Strange Customer Reaction

I do a few shows a year. I used a knucklebuster to take credit card payments prior to getting my SquareUp account set up. A few weeks ago I did a show and one of the customers' reactions really surprised me (and actually got my husband all riled up).

Customer came into the booth to buy a $3 item. She wanted to use a credit card. (Now, I think that's absolutely ridiculus, but of that's how she wants to pay, fine.)

We asked her for her driver's license since she had "SEE ID" on the back of her credit card, and I always ask for ID for credit card purchases at shows. I checked her ID, and swiped her card. I handed the DL to my husband to write down her name on the receipt. and she FLIPPED OUT.

She started to get all panicked and said she didn't feel comfortable with us having swiped her card and having her DL info since she had had her identity stolen before. I explained to her that all we wrote down was her name to match her receipt with the transaction. She continued to get all crazy and flustered no matter what I said to her. She asked if we could get rid of her information and she could go get some cash. I told her that was fine. She came back a few minutes later with the $3 and we wrote her a new receipt. Then, she wanted to know what we'd done with the old receipt that had half her name written on it. I told her we'd shred it when we got back to our shop. She kept saying how she was sooo scared to have any of her information "out there".

Then, WHY did she want to pay for a $3 item with a credit card? Apparently she doesn't understand how much information someone needs to process a credit card, and how much information is stored in that little magnetic strip on the back. (The whole reason I switched from a knucklebuster to SquareUp was so I wouldn't be responsible for having other people's card numbers and information written down!)

Oh, and later on, as we were packing up and leaving, we realized that she was a VENDOR at that show! I guess she wasn't taking credit cards, I wonder if it hurt her sales?

Greg:

You can now have a minimum charge amount. $10.

Here's the legalese.

HR 4173: Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and was put into law on July 21st, 2010. Section 1075 of this law (beginning on page 693 of this printing of the new law) amends the Electronic Fund Transfer Act of 1978. The part that restricts payment networks as to the minimum charge they can force merchants to accept (which, up until about a month ago, was $0.01) is detailed in Section 920(b)(3)(A)(i)(II) of the amended EFT Act. Beginning with the amended section 920(b)(3) (page 698 of the new law, for those of you who are following along):

(3) LIMITATION ON RESTRICTIONS ON SETTING TRANSACTION MINIMUMS OR MAXIMUMS. (A) IN GENERAL.—A payment card network shall not,
directly or through any agent, processor, or licensed member of the network, by contract, requirement, condition, penalty, or otherwise, inhibit the ability (i) of any person to set a minimum dollar value for the acceptance by that person of credit cards, to the extent that (I) such minimum dollar value does not differentiate between issuers or between payment card networks; and (II) such minimum dollar value does not exceed $10.00 …

Replies

Carla Bank June 18, 2011 at 3:42am

It went from lady panicking for her ID stolen to bad checks, to freedom of speech to turkeys...You got to love it...I love controversial posts :) I love when everybody posts their different points of view, so many people involved, don't leave this site, they call it "blogging" for a reason, as long as you don't offend or attack anybody. PS Miami...bad checks paradise, I got 4 and one of it was from a woman driving a Porsche :-P
Greg Heihn January 14, 2011 at 7:21pm

Just read this whole string! Ya gotta love it! This is WAY better than TV. Not counting "The Walking Dead".

I do wish that there was a minimum dollar amount for charges. Just makes sense.

Hey - I open my mouth when I look up at the rain. GOBBLE GOBBLE
- Chris Hoyt > Greg Heihn June 18, 2011 at 6:52am
  
  Greg:
  
  You can now have a minimum charge amount. $10.
  
  Here's the legalese.
  
  HR 4173: Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and was put into law on July 21st, 2010. Section 1075 of this law (beginning on page 693 of this printing of the new law) amends the Electronic Fund Transfer Act of 1978. The part that restricts payment networks as to the minimum charge they can force merchants to accept (which, up until about a month ago, was $0.01) is detailed in Section 920(b)(3)(A)(i)(II) of the amended EFT Act. Beginning with the amended section 920(b)(3) (page 698 of the new law, for those of you who are following along):
  
  (3) LIMITATION ON RESTRICTIONS ON SETTING TRANSACTION MINIMUMS OR MAXIMUMS. (A) IN GENERAL.—A payment card network shall not,
  directly or through any agent, processor, or licensed member of the network, by contract, requirement, condition, penalty, or otherwise, inhibit the ability (i) of any person to set a minimum dollar value for the acceptance by that person of credit cards, to the extent that (I) such minimum dollar value does not differentiate between issuers or between payment card networks; and (II) such minimum dollar value does not exceed $10.00 …
- Connie Mettler > Greg Heihn January 14, 2011 at 8:56pm
  
  See, Greg, you really can't leave us. Maybe you can be "artist emeritus" and come back now and then and set things straight.
Munks January 7, 2011 at 8:45pm

Oh, I thought you were just upset about your Wild Turkey being contaminated with water. Some people are funny about their beverages. No pills for me, I cheek them and spit them at the domesticated turkeys with ample breasts standing in the rain outside. (See below.) Now, if you don't mind I have to get back to my ZZZZZ-zapplications.
Alison Thomas January 7, 2011 at 8:24pm

My father was a lobbyist for the poultry industry for many years and the word from the experts is that wild turkeys are everything Holly says they are. Domesticated turkeys, grown for their ample breast meat and little else, will actually drown in the rain by looking up with their mouth open. They bear little resemblance to their wild counterparts.
Bruce Meyer December 16, 2010 at 5:28pm

My favorite bad check story.

I took a check back in the mid-9o's for a $65 purchase. It bounced. My modus operandi for a small purchase such as this was to put the original check in an envelope with a letter asking the purchaser to make it good. It normally worked but in this instance it did not.

Fast forward to 10 year later. I received a letter from this person with a check for the amount. The words on the letter she sent were "Sorry this is so late." I cashed the check but still have the letter. Figured it to be some sort of 12 step program deal.
geri a. wegner December 15, 2010 at 8:45pm

Who would have thought that a post about credit cards would make me feel old but this does.

When I go to art festivals, I usually stop at the bank first so I can get a lot of cash. I figure the artist deserves the money more than the bank does with their fees. And I will never totally trust debit cards, even if my liability is only $50. I feel as if a lost card is like losing a checkbook.

It never ceases to amaze me how trusting artists are to take personal checks.
- Art on the Lawn: Barbara Berney > geri a. wegner December 15, 2010 at 9:42pm
  
  Geri, in all the years I've been promoting and exhibiting in shows, the only bad checks I have ever gotten were from artists for jury or booth fees. All have had reasonable explanations and have made good, except for one, who never even responded to the NSF notice. Am I just lucky, or what?
  
  I'd like to hear what others' experience has been.
  - Connie Mettler > Art on the Lawn: Barbara Berney December 16, 2010 at 8:44am
    
    Yes, Geri, we have received bad checks for art at the shows, particularly in Miami and Minneapolis. Never could figure that out. My favorite story though was when we filed charges in Florida for a purchase at Coconut Grove and the "customer" got picked up on something else and we got out money back.

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