on the customers honesty or intelligence only?

Is there no way of checking---im sure I have to tick a box when applying on line---credit or debit--for over the phone payments you cant tell?

So how do you stop this happening again if people lie or make a mistake?

Maybe this guy realised a lot of companies charge for a credit card:eek:

CRAZY K

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Learn from your mistake..... and don't do it again...


What mistake was that then?


The first thing I would do is to check my agreement with Streamline, unless I'm very much mistaken, you will have agreed not to surcharge your clients for any credit card payments you accept, unless you trade in a high ticket, low profit industry ie air ticket bucket shops. and have an agreement with them to do so

I can charge an admin or processing fee and yes I have looked into it. It is quite legal to do so.

[[email protected]]

Learn from your mistake..... and don't do it again...

o' my gawd, i knew i shouldn't have used the quick reply thing & actually thought about what i was typing. :zip:

What i should have said is, as you put in your opening comment, put it down to experience and learn what you can from it (which i don't really know what you can learn from it, if the client gives you mis-information you can only go on what you are given). :)

[Pe7e]

I can charge an admin or processing fee and yes I have looked into it. It is quite legal to do so.

I'll concede to your current knowledge of this, their terms and conditions must have been changed. When I was a streamline merchant we had to sign an agreement to not differentiate between payment methods, but that was a few years ago.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I'm also pretty sure there is a certain amount above the charges they levy on you that you can charge as an admin fee too.

[Penfold42]

£6....well that's...........10 pints up here! :sj:

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Put it down to experience Darren, £6 is £6 but if I was a customer It wouldnt really sit well with me if someone called.

Generally switch and solo are only ones considered debit cards generally mastercards, visa etc.. are classed as credit cards.

With the vast amount of EFT transactions we process at work we dont have such charges.

Just out of interest Darren could you give us ballpark figures to implement card transactions as its something Ive given abit of thought to.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

£6....well that's...........10 pints up here! :sj:

You'd struggle to get three pints here for that.

[Pe7e]

You'd struggle to get three pints here for that.

You would only get 2 pints and 50p change in my local

[A1DL]

Barclays Merchant Services allow you to surcharge credit card payments up to but not exceeding the percentage they charge the merchant. BMS do not permit you to surcharge Debit Card payments whatsoever. I wouldn't be surprised if Streamline policy is similar, worth checking though.

Personally I dislike credit card surcharges, we abolished the 2% surcharge several years ago as it was more trouble than it was worth, only yielding around £1,500 of annual income and creating too many client queries from people after receiving their receipts or card statements. Also, more clients paid by credit card after the surcharge was abolished.

Daz, the other point which will be relevant to your goodself, and I believe is not common knowledge, is although the "transaction charges" element of your merchant statement is rated 0% VAT, you must charge VAT on any card surcharges, as any card surcharge applied follows the VAT rate applicable to the goods or services being supplied, to which the surcharge relates.

Tony

[Dynamic Entertainment]

Steve are you saying you have to rely on the customers honesty or intelligence only?

In a word yes :) - Your relying on their honesty at least. I could take my brothers card, phone Darren and pay on it and he wouldnt be any the wiser that im not Adam (the bro). Like theres nothing stopping me telling Darren that my card is a debit, when its actually a credit card. I couldnt have in the past because my Maestro card had an issue number and no start date. My new Visa Debit card has the same info as a credit card. :)

[CRAZY K]

I can charge an admin or processing fee and yes I have looked into it. It is quite legal to do so.

I presume your saying its impossible to tell if its a debit or credit card?

I dont know as we dont accept cards at the moment.

If so may you need to amend your point of sale procedures on cards to allow for lying or genuine mistakes by the client--- such as has just happened.

CRAZY K

[A1DL]

theres nothing stopping me telling Darren that my card is a debit, when its actually a credit card.

Steve, that is true, however if you are quick, you can cancel the transaction on the terminal before the authorisation stage, as it prints the card type before dialing the merchant services centre.

So, if it prints "VISA" instead of "DELTA" you could cancel at that stage, if you wanted to.

[Digitalsounds]

Just a little point here

Mastercard don't do debit cards only credit cards and prepayment credit cards

debit cards are either visa delta, meastro, electron, solo

At least thats my understanding on it

but for everything else Priceless........:D

[CRAZY K]

Steve, that is true, however if you are quick, you can cancel the transaction on the terminal before the authorisation stage, as it prints the card type before dialing the merchant services centre.

So, if it prints "VISA" instead of "DELTA" you could cancel at that stage, if you wanted to.

