Thought that card surcharges had vanished in shops, apparently not. Just been in to our local corner shop to get some bits and even though I was spending over £13, the man insisted that there was a 50p surcharge for using my card. After telling him that the garage down the road doesn't charge he argued that everyone in the Rock Ferry area adds a surcharge. Anyone else had this happen to them?

The Papa Johns pizza shop in Liscard does this too, charges you 50p for either paying by card when they deliver or for paying by card over the phone but if you order through the company (not the franchise!) through their website there is mysteriously no card charge. Before anyone says why didn't I just order through the website then, it's coz what I order isn't on the website

It is to cover the cost of the 'rent' of the card cash terminals - cheeky innit!

i know a lot of shops wont take a card if its under a fiver because of costs by the bank. i would of told him to forget it and gone to tescos there open until 11pm.

It's really cheeky! Told him to forget it. The transaction was well over a fiver though, so not really any excuse. Didn't realise tescos was open til then, I'll remember for next time.

Yes My Wife told me that she spent £13 in Miltons Tranmere and was charged 50p for using debit card. There is a new Tesco down the road she will go there in future. I always felt sorry for corner shops but its no wonder the big stores get the custom.

The smaller shops can't win.

To accept cards costs money, usually between £5 and £20 per month for the terminal, the cost of the phone line (although the newest ones are always-on broadband) plus a fixed fee for debit cards and a percentage of the transaction for credit cards.

Like everything else in a business the customer pays for it, because in a business that's how it works. If you're a huge company it's a small amount, and because of the value you process you can command better deals. For the smaller retailer you accept what you can get, and, unlike cash, know that it'll be a few days before you can get to the money as it'll take that long to hit your account.

So, what is the answer, to increase the cost of goods so the everybody pays it, well then people go elsewhere. To swallow the cost, which doesn't really happen, as if you make less you have to build it up some other way. If your profit margin on a sale is 10%, then on a £5 sale the transaction fee of 50p has eaten everything away, so by the time you've then added in collection of the goods, pricing, wastage, rent, rates, insurance, wages.....it's cheaper to refuse to sell the item, or not accept cards, and that's before you get into charge backs when someone disputes a transaction or the card has been stolen/cloned.

I can see why people get upset by this, and cash has problems of its own, counterfeit notes, theft, security collection costs, bank fees for paying it in. However as long as the place makes it clear they charge for card use I don't see what the issue is, and if they don't, I'm sure lots of people walking away from the till leaving their goods on the counter will give them a good incentive to make it clear.

At the end of the day everyone is after every sheckel you have in your pocket, it's up to you to find ways round it and try to keep some but you have to spend it some time. It's a vicious circle eh?

Yes, i had it a few weeks back in an electronics repair shop in mill lane wallasey, 50p charge.

Well thanks for charging me £60 and not fixing my monitor, instead making a balls of the friggin pcb as you've well past your time and cant see anymore even though i stated JUST GET ME THE PARTS as i wanted to fit them myself AND then have the cheek to charge 50p for using MY card.
Never again!

to charge 50p for me to use my card in a small local shop i really don't mind paying it (as long as it's specified before i even put my card in the machine)

beats paying £1.85 for the use of some ATM's.