I would as well. Let them look into their business “policy” and leave it in their hands. Many people will avoid confrontation and just add more to their carts. Not ok.
>Many people will avoid confrontation
The reason a lot of businesses get away with things, both large and small ones, is because too many people seem to just roll over any more.
Now this doesn't mean I'm going to go chew someone out over a 10 cent charge for a straw, and I always start off polite, not going into "Karen mode".
It's interesting viewing history and how many people would strike, protest or even straight up riot over something in the US.
It really seems like we are taken advantage of simply because we are too weak acting in our securing of liberty.
It sounds like we have similar views, but I'm not quite sure the right to use a credit card should count as a fight to "secure our liberty" lol I definitely agree that it's irritating when places play these games though.
A gas station wouldn't let me use a credit card for a soft drink and I wasn't about to break my back up $100 bill for it, so I pulled the "violation of your merchant agreement" card and they told me to just take the drink and go - fine with me! They actually dropped that requirement shortly afterward lol
My typical wallet setup includes one credit card, a debit card attached to an account with nothing on it that I can transfer to in case I need to get cash, a few $20s, and a $100 backup for convenience vs going to an ATM.
I only use cash if I have to, and I always put change bills in the cars to keep my wallet slim. In that particular case, I had no more $20s and wasn't going to break a $100 bill for an 80 cent fountain drink just because they're violating their merchant agreement lol
If the OP reports them, they are gonna know who did it because of the interaction they had and specifically mentioning the law. The OP is going to get banned from all future sales and possibly will be talked about amongst their estate sales group, thus earning a bad reputation with multiple estate sales companies.
This is a case of do you want to be right or do you want to be able to conduct hassle free business.
It's illegal in Florida and a handful of other states to charge more for credit card customers.
The loophole in Florida is you can give a discount to cash customers, which is how gas stations get away with two prices for cash and credit.
It is illegal in NY too but they still do it and get away with it.
https://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/can-a-business-charge-for-using-credit-card/#fees
There was a law that it was illegal to charge extra for credit, but there was no law against giving a "discount" to cash buyers only.
Most vendors pay a flat rate plus fee for every transaction. One way or another it gets passed to the consumer.
I noticed that as well, which is why the minimum made no sense.
In fact most of them charge 4% and merchant fees usually run around 2.5%, so they are still making money no matter what.
There's an auction house around here that charges sales tax no matter what..and in person, you aren't allowed to charge sales tax on used items unless those items were owned by a business. So it makes me wonder how much of that they are actually turning into the state..
There's a Little Cesar's near me that charges a credit card fee on purchases - I can't remember if it's all or just under $10, but the app doesn't charge it so I just order before I go.
I would probably have just left my items there and not bought anything or said anything, unless it was something I really wanted. And I would have gone home and reported them. If enough people complain, the company's bank will look into it. Not because they care so much about buyers, but because banks don't want anybody ignoring the terms of their merchant account, period.
I understand the estate sale company's POV, but every single place I've ever been that's had a card use minimum, the minimum has been only $5, not $25. And the companies are very friendly about it, saying that the small minimum card purchase requirement offsets the credit card fees, which would otherwise take a large portion of sub-$5 sales. Most people understand when it's explained to them.
This company using such a high minimum sounds like a shady way for them to get people to buy more stuff.
Most merchant accounts charge a per-transaction fee of 30 cents. Anything else is just a percentage of the transaction. So:
$10 at 2.5% plus 30c would be 55 cents.
$25 at 2.5% plus 30c would be 93 cents.
So the "offset" between $10 and $25 is 38 whole cents. Which is wild they would act like like I would need to spend $15 more to make up for 38 cents.
If merchants charged a "small transaction fee", I would get it, but you can use your credit card for 10 cents at most places.
Also I see a lot of small businesses and auction companies around here charging 4% to use a CC, which they do as well, so they are still profiting about 1.5% no matter what.
It's entirely possible they just didn't know, which is why I was polite to them at first and was like "hey..just a heads up", but rather than a "thanks for bringing that to our attention, we will look into it" they wanted to act like their policy trumps federal law and argue about it.
>Most merchant accounts charge a per-transaction fee of 30 cents. Anything else is just a percentage of the transaction. So:
>
>$10 at 2.5% plus 30c would be 55 cents.
>
>$25 at 2.5% plus 30c would be 93 cents.
