Do you get carded when you use your credit card? (1 Viewer)

[MikeAlletto]

I don't know what is up with stores. I get carded all the time when I try and buy just a cd with my credit card these days. A lousy $10 and they card me! You'd think that some credit card fraud person would not be flashing around platinum or amex cards, but would just use a normal card. I don't get carded for alcohol but get carded for a $10 cd. Annoys the crap outta me. They don't check the signature, they only check the name. Gee like thats not hard to fake. I hate going to stores, with this being one of the annoyances.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Best Buy has started carding credit card purchases. I don't mind it because if my credit card was stolen, I'd want the crooks to be hassled and possibly curtailed from a big spending spree (regardless of my own $50 limit of liability in this case).

 

[Jeremy Allin]

I use my credit card for many small purchases as well (CDs and DVDs). I notice, on occasion, they will briefly check the signature on the card with the one on the receipt I've just signed.
It's weird, though, because like I said it only happens occasionally (at the store I do much of my shopping). You'd think something like that would either be a store policy or it wouldn't.

 

[James RD]

My signature is checked about half the time. I really don't mind.
Mike - Where the hell are you getting those $10 CDs?

 

[Leila Dougan]

Visa expressedly prohibits the checking of ID for purchases. Your signature, on the back of the card, is your ID. If your card is not signed or is set to "See ID" the the cashier is supposed to not accept the card, ask for picture ID and have you sign the card on the spot. If you refuse or the transaction does not seem legit, the cashier is supposed to call a special Visa 800#. At that point, the Visa representative will walk the cashier through steps to stop or report the fraud. The end point is, you should NEVER be asked for ID when using your Visa. I've actually reported a very large department store for doing this and they got their Visa rights revoked for a while.

 

[Paul D Young]

They check ID at the Best Buy near my house but not the one by my parent's house. I think it probably has something to do with the experiences of that particular store. Perhaps they had a big problem with fraud. It sounds like another case of being inconvenienced or not trusted because of the things some people before you did wrong.


P.S. I know when someone says something like this many people will jump down their throat and say "How is that an inconvenience? They are protecting YOU! Blah, blah blah."
So that response has been noted. Please don't bother to tell me.

 

[Tim Johnson]

Same holds true with MasterCard, I worked there for a while in college (in the very department that dealt with merchant complaints)

Some things a merchant who accepts MasterCard cannot do:
1. Minimum or maximum purchase amount. This is a big one I see done all the time, especially at gas stations and bars.
2. Require additional ID from the customer (unless the card comes up as "Call" when run through the machine, and then only if the person on the other end of the phone asks for the ID verification.
3. Require a credit card for verification purposes when customer is paying by check (another one that 'mall stores' like to try and get away with)

I used to have my signature scrutinized all the time when I had long hair, now that I look respectable they usually don't even look at the receipt after I sign it. And the POS terminals where they don't even see the signature block on the card, that is just screaming for fraud.

 

[Bob Sheen]

I've been carded several times. But mostly when i'm travelling in touristy areas.

Bob

 

[Jason Wilcox]

i work at best buy and i (and everyone else) only check ID when the card isn't signed or the signature is blurry.

 

[CaptDS9E]

I dont care if they check for ID. Cracks down on fraud. I work in a store where people call up the credit card company and say they didnt buy stuff which they did.

Capt

 

[Chris Bardon]

I too worked for MasterCard for a while, and I can tell you that a $10 fraud charge won't even be investigated (anything under $15 was just written off). Did Best Buy just convert their systems to a different POS? Reason might be is that they lost their floor limit, and are worried about any fradulent transactions coming back to them.

There is a solution to the whole problem though, that would make the cards MUCH more secure. All credit cards have a PIN number (same as your bank card) so you can get cash advances etc. from machines. I'm not sure what Debit card penetration is like elsewhere, but here Interac is everywhere. We're down to a pretty small percentage of merchants (like 20%) who take credit but not interac, so why not just tie the two together and make everyone enter their PIN when they use their credit card. People don't seem to mind for Debit purchases, and I think that fraud charges would drop significantly.