I dont use cards Tony--- so to educate me does that actually mean you can tell the difference between a credit or debit card OR just know the NAME of the card in which case you need a list to check and identify which it is.

Sounds like it might be the answer.

CRAZY K

[A1DL]

I dont use cards Tony--- so to educate me does that actually mean you can tell the difference between a credit or debit card OR just know the NAME of the card in which case you need a list to check and identify which it is.

Sounds like it might be the answer.

CRAZY K

Alan, if the terminal prints "VISA" or "MASTERCARD" it will always be a credit card. If it prints "DELTA", "MAESTRO" or "SOLO" the it is a debit card.

It is the term "VISA" that causes confusion, as people say they have a Visa card, which may be a Visa Credit Card or Visa Delta Debit Card. The only way to tell the difference on CNP transactions is to see if the terminal prints "Visa" or "Delta"

Tony

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Alan, if the terminal prints "VISA" or "MASTERCARD" it will always be a credit card. If it prints "DELTA", "MAESTRO" or "SOLO" the it is a debit card.

It is the term "VISA" that causes confusion, as people say they have a Visa card, which may be a Visa Credit Card or Visa Delta Debit Card. The only way to tell the difference on CNP transactions is to see if the terminal prints "Visa" or "Delta"

Tony

Thank for that info Tony - very useful.

I honestly didn't know that Mastercard didn't do debit cards either.

Having just checked a couple of my debit cards, they are just Visa, not Delta or anything else, so what would that be printed as?

[A1DL]

Having just checked a couple of my debit cards, they are just Visa, not Delta or anything else, so what would that be printed as?


they should print as Delta, they certainly do on a BMS terminal, I imagine Streamline is the same

[Pe7e]

A MasterCard (credit card) always starts with the numbers 51 or 55 unfortunately Visa credit and debit cards are not so easy to separate

[CRAZY K]

Alan, if the terminal prints "VISA" or "MASTERCARD" it will always be a credit card. If it prints "DELTA", "MAESTRO" or "SOLO" the it is a debit card.

It is the term "VISA" that causes confusion, as people say they have a Visa card, which may be a Visa Credit Card or Visa Delta Debit Card. The only way to tell the difference on CNP transactions is to see if the terminal prints "Visa" or "Delta"

Tony

Thats cracked it then;)

CRAZY K

[rob1963]

A MasterCard (credit card) always starts with the numbers 51 or 55

Mine starts with 54.

:shrug:

[Tom]

If it was me I would call up the client and explain the problem.

Why should you be £6 out of pocket?

I don't know the whole story of the phone call but I'm sure you told him/her that by using a credit car there would be a surcharge. The client says its a debit card to try to avoid the surcharge.

£6 is a small amount of money but its the principle and it cost you, not the client.

[Pe7e]

Mine starts with 54.

:shrug:

I should have put 51 to 55, my error

[DeckstarDeluxe]

If it was me I would call up the client and explain the problem.

Why should you be £6 out of pocket?

I don't know the whole story of the phone call but I'm sure you told him/her that by using a credit car there would be a surcharge. The client says its a debit card to try to avoid the surcharge.

£6 is a small amount of money but its the principle and it cost you, not the client.

For the sake of a booking you would risk it? I would imagine them saying oh why doesnt tescos etc.. charge me extra for using my card etc...

[Marc J]

Just a little point here

Mastercard don't do debit cards only credit cards and prepayment credit cards

debit cards are either visa delta, meastro, electron, solo

At least thats my understanding on it

Maestro (used to be Switch) and Cirrus are both debit cards from Mastercard (http://www.mastercard.com/uk/personal/en/findacard/debitcard/debit_card.html)...

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

For the sake of a booking you would risk it? I would imagine them saying oh why doesnt tescos etc.. charge me extra for using my card etc...


That's 'cos I'm a small company and can't afford a £6 processing fee. That is not basis for an argument at all. Oh, the booking was 3 weeks ago, so I wouldn't be risking anything.



Maestro (used to be Switch) and Cirrus are both debit cards from Mastercard (http://www.mastercard.com/uk/personal/en/findacard/debitcard/debit_card.html)...

...just to confuse things a bit further. :(

[Dynamic Entertainment]

they should print as Delta, they certainly do on a BMS terminal, I imagine Streamline is the same

Any of the printouts that i get from merchants/shops etc purely say Visa now (ive just checked, incasie iw was cracking up). My new debit card doesnt say delta anywhere on it. Ive the visa logo in the bottom right, and the word debit in the top right.