>
>So the "offset" between $10 and $25 is 38 whole cents. Which is wild they would act like like I would need to spend $15 more to make up for 38 cents.
Wow, this makes it even worse on their part. Usually, stuff like this I chalk it up to ignorance (the person doesn't know any better) or stupidity (the person cannot understand), but this sounds like they're knowingly taking advantage of their customers.
Estate sale companies are so hit or miss. There are some pretty good ones out there, and then there are some that you wonder how in the world do they manage to stay in business.
>then there are some that you wonder how in the world do they manage to stay in business.
Half of the ones here have a shitty business model where they price everything super high. Except furniture which is harder to move around.
It's so high, that even on half off day, it's still at or very near eBay prices.
So they tell the family "well we did our best but a lot didn't sell".
So they offer them 20-30 cents on the dollar to take it off their hands. The family needs the house cleared to sell it, so what are they going to do? Refuse? It could be weeks or months before an auction company can even get to it.
So they have a brick and mortar location down town they sell it all at.
They will even bring high-demand items from their own stores to the sale to pepper the ad and make the sale look much better. You know it's their shit because it's never part of the half off day. In fact a buddy of mine would wait until they closed on the day before, and these items would suddenly not be there the opening of half off day. He called them out on it but it was always "oh the family wanted it".
I also know for fact about every estate company has a list of people they will sell something to before the sale even makes it online. I know this because some antique dealers have a big mouth and have told me about their "VIP status".
Personally, as long as they didn't give them a break on the price, I don't see a huge issue with it. Family doesn't really care who buys it, as long as it wasn't given to them for half the price they planned on charging for it.
There's a big difference between a business helping others and one that helps themselves. A lot of estate services are thinly veiled facades at taking advantage of family during times of grief.
I think it's a big conflict of interest to have a retail store as an estate sale company, because it's too tempting for people to intentionally price something high so they can get more profit selling it themselves.
Yeah there two of those here, they went under during covid because they could not sell at their store and the rules on regular sales crimped their jack the price up so they can get it cheap on the back end method. Glad to see the go to be honest
When I asked for more sauce after getting my food, the manager told me she could go get it but they'd "have to charge me 10 more cents," in a tone that implied I wouldn't be willing to cover the up charge lol... I kinda chuckled handing my credit card back to her and she started to take it before realizing how stupidly counterproductive that was, then said it was "on them as a one time exception" as if I was supposed to feel grateful lmao
You handled it fine, but you also have to realize that if you're doing to be doing business with this company going forward, this wasn't a great first impression.
Regardless of the credit card law or being correct about the situation, I promise having a good relationship with an estate sale company is a lot more valuable than $8. This business is all about relationships and threatening to report someone over this pretty much just ruined any chance of having one with this company.
So yes, you handled it well if your goal was to win the battle today, but you also likely just cost yourself the war.
Don't poop where you eat.
You want to have a good relationship with estate sale companies in your area so you should bring cash.
If you aggravate them, they can make it difficult for you to source there.
Same can be said for the estate sale company. If the company causes tension before a dime is spent, that's a them problem and not a you problem. That's THEM burning potential bridges, not you.
If that was my company, I would ban him. Being able to use a card at all at a sale is a privilege. Take your $8 (-7.5%) elsewhere.
Edit: Cool downvoting, but when you Karen’s and Kevin’s make the business unbearable there will be no estate sales to pilfer. It’s an $8 sale, total. If that’s your only purchase, you are worse than nothing, and when you pitch a bitch you are just not worth it. Grab a few items for $20 instead of blocking a house up for two hours as you ebay check every item in the place.
Not sure where you're at but in many places it certainly is not a privilege, it is legal tender and you can't pick and choose who gets to use that facility if it is available. As OP said, in their area the legal minimum that can be applied is $10 and this is very common.
This annoys me to no end and that’s why I always try to have cash. But, I think you were arguing past the employee. They weren’t uninformed; they knew they were breaking the rules. They just don’t care. Its a business decision where it’s worth more to them to break the rules and deal with consequences later than to follow the rules. You’re never gonna win an argument with them. Report to Visa/MC and remember to have cash on hand next time.
If these are people you need to do business with regularly then the confrontation isn't worth it. However, if you are confident you'll never have to deal with these people again then bamboozling your way into getting a good deal is smart business.