 

[Jeff Loughridge]

Visa expressedly prohibits the checking of ID for purchases. Your signature, on the back of the card, is your ID. If your card is not signed or is set to "See ID" the the cashier is supposed to not accept the card, ask for picture ID and have you sign the card on the spot. If you refuse or the transaction does not seem legit, the cashier is supposed to call a special Visa 800#.

Well, if that ever happened to me I would cancel my VISA card. I never sign any of my cards. I write with a big black Sharpie "CHECK ID." When a clerk does not ask me for my ID, I remind then I could be using a stolen card.
I just refuse to give a thief a sample of my signature to practice with.

 

[MikeAlletto]

Mike - Where the hell are you getting those $10 CDs?

New dave matthews band cd was 9.99 last week.

The thing is the checkout guy doesn't even look at my signature. I give them the card and they immediately ask for id. The card is legibly signed and the sig matches exactly whats printed on the front. Then after they look at my drivers license he runs the card then gives it right back to me. Doesn't even bother to match the signature. This happens everytime I go to best buy. Its like they pretend to be checking just to go through the motions and slow down the lines but don't actually check anything. I could see if I were spending a couple grand or even a couple hundred. But 9.99? I bet if I bought a .99 bottle of pop and put it on my card the moron would ask for id. If he did I'd leave it right on the counter and walk out. Being careful and trying to prevent fraud is fine, but being annoying when the dollar amount is so low that it doesn't matter is just stupid. Thank God for internet shopping...don't have to deal with the hassles of moron stores and stupid lines.

 

[Derek Williams]

I have no problem with some asking for my ID. I say 80% of the time a clerk checks both my ID and signature. I already have my wallet open so it's no big deal to pull out ID. It takes an extra 5 seconds of my time.

 

[Chris Bardon]

1. Minimum or maximum purchase amount. This is a big one I see done all the time, especially at gas stations and bars.

True. Theoretically, you can walk into a dealership and buy a car on your mastercard, and they can't not let you do it. If you accept MC, then you have to for ALL purchases.

The other one that merchants can't do is charge a surcharge for paying by credit. Computer stores are a little blurry when they "cash discount" things, but I remember dealing with many situations where a customer would call about being charged an extra 5-10% for using mastercard somewhere (especially in other countries).

 

[JamesMH]

I was never asked for ID until I moved to California (land of crime!), now I get carded 95% of the time for everything. Petsmart, Best Buy, Autozone . . $5 to $2000.

Thats why I laugh at the Visa cheque card adverts on tv, write a cheque and you need ID, use a Visa and you need ID.

 

[Joseph S]

I haven't been carded in about 1/2 a year, but last week I got a call from my credit card company if I was the one making all these purchases at places like popcornpopper.com.

 

[MikeAlletto]

The other one that merchants can't do is charge a surcharge for paying by credit.

Are you sure about that? The merchants get charged from the credit card company to be able to accept the card. I've seen some internet places pass those charges onto the customer. I refuse to use those sites, but I know they do this.

 

[Justin Doring]

I'm almost never carded, but when I am it's always by some overzealous teenager as I attempt to purchase a $15 CD or DVD or something.

 

[Chris Bardon]

Are you sure about that? The merchants get charged from the credit card company to be able to accept the card. I've seen some internet places pass those charges onto the customer. I refuse to use those sites, but I know they do this.

Absolutely-it's actually one of the rules from Mastercard International. The MDR (Merchant Discount Rate) is the percentage that merchants pay to take the cards, and it's usually between 1 and 4 percent. This is part of the cost of doing business though, and merchants are not allowed to offer discriminatory pricing for other forms of payment. They can increase all of their prices by 4%, and pocket the difference if you pay cash though.