Tristán White wrote:
The OP said that his local newsagent charges.

QUOTE
tube station and the local newsagent charges 80p for an Oyster top
up. Their response was:
/QUOTE

Which I think is outrageous. Unless the OP was paying by cheque or
something, I am sure that this is not right. Can anyone check the
legality of this?

Sorry, may not of been absoloutely clear in the original post. The
charge is for paying by card for Oyster... They often charge 80p for
paying by credit/debit card on any transaction that includes an Oyster
part but not on transactions which don't include Oyster. As I don't
very often carry £40 with me I regard it as a charge for using topping
up Oyster.

wrote:
Tristán White wrote:
The OP said that his local newsagent charges.

QUOTE
tube station and the local newsagent charges 80p for an Oyster
top up. Their response was:
/QUOTE

Which I think is outrageous. Unless the OP was paying by cheque or
something, I am sure that this is not right. Can anyone check the
legality of this?

Sorry, may not of been absoloutely clear in the original post. The
charge is for paying by card for Oyster... They often charge 80p
for paying by credit/debit card on any transaction that includes an
Oyster part but not on transactions which don't include Oyster.

That's still outrageous. I could perhaps understand him charging a
small fee for processing a credit/debit card transaction (though it's
time that nonsense ceased), but to charge it only if Oyster is involved
is ridiculous. According to the Ask Oyster site, "if you have received
unsatisfactory service from an Oyster Ticket Stop please put your
complaint in writing to:

John Turnham,
Unit 1b Harbour Quay,
Wood Wharf,
London,
E14 9QP "

--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

Richard J. wrote:
wrote:

Sorry, may not of been absoloutely clear in the original post. The
charge is for paying by card for Oyster... They often charge 80p
for paying by credit/debit card on any transaction that includes an
Oyster part but not on transactions which don't include Oyster.

That's still outrageous. I could perhaps understand him charging a
small fee for processing a credit/debit card transaction (though it's
time that nonsense ceased), but to charge it only if Oyster is involved
is ridiculous.

I expect the profit margin on normal goods is large enough to pay the
credit card merchant fee and leave an acceptable profit, but the
commission for processing an Oyster top-up isn't.

PaulO

In message , Richard J.
writes

I could perhaps understand him charging a small fee for processing a
credit/debit card transaction (though it's time that nonsense ceased),

Credit card payments typically cost the retailer 2.5% of the transaction
value - cheaper deals are possible (largely for big retailers) but some
systems cost much more. In addition, the retailer has to pay a monthly
hire charge for the terminal, an initial set-up fee and phone charges
for each electronic transaction.

I don't know what commission TfL offer, but it would need to more than
cover the above sums - just the Credit-card charge alone on £40 could be
more than a pound, so an 80p surcharge by a small retailer might be
considered generous.

However, debit card transactions are more reasonable - typically around
20p plus a proportion of the above expenses. In that case, an 80p
surcharge is over the top and suggests to me that the retailer hasn't
understood the big difference between credit and debit cards.
--
Paul Terry

"Richard J." typed


wrote:
Tristán White wrote:
The OP said that his local newsagent charges.

Sorry, may not of been absoloutely clear in the original post. The
charge is for paying by card for Oyster... They often charge 80p
for paying by credit/debit card on any transaction that includes an
Oyster part but not on transactions which don't include Oyster.

That's still outrageous. I could perhaps understand him charging a
small fee for processing a credit/debit card transaction (though it's
time that nonsense ceased), but to charge it only if Oyster is involved
is ridiculous.

To be fair to the newsagent, AIUI the commission/mark-up/profit on
Oyster is very low. The credit card companies take a substantial
commission, which might swallow up any marginal profit on an Oyster
transaction.

I think there's a smallish flat rate fee for debit cards.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.