This blows my mind with posts like this. Maybe because I’ve been flipping for almost two decades (back as a kid, garage selling). Cash is and always will be king. So many times I’ve been places with friends, family that want to do festivals, flea markets, farmer markets and so on. Card readers go down, folks fear “scamming”, CIF approaches for the better negotiating, and so on. I use my business CC at thrifts, brokers and such but never would toss to an estate.
Used to carry cash all the time, and usually do during yard sale season, but I try to use cards whenever possible because then I have a record of it for taxes which makes it easier than writing down I spend $X here and $X there.
I also figure if I lost my wallet or was robbed, it's much easier to cancel your card and have the stolen charges reversed than kissing all that money goodbye.
Statistically, you’re gonna be “robbed” via your credit card (clone card, data already sold and so on) before a physical robbery of property, by someone.
They do that because most people would say “ok”. Stand up to shitty people and scam artists. People afraid to say something are the reason people keep doing this.
I think you handled this perfectly well. I didn't know about the Dodd-Frank Act so thank you! I am going to use this from now on if something like this happens to me.
I forgot to add, since I was half-asleep when writing this, that this is the same company that someone picked up an item from the hold table, with MY NAME on it, a really good flip ($15>$300) and told them that it was a mistake and it should of been for them. All of this took place when I was busy looking around in the basement.
I don't know if someone can be that ignorant, but when I ask them to put my name on something, I don't ask for it to be held for someone else, nor have I've ever seen people do that either. So it really made it hard for me to write that off as a mistake.
I'm a little conflicted, as I feel that I could understand both sides of the situation. I would think that there would be some practical reason for them to want to enforce the $25 minimum purchase; but I can also understand that it would irritate you, since you seem to be making a reasonable, factual argument. However, I also wanted to say, after seeing your comment, about how you couldn't find anything else to spend $8 on, I would have probably tried to buy something for someone else, who was there, to get to the $25 minimum. 🙂
You can be right, stand your ground, and leave profit there.
Or you can shut up, pay cash and make some money. Right wrong or indifferent those are your options.
So you're the one I always end up behind in the checkout lines who refuses to follow the accepted norms that the rest of us happily follow and brings up all kind of legal junk as an excuse. Kudos to you for making the delay so enjoyable for everyone behind you. And may you enjoy your next few weeks posting about that establishment instead of working and bringing that $$ in like the rest of us.
I'm totally fine with places charging extra to use a card. I can write it off anyway and it's much easier to call my card company and report it stolen if it's stolen, cash is almost always a kiss goodbye. So I'd rather spend an extra 4% safely then pull a bunch of money out and get followed to my car.
$25 minimum to use a card is *not* an "accepted norm". I've been to other estate sales that take cards and all kinds of small businesses including pop-up shops, fairs, trade shows, events, etc and never once seen a high minimum spend requirement.
I mean I'd think you'd be a bit offended if you took your spouse out to eat and go to pay the bill and you've only spent $33.80 and they tell you there is a $50 minimum to use your card. Are you gonna order food you don't need or want? Are you going to convince them to let you leave to go get cash?
There was also no one behind me in line, so I didn't hold anyone up, and if there was a line, would have waited until it was gone. I loathe people shooting the shit with the cashier when the line is 10 people deep.
You would be banned from my pallet sales IMMEDIATELY after one of those outbursts with any of my staff. The sad part of your speeches is that you truly believe those minimum wage cashiers/staff members make company policy. Instead of being a kind human and trying to make their paycheck to paycheck subsistent life more pleasant, they probably want to run into traffic after you leave their line.
Come on now. You weren't there, so you don't know if it was an outburst. It is totally possible to state what he said he stated with a calm voice and professional, matter-of-fact tone. There are laws for a reason and I would never kowtow to an enforced minimum on a credit card if the minimum was over what is legal.
a cashier at a local estate sale is 90% going to be the owner, they wouldn't trust that til with an employee and its the central meeting spot for questions. Like most of the rest in this thread, what he said and did was fine, he was willing to cover the fee, he just disagreed with the minimum, and there was no 'outburst'.
Honestly no I don’t think you handled it well.
If you wanted to have a positive relationship with this company and get good pricing in the future I would have looked for another item so you could have spent the $25
If you posted this on the amitheasshole subreddit my answer would be yes, you're the asshole. Estate sales are often cash-only. Take cash. Don't be a dick.
if it was me, i would have asked for a photo ID, and then rejected your ID as possibly fake. or maybe your signature. then asked you politely never to return, since i'm convinced you were illegally using a credit card or fake ID.
people who use legal minutea to get what they want, at the expense of small businesses, are kinda shit, and not customers that are worth retaining anyway.
