Doing business in New York City? Of course you are! And charging customers an extra fee or surcharge for paying with a credit card? If you're a small business, you may well be doing that to recoup the fees that you pay to the credit card processors. And you can! And you can even charge different prices depending on whether the customer is paying by cash or credit card. But, what you can't do is surprise customers at point of purchase. As I blogged about when the New York law was enacted, if you're charging additional fees for credit card purchases, you must display the highest total price (excluding sales tax), inclusive of the credit card surcharge.
The law applies to business throughout New York state, of course, but I'm singling out New York City in this post – not only because I live here and transact with businesses every day who don't seem to have gotten the memo, but it appears that the city regulators, namely the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, may be gearing up to actively enforce it. Why do I think this? Because there is published information on the Department's website, including an inspection checklist, as well as information on NYC 311, the official website for the city, providing information on the requirements, as well as a link to a complaint page, where consumers can report violations by local businesses.There's even a cute educational video for businesses, explaining the law and providing helpful do's and don'ts.
As all these materials remind us, businesses CANNOT:
- Put a sign on the wall or at the register notifying customers that a fee is applied to all credit card sales.
- Advertise a cash discount without including the higher credit card price.
- Charge separate line items to credit card users on a customer receipt without clearly posting the total price prior to purchase.
- Include a credit card surcharge warning on the item price tag.
What businesses CAN do is:
- List the highest price (inclusive of the credit card surcharge).
- List both the cash and credit card prices.
- Provide a discount for cash purchases.
- Charge the same price whether the customer is paying with cash or a credit card.
Dear reader, before you accuse me of being too parochial in my coverage of ad law issues, I will explain why I chose this topic. Not only is it important information for companies doing business in the largest city in the country, but it is a very good reminder that, in addition to the FTC, state Attorneys General, and local district attorneys, there are local agencies also in the business of enforcing consumer protection laws, by soliciting complaints directly from consumers and by seeking out potential violators.
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