Tobacco and Liquor
 

Is there a new pricing system in tobacco, liquor shops?

For months one particular shop has charged me extra, despite the price being clearly displayed, whereas two others, Coop and another independent shop charge me as per price displayed.

9 times out of 10 I use my WISE card. I have not noticed being charged extra when using Erste card. Next time I will pay cash and after that Erste to test their reaction.

Could it be that WISE charge shops extra fees?

Re: Tobacco and Liquor
 

Wouldn't surprise me.

Re: Tobacco and Liquor
 

Sounds like retailers passing on to consumers the commission that card issuers charge retailers for accepting card payments.

That is increasingly common in the US these days, still not exactly widespread, but much more common than it was just a couple of years ago.

Re: Tobacco and Liquor
 

I would have thought it would be the new 50 ft surcharge on glass, plastic and aluminium bottles and cans. From July 1st all containers under 3 litres have a 50 refundable surcharge.....I believe.

Re: Tobacco and Liquor
 

Charged you extra at the till or at the terminal?

Some items had a refundable deposit on them long before the 50 HUF scheme came in, like Borsodi bottles/crates, Piroska bottles etc. Do you restrict purchases of beer or similar to your card and use a joint card at other times?

Surely the VISA network sets merchant fees, not WISE?

If the price on the till and the terminal are the same but different to the price displayed on the shelf before you present your card then it's on the shop side, so it's best to ask them.

If the amount deducted from your account is different to the amount paid in store then raise this with WISE and they'll be able to explain it as it'll be at their end but the original amount will be displayed on your account and any extra charges will also be shown so check that first.

If there is any difference between the amount to pay displayed on the till and the amount to pay at the terminal, e.g. extra fees for whatever reason, then you have to manually accept them before the transaction can proceed.

But... the real answer to your dilemma is stop using WISE in that shop.

The most likely scenario to me is that you buy certain things with your WISE card that incur a deposit.

Re: Tobacco and Liquor
 

Yesterday I bought 18 1.5 litres of water from Coop. I used my Erste Visa card .... yup got charged extra. It's obvious that shops are not happy with the charges from customers using Visa or Mastercard so they pass it on to the customer.
This annoys me because my Erste bank charges me for each transaction on top of the charges by shops! When living in the UK my HSBC bank never charged me any fees and neither did any of the shops when I used any of my HSBC cards!

Re: Tobacco and Liquor
 

did they charge you an extra 900 Ft. by any chance?

Re: Tobacco and Liquor
 

A search on the internet gave an official EU site
https://europa.eu/youreurope/busines...s/index_en.htm
Which says Quote

Card surcharges are not allowed

You're not allowed to charge your customers extra for using a credit or debit card. This applies to all card purchases (in shops and online) made throughout the EU.

end qoute

I suspect the 'additional charges' are the extra newly imposed deposit charges on bottles and cans. I have found that not all cans have a deposit charged, only the ones with a 50ft logo printed so best to check that the checkout isn't charging 50fts on every can regardless. Also returned cans must not be crushed.

Re: Tobacco and Liquor
 

My other half has instilled into me to only buy cans or plastic bottles with the 50 ft logo.

Re: Tobacco and Liquor
 

If the cans or bottles don't have the logo then they can't charge the 50 ft deposit.

Re: Tobacco and Liquor
 

I just checked and they do.

Re: Tobacco and Liquor
 

You can recover the deposits by returning the bottles to special machines,

Re: Tobacco and Liquor
 

If they're working, which they rarely are in my local Lidl

Re: Tobacco and Liquor
 

The one in our Aldi was full, I had to walk around their store with 20 cans/bottles until it was emptied,, then it malfunctioned. The alarm was excruciatingly loud!