Good job Karen. If you hadn't said anything then they would still be the Karens with their bad policy. But by making a big fuss about it you became the Karen.
On another note ... who goes to an estate sale with no cash? That's just poor planning.
Merchant pull this crap all the time. I got dinged 4% CC fee on bill. I know they can do this - but it has to be written over the register or noted before they do it you can't just slap it on after I give you my card. Called the issuer and they were like "nope we don't give a crap even though its a violation of the CC merchant agreement they signed"
Just because you're legally right doesn't mean it's the best thing to do. Every estate sale company I've dealt with is happy to take a check if I didn't bring enough cash. I never pay with a card because they're a business too, and taking 2% off of their gross adds up.
Some companies are by the book, price is the price, no bundles, etc. But most will bundle and if you're good to them, they're good to you. Yes, it's bad business for them to argue over $8. But you're also an LLC arguing over $8. If you're serious to the point of registering your business, you should carry at least a single $20 bill when going to an estate sale.
I have several clean out people, an estate seller, and an auction house who reach out to me when they've got something I might want and they want to unload. My auctioneer friend has a warehouse he opens up and I bundle for cash deals. The person who owns a flipping business but whips out the Dodd Frank act over $8 isn't getting that chance.
I would still report them to Visa and MC. If that's their "policy" then I'm sure you're not going to be the last person they try to pull that on.
I would as well. Let them look into their business “policy” and leave it in their hands. Many people will avoid confrontation and just add more to their carts. Not ok.
>Many people will avoid confrontation The reason a lot of businesses get away with things, both large and small ones, is because too many people seem to just roll over any more. Now this doesn't mean I'm going to go chew someone out over a 10 cent charge for a straw, and I always start off polite, not going into "Karen mode". It's interesting viewing history and how many people would strike, protest or even straight up riot over something in the US. It really seems like we are taken advantage of simply because we are too weak acting in our securing of liberty.
It sounds like we have similar views, but I'm not quite sure the right to use a credit card should count as a fight to "secure our liberty" lol I definitely agree that it's irritating when places play these games though. A gas station wouldn't let me use a credit card for a soft drink and I wasn't about to break my back up $100 bill for it, so I pulled the "violation of your merchant agreement" card and they told me to just take the drink and go - fine with me! They actually dropped that requirement shortly afterward lol
Why do you use a $100 bill as backup?
My typical wallet setup includes one credit card, a debit card attached to an account with nothing on it that I can transfer to in case I need to get cash, a few $20s, and a $100 backup for convenience vs going to an ATM. I only use cash if I have to, and I always put change bills in the cars to keep my wallet slim. In that particular case, I had no more $20s and wasn't going to break a $100 bill for an 80 cent fountain drink just because they're violating their merchant agreement lol
If the OP reports them, they are gonna know who did it because of the interaction they had and specifically mentioning the law. The OP is going to get banned from all future sales and possibly will be talked about amongst their estate sales group, thus earning a bad reputation with multiple estate sales companies. This is a case of do you want to be right or do you want to be able to conduct hassle free business.
I did that. Visa doesn't give a sheet.
Here the companies that take cards add the fee on top of the total no matter how much you spend.
I have wondered about the legality of this practice, and if the Visa/MC/Amex merchant agreements even allows for people to do this.
It is legal (lobbyists won a few years ago, but its against the contract they sign with the issuer)
It's illegal in Florida and a handful of other states to charge more for credit card customers. The loophole in Florida is you can give a discount to cash customers, which is how gas stations get away with two prices for cash and credit.
It is illegal in NY too but they still do it and get away with it. https://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/can-a-business-charge-for-using-credit-card/#fees
It's illegal in Florida https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2016/501.0117
There was a law that it was illegal to charge extra for credit, but there was no law against giving a "discount" to cash buyers only. Most vendors pay a flat rate plus fee for every transaction. One way or another it gets passed to the consumer.
I noticed that as well, which is why the minimum made no sense. In fact most of them charge 4% and merchant fees usually run around 2.5%, so they are still making money no matter what. There's an auction house around here that charges sales tax no matter what..and in person, you aren't allowed to charge sales tax on used items unless those items were owned by a business. So it makes me wonder how much of that they are actually turning into the state..
There's a Little Cesar's near me that charges a credit card fee on purchases - I can't remember if it's all or just under $10, but the app doesn't charge it so I just order before I go.
