so far from cutting prices for their credit card numbers, they've just put prices up by over 2.5% and wacked on an extra 70p to anyone who uses a credit card.
I guess that doesn't look so good on the press release.
Jim.
Lots of retailers are putting similar things on their receipts these days. It started about a year ago. In preparation for charging for credit cards perhaps....
Neil Pike Protech Computing Ltd (Please post ALL replies to the newsgroup only unless indicated otherwise)
No, thats a vat/tax avoidance scheme I think, by declaring a percentage of the take as a credit fee, they avoid tax/vat on that portion.
Sneaky! Why'd it take all this time to come up with the idea? Or has it been going on a lot longer and I've just never noticed....
Neil Pike Protech Computing Ltd (Please post ALL replies to the newsgroup only unless indicated otherwise)
Weren't Dixons done for something like this?
MM
Supposing the customers paying by CC just left their goods at the checkouts, refusing to pay the grossly unfair levy? Ikea would have the dickens of a job clearing everything away again. Yeah, I know it's childish - but who cares? They play unfair with us, and we do the same to them. It's a dog-eat-dog world, and they will "get away" with it only if customers do not complain en masse. Ikea are doing it because they perceive little competition from the likes of DFS or MFI. They thus have a captive market. In my view, this is outrageous profiteering. While some goods can be paid for in cash, who wants to be wandering about with 500 notes in one's pocket in order to pay for a sofa or some other high-value item? It's like inviting a posse of pickpockets and muggers to wait around as the next batch of mugs drives into the car park, especially in winter when it's dark much of the time.
MM
"Mike Mitchell" wrote
Don't forget, it's only 70p. Is it really worth wasting your time going round the store only to walk out without buying what you wanted at the end?
"Mike Mitchell" wrote
Have you never heard of a debit card, or even a cheque??!
I don't have a debit card, I don't want one, and I don't want a bulky cheque book in my shorts when I go shopping on a fine day with no jacket. Credit cards were invented to make purchasing easy, not rip off consumers. Seventy pence, indeed, just for swiping a card! It is truly shocking.
MM
"Mike Mitchell" wrote
That's your choice. Now stop whinging when it causes you problems!
"Mike Mitchell" wrote
A minute ago it was OK for the bulk of cash in your pocket - it was just the security you were worried about.
Why not just rip one-or-two cheques out of the book - can't you find room for them in your shorts?!!
"Mike Mitchell" wrote
OK - how much do you think the retailer is charged to accept the credit card?
It's the retailer who is causing the problem, not me. Find me one person who thinks it a good idea!
No, it wasn't. I specifically said that if I carried a wodge of cash on my person, I would feel less safe than having an unobtrusive CC.
They'd get all creased. And the cheques wouldn't look too good, either.
Yeah, like the retailer never figured that in when working out the prices of the goods!
MM
In message , Mike Mitchell writes
The different pricing must, by law, be shown all over the place so you should know by the time you get to the till.
In message , Jonathan Bryce writes
Initially I thought you were right but after thinking a bit I wondered if the 3% (or whatever) which is a payment by the customer direct to IKEAs card handling subsidiary for a VAT exempt supply could still be in addition to the 70p charged by IKEA itself for 'handling' the transaction and, of course, the 70p would be picked up by the 3% as well........
Having said all that, I dont know if IKEA actually DO take 3% of the bill for their subsidiary. Perhaps the 70p is a different way for them to achioeve a similar thing. If the transaction is less than £133.33 then 70p makes IKEA better off, but if its more then IKEA are worse off. The £133.33 is (.7/.175/.03)*100
I think you're making it far too complicated! I expect what happened was that some accountants somewhere at Ikea Towers came up with the idea of getting another 70p out of the majority of customers, believing that as it is a captive audience (why else would one visit Brent?) who will be voting with their feet? They assume that people will grumble a bit, then pay the levy, and in the most apathetic, conformist nation in Europe, they could very well be right.
MM
Its not just for swiping a card, its to cover the costs that the credit card company charges the shop so that you can have a few weeks of free credit. Why do you think that other customers who pay up-front should bear part of this cost just so that you get the benefit?
Having said that, I do think that IKEA have gone about this the wrong way. They should have presented it as a discount for customers who
*don't* pay with a credit card.Chris
Of course they are right. The sort of person who makes a day out from a trip to Ikea isn't going to worry abouyt 70p being added to the bill.
tim
So having had a go at me, you then agree that it is an inappropriate move by Ikea. Enjoy the cake!
MM
Don't you believe it! Everyone will come away from Ikea with a sour feeling. Or can you overhear customers all agreeing with Ikea: "Well, they deserve their extra 70p because they're such nice people!" It is bad, very bad, customer relations, let alone totally stupid.
MM
No, I don't think its an inappropriate move at all. I just think they've gone about it in the wrong way and I totally agree with you that the way they've done it could result in bad customer relations.
I'm happy to have the choice of paying a bit more and getting the benefits of using a credit card, or foregoing that and paying less by some alternative method.
By the way, you didn't answer the question why you think other customers should be subsidising your credit card usage.
Chris
How many pay with cash nowadays? A disappearingly small minority! The
70p has nothing to do with subsiding them and everything to do with subsiding Ikea!MM
That is no different to them just putting up their prices 5% (or whatever)
If you can buy the same items elsewhere for cheaper then I suggest that is what you do. If you can't and you still want then you have to pay the price asked or not own the item. It is completely irrelevent to this decision if this price is a headine price of 100 or if it 99 plus a CC surcharge of 1.
There is an advertising assue here, there is nothing more.
tim
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