Quote Originally Posted by Abax View Post
While traveling in Australia recently, I encountered a business practice that has yet to become very common in the United States. Vendors - in my case hoteliers and tour operators - would charge me the fee they paid to process a credit card transaction in addition to the cost of the goods and services....
It's only fairly recent - like in the last few years - that merchants were allowed to do this. For a long time, they weren't. Many still do not, but unsurprisingly, it's been the retailers on the thinnest margins who added it first.

Interestingly, it's having two effects. The first is to subtly encourage cash or EFT transactions (EFT charges are structured differently and merchants currently do not pass them on) rather than credit. The other thing is that it helps relieve the merchant burden of higher rate cards like AmEx and Diners Club. In fact, AmEx has been slowly losing merchants over the years because it's credit fee is higher than Visa or Mastercard. And now consumers directly know why.

Wade.