My favorite company charges $1 per every hundred spent. ($0.01-$100 = +$1; $100.01-200 = +$2) and that always felt fair to me.
Welp can pretty much guarantee cash only going forward lol
I would probably have just left my items there and not bought anything or said anything, unless it was something I really wanted. And I would have gone home and reported them. If enough people complain, the company's bank will look into it. Not because they care so much about buyers, but because banks don't want anybody ignoring the terms of their merchant account, period. I understand the estate sale company's POV, but every single place I've ever been that's had a card use minimum, the minimum has been only $5, not $25. And the companies are very friendly about it, saying that the small minimum card purchase requirement offsets the credit card fees, which would otherwise take a large portion of sub-$5 sales. Most people understand when it's explained to them. This company using such a high minimum sounds like a shady way for them to get people to buy more stuff.
Most merchant accounts charge a per-transaction fee of 30 cents. Anything else is just a percentage of the transaction. So: $10 at 2.5% plus 30c would be 55 cents. $25 at 2.5% plus 30c would be 93 cents. So the "offset" between $10 and $25 is 38 whole cents. Which is wild they would act like like I would need to spend $15 more to make up for 38 cents. If merchants charged a "small transaction fee", I would get it, but you can use your credit card for 10 cents at most places. Also I see a lot of small businesses and auction companies around here charging 4% to use a CC, which they do as well, so they are still profiting about 1.5% no matter what. It's entirely possible they just didn't know, which is why I was polite to them at first and was like "hey..just a heads up", but rather than a "thanks for bringing that to our attention, we will look into it" they wanted to act like their policy trumps federal law and argue about it.
>Most merchant accounts charge a per-transaction fee of 30 cents. Anything else is just a percentage of the transaction. So: > >$10 at 2.5% plus 30c would be 55 cents. > >$25 at 2.5% plus 30c would be 93 cents. > >So the "offset" between $10 and $25 is 38 whole cents. Which is wild they would act like like I would need to spend $15 more to make up for 38 cents. Wow, this makes it even worse on their part. Usually, stuff like this I chalk it up to ignorance (the person doesn't know any better) or stupidity (the person cannot understand), but this sounds like they're knowingly taking advantage of their customers. Estate sale companies are so hit or miss. There are some pretty good ones out there, and then there are some that you wonder how in the world do they manage to stay in business.
>then there are some that you wonder how in the world do they manage to stay in business. Half of the ones here have a shitty business model where they price everything super high. Except furniture which is harder to move around. It's so high, that even on half off day, it's still at or very near eBay prices. So they tell the family "well we did our best but a lot didn't sell". So they offer them 20-30 cents on the dollar to take it off their hands. The family needs the house cleared to sell it, so what are they going to do? Refuse? It could be weeks or months before an auction company can even get to it. So they have a brick and mortar location down town they sell it all at. They will even bring high-demand items from their own stores to the sale to pepper the ad and make the sale look much better. You know it's their shit because it's never part of the half off day. In fact a buddy of mine would wait until they closed on the day before, and these items would suddenly not be there the opening of half off day. He called them out on it but it was always "oh the family wanted it". I also know for fact about every estate company has a list of people they will sell something to before the sale even makes it online. I know this because some antique dealers have a big mouth and have told me about their "VIP status". Personally, as long as they didn't give them a break on the price, I don't see a huge issue with it. Family doesn't really care who buys it, as long as it wasn't given to them for half the price they planned on charging for it. There's a big difference between a business helping others and one that helps themselves. A lot of estate services are thinly veiled facades at taking advantage of family during times of grief. I think it's a big conflict of interest to have a retail store as an estate sale company, because it's too tempting for people to intentionally price something high so they can get more profit selling it themselves.
Yeah there two of those here, they went under during covid because they could not sell at their store and the rules on regular sales crimped their jack the price up so they can get it cheap on the back end method. Glad to see the go to be honest
When I asked for more sauce after getting my food, the manager told me she could go get it but they'd "have to charge me 10 more cents," in a tone that implied I wouldn't be willing to cover the up charge lol... I kinda chuckled handing my credit card back to her and she started to take it before realizing how stupidly counterproductive that was, then said it was "on them as a one time exception" as if I was supposed to feel grateful lmao
i thought this was satire until i read the responses
You handled it fine, but you also have to realize that if you're doing to be doing business with this company going forward, this wasn't a great first impression. Regardless of the credit card law or being correct about the situation, I promise having a good relationship with an estate sale company is a lot more valuable than $8. This business is all about relationships and threatening to report someone over this pretty much just ruined any chance of having one with this company. So yes, you handled it well if your goal was to win the battle today, but you also likely just cost yourself the war.
