Are You Sure You Want to Charge Your Customers A Fee for Using Their Credit Card?

[Joe Marconi]

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[Transmission Repair]

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[Joe Marconi]

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[pfseeley442]

Years ago I figured out what cards cost and added the proper amount to my labor rate. Very easy. I have a friend who owns a shop and did the cash discount or pay a fee on the credit card. His first month he had three bounced checks. I asked him how did that work out for you ? LOL    Customers just want the bottom line. All the extra fees agravate me, IE: $10 fuel charge to deliver oil. 

 

[Joe Marconi]

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[RYAN B]

Joe. I thought the exact same way, our credit card processing fees were over 45000 a year! We charge and now we are getting more checks and cash, but I am able to not charge the fees at my discretion! I hate to say but people are getting educated on paying the fee.  It's hard, I did a cylinder head on a Jeep last week the bill was over 4000, the fees would have been over 120.00, customer was told and they wrote a check, it's getting harder to hide and eat those costs. 

[RYAN B]

Joe, In our area the dealers are now charging by the 1/2 hour and they are also charging the fees as well! most dealers around here are 180 dollars and hour!

[Joe Marconi]

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[DUFRESNES]

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[RYAN B]

We have been charging for the last 3 to 4 months, but I do have the option to eat the charge. Its hard but I do explain it to the customer and I have a sign up. I don't charge shop supplies but I do charge for Oil and filter disposal and tire disposal. You have to pick and choose and the credit card fees you can validate versus  charging shop supplies. I always felt the shop supplies were a necessary charge but I always heard a lot of grief from it.

[DUFRESNES]

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[Gary Childs]

No way would I charge that or even a shop supplies fee. Just raise your labor rate up some to cover it is what we do. 

 

[Joe Marconi]

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[Joe Marconi]

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[DUFRESNES]

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[DUFRESNES]

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[newport5]

Joe,

I can see that for invoices above $2k or $3k, if the customer knows ahead of time.

I see how that makes sense to the business owner (and their accountant). But I’ll bet to the customer for the lower invoices, you’re trying to eek out another $10 or $15. AND, they could think, where else are you eeking out an extra few bucks (or more)? Apparently you are not profitable enough to absorb that. Why? Not enough (good) customers? Why?

It’s a convenience for them. So they’re stuck paying that or write a check or go to the bank and get $1000 in cash??? Plus many get cash back or flight miles, which you’re also taking.

Remember searching airline prices, comparing prices, making your decision, only to find out at the very end there are additional charges? Taxes, fees, and those darn baggage charges. Did you like that? I doubt it. I think credit card fees fall into that category (for the customer).

[Brian Smith]

On 10/24/2024 at 8:31 AM, Joe Marconi said:

You will accomplish the same thing, and not bring attention to the customer that small fee that may be a big deal. 

Agreed, the customer, and people in general, remember how you made them feel. If you can make them feel good about a purchase or an experience at your shop they'll likely come back, spread a good word, and be willing to pay you even more than originally planned. It pays to be a good human being, especially in the auto industry.

[TheTrustedMechanic]

I have NEVER charged for credit cards except to very few people who I only charge my costs where there is no profit to absorb the credit cards fees. These people include family and just a couple of very close friends. They knew that I was making exactly 0¢ from them so they would have to pay the credit card fees if they needed to use a credit card.

Now on to regular customers. I have charged shop supplies for almost the entire time I have been in business )coming up on 20 years) and have never heard any complaints or push back. But then again EVERY service business, from auto shops to dealerships, plumbers and electricians charge a supply fee so I think they are accustomed to it. My understanding is that if a business is audited by the state, they can't use the "shop supplies" charge, they have to itemize everything that they used that would fall under "Supplies" and make sure they paid sales tax on the appropriate amount for all of those nuts and bolts and subscriptions and chemicals, etc. The way I see it, I pay sales tax on a lot of stuff that would go into the "supplies" category like printer paper, hand soap, toner, lubricants (penetrating oil, silicone spray, etc.), first aid supplies, scanner updates and so forth that any supplies that I don't pay sales tax on would be negligible AND I charge sales tax on the shop supplies (since the state considers the items that are categorized as "shop supplies" as "taxable sales" anyway) so I believe that if I were ever audited, the state would owe me a refund based on the itemized sales' tax due vs. what was collected or paid at the time of purchase. So I am not concerned with an audit causing me problems other than the auditor being upset that I am doing business this way.

 

I do not currently and do not intend to charge my customers for using credit cards. I do educate them that it costs me several percent and their "rewards" are actually coming out my pocket because I am charged 1.++% for the privilege of taking their rewards card on top of the usual processing fees, all so the credit card company can be so generous to "give" them back 1%, maybe. I am a small shop and my credit card fees rarely exceed $600 a month. I too see it as a C.O.D.B. I would like to charge a fee for it, but I don't like paying it when I go to a merchant who charges it so I won't do that to my customers. I just absorb it from my profits, but I can see why some places would want to charge for their customers "convenience." As far as I am aware, no dealership charges this fee and few if any other independent repair shops in town charge a credit card fee.

[RYAN B]

I replaced four runflat tires on a Mercedes GLA250 yesterday, the tires were 268.88 each and we charged 35.00 to mount and balance each tire and 6.00 a tire disposal, now tire are very competitively priced, total job price was 1239.52 plus 74.37 in tax 1313.89. The credit card fees on that transaction were almost 39.50, were do you absorb or hide that when you are trying to stay competitive with your competition? As long as your transparent with your customers they know about the credit card fees. I made 248.00 on that job, thats a lot different than 208.00, thats almost 17% of your profit.  I tell the customers, I will give you a fair price but I can't absorb the fees and people give me cash or checks or they pay the fee.  

[Joe Marconi]

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