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Comment by jazzpush2 | Hacker News Reader

Now do service fees and 'convenience' fees. Every ticket I buy for a movie somehow costs $2 extra now. (As with everything else). Robbery.

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My favorite is the local tax office charges extra for paying online vs going in to the office to pay in person. At first, I thought it was a way to recoup the processing fees as you're obviously paying by card online. The last time I paid in person with a card, that fee was not added on though. So they are charging you extra for not having to pay an employee to process your account.

Until a few years ago merchants were not allowed to charge credit card fees. In that case, online fees make a legally-allowable proxy for credit card surcharges.

the whole allowed to/not allowed to charge extra to cover the processing fees is a yo-yo. One of the best known examples is gas stations showing you different prices for credit/cash on their signs. So the "until a few years ago" seems like some internet trope as I can remember the gas station signs showing cash/credit from back when I was a kid, and let's just all agree that wasn't "a few years ago"

It might also be that you’re just hearing from people in different states. More than half of the states allow surcharges, but that can change: for example, Oklahoma removed the ban just last year: https://legiscan.com/OK/text/SB677/id/3231564

What you really need are strong consumer protection offices, and the right for them to sue.

This has really helped in Germany.

The one that pisses me off is when the waitress tells you to pay with your phone, and it's charged a "convenience fee."

I won't go anywhere that wants you to pay with phone period, cause it's just annoying and usually means bad food/service. If they somehow hid this fact until the end and wanted a fee for it, I'd just slap a bill on the table and leave. Don't think that's even a crime.

Right? As silly as it might sound, I go out to interact with people. I don't want a mindless unthinking automaton as a server. I want someone who will check in on how the service is going, and also make recommendations if I ask. I really don't understand the push to make inherently social endeavors more isolating. I guess it's money. :(

That's what I'm saying, I won't tolerate the automation. At least not at a place that expects a tip too.

I looked at buying tickets for a local hockey game last week, and the venue goes through Ticketmaster. The service fees were exactly the same as the actual ticket cost, maybe the total 200% of the list price.

I ended up going to the physical box office, where they still charged an extra 40% of the ticket cost in service fees.

most large venues have a rev share agreement on these fees. they aren’t all going to the ticketing company.

usually the service fee doesn't even get refunded, which feels additionally foul

I think that's exactly the point. They've charged you $2 to process the request. They did that work. Even if you get the money back for the event, they still did the job, so they won't refund the service fee.

Sure, but imagine a brick and mortar doing that? "we paid our cashier so we can't refund you the full cost"

running the service is the cost of doing business

If there was no service fee how would Ticketmaster generate any revenue?

California, Minnesota, Maryland, and New York have

And then the restaurant lobby got the CA one rescinded for restaurant junk fees, which were probably the biggest culprit most people encounter day-to-day.

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