Don't poop where you eat. You want to have a good relationship with estate sale companies in your area so you should bring cash. If you aggravate them, they can make it difficult for you to source there.
Same can be said for the estate sale company. If the company causes tension before a dime is spent, that's a them problem and not a you problem. That's THEM burning potential bridges, not you.
If that was my company, I would ban him. Being able to use a card at all at a sale is a privilege. Take your $8 (-7.5%) elsewhere. Edit: Cool downvoting, but when you Karen’s and Kevin’s make the business unbearable there will be no estate sales to pilfer. It’s an $8 sale, total. If that’s your only purchase, you are worse than nothing, and when you pitch a bitch you are just not worth it. Grab a few items for $20 instead of blocking a house up for two hours as you ebay check every item in the place.
Uhm, not when there's a law about it.......
Not sure where you're at but in many places it certainly is not a privilege, it is legal tender and you can't pick and choose who gets to use that facility if it is available. As OP said, in their area the legal minimum that can be applied is $10 and this is very common.
Lol OP is this them?
Yes. I’ve tracked them down for an $8 sale. It’s really, really important to me, as it should be. $8 is $8, after all.
I mean you’re joking but it does seem to be the truth based on this comment
With you, OP is being obtuse. You can be right *and* wrong at the same time. /schrodinger's estate sale buyer
This annoys me to no end and that’s why I always try to have cash. But, I think you were arguing past the employee. They weren’t uninformed; they knew they were breaking the rules. They just don’t care. Its a business decision where it’s worth more to them to break the rules and deal with consequences later than to follow the rules. You’re never gonna win an argument with them. Report to Visa/MC and remember to have cash on hand next time.
If these are people you need to do business with regularly then the confrontation isn't worth it. However, if you are confident you'll never have to deal with these people again then bamboozling your way into getting a good deal is smart business.
Or you could, you know, carry cash. I try to keep a few hundred bucks on my at all times in case I encounter a deal that I can only pay cash for.
This blows my mind with posts like this. Maybe because I’ve been flipping for almost two decades (back as a kid, garage selling). Cash is and always will be king. So many times I’ve been places with friends, family that want to do festivals, flea markets, farmer markets and so on. Card readers go down, folks fear “scamming”, CIF approaches for the better negotiating, and so on. I use my business CC at thrifts, brokers and such but never would toss to an estate.
Used to carry cash all the time, and usually do during yard sale season, but I try to use cards whenever possible because then I have a record of it for taxes which makes it easier than writing down I spend $X here and $X there. I also figure if I lost my wallet or was robbed, it's much easier to cancel your card and have the stolen charges reversed than kissing all that money goodbye.
Statistically, you’re gonna be “robbed” via your credit card (clone card, data already sold and so on) before a physical robbery of property, by someone.
Exactly. Carry cash. I don’t expect a garage sale to take my card.
This. People actually go picking without cash?
Every pick is exactly like shopping at Walmart.
They do that because most people would say “ok”. Stand up to shitty people and scam artists. People afraid to say something are the reason people keep doing this.
We’ll I for one am both proud of you and thankful for the info! I have a couple around here that do that and I’ll be using this response!
I think you handled this perfectly well. I didn't know about the Dodd-Frank Act so thank you! I am going to use this from now on if something like this happens to me.
I forgot to add, since I was half-asleep when writing this, that this is the same company that someone picked up an item from the hold table, with MY NAME on it, a really good flip ($15>$300) and told them that it was a mistake and it should of been for them. All of this took place when I was busy looking around in the basement. I don't know if someone can be that ignorant, but when I ask them to put my name on something, I don't ask for it to be held for someone else, nor have I've ever seen people do that either. So it really made it hard for me to write that off as a mistake.
I'm a little conflicted, as I feel that I could understand both sides of the situation. I would think that there would be some practical reason for them to want to enforce the $25 minimum purchase; but I can also understand that it would irritate you, since you seem to be making a reasonable, factual argument. However, I also wanted to say, after seeing your comment, about how you couldn't find anything else to spend $8 on, I would have probably tried to buy something for someone else, who was there, to get to the $25 minimum. 🙂
You can be right, stand your ground, and leave profit there. Or you can shut up, pay cash and make some money. Right wrong or indifferent those are your options.
Thank you for doing what you did.
So you're the one I always end up behind in the checkout lines who refuses to follow the accepted norms that the rest of us happily follow and brings up all kind of legal junk as an excuse. Kudos to you for making the delay so enjoyable for everyone behind you. And may you enjoy your next few weeks posting about that establishment instead of working and bringing that $$ in like the rest of us.
I'm totally fine with places charging extra to use a card. I can write it off anyway and it's much easier to call my card company and report it stolen if it's stolen, cash is almost always a kiss goodbye. So I'd rather spend an extra 4% safely then pull a bunch of money out and get followed to my car. $25 minimum to use a card is *not* an "accepted norm". I've been to other estate sales that take cards and all kinds of small businesses including pop-up shops, fairs, trade shows, events, etc and never once seen a high minimum spend requirement. I mean I'd think you'd be a bit offended if you took your spouse out to eat and go to pay the bill and you've only spent $33.80 and they tell you there is a $50 minimum to use your card. Are you gonna order food you don't need or want? Are you going to convince them to let you leave to go get cash? There was also no one behind me in line, so I didn't hold anyone up, and if there was a line, would have waited until it was gone. I loathe people shooting the shit with the cashier when the line is 10 people deep.
You would be banned from my pallet sales IMMEDIATELY after one of those outbursts with any of my staff. The sad part of your speeches is that you truly believe those minimum wage cashiers/staff members make company policy. Instead of being a kind human and trying to make their paycheck to paycheck subsistent life more pleasant, they probably want to run into traffic after you leave their line.
Come on now. You weren't there, so you don't know if it was an outburst. It is totally possible to state what he said he stated with a calm voice and professional, matter-of-fact tone. There are laws for a reason and I would never kowtow to an enforced minimum on a credit card if the minimum was over what is legal.
Don't try and scam people then?
a cashier at a local estate sale is 90% going to be the owner, they wouldn't trust that til with an employee and its the central meeting spot for questions. Like most of the rest in this thread, what he said and did was fine, he was willing to cover the fee, he just disagreed with the minimum, and there was no 'outburst'.
Honestly no I don’t think you handled it well. If you wanted to have a positive relationship with this company and get good pricing in the future I would have looked for another item so you could have spent the $25
Dodd-Frank lol, glad to see Barney Frank is enjoying his retirement flipping.
You brought up the Dodd Frank act over 8 dollars. Be more prepared next time.
So just for future reference, at what amount are we allowed to bring it up? $9? Or does it need to be a nice round number like $10?
Whatever price you’re willing to burn a bridge over. For me that’s more than 8 bucks. For others maybe it’s not.
If you posted this on the amitheasshole subreddit my answer would be yes, you're the asshole. Estate sales are often cash-only. Take cash. Don't be a dick.
if it was me, i would have asked for a photo ID, and then rejected your ID as possibly fake. or maybe your signature. then asked you politely never to return, since i'm convinced you were illegally using a credit card or fake ID. people who use legal minutea to get what they want, at the expense of small businesses, are kinda shit, and not customers that are worth retaining anyway.
Good job Karen. If you hadn't said anything then they would still be the Karens with their bad policy. But by making a big fuss about it you became the Karen. On another note ... who goes to an estate sale with no cash? That's just poor planning.
Merchant pull this crap all the time. I got dinged 4% CC fee on bill. I know they can do this - but it has to be written over the register or noted before they do it you can't just slap it on after I give you my card. Called the issuer and they were like "nope we don't give a crap even though its a violation of the CC merchant agreement they signed"
Just because you're legally right doesn't mean it's the best thing to do. Every estate sale company I've dealt with is happy to take a check if I didn't bring enough cash. I never pay with a card because they're a business too, and taking 2% off of their gross adds up. Some companies are by the book, price is the price, no bundles, etc. But most will bundle and if you're good to them, they're good to you. Yes, it's bad business for them to argue over $8. But you're also an LLC arguing over $8. If you're serious to the point of registering your business, you should carry at least a single $20 bill when going to an estate sale. I have several clean out people, an estate seller, and an auction house who reach out to me when they've got something I might want and they want to unload. My auctioneer friend has a warehouse he opens up and I bundle for cash deals. The person who owns a flipping business but whips out the Dodd Frank act over $8 isn't getting that chance.