[78-L] OFF TOPIC: Convenience Fees

[Ron L'Herault]

If I ever spend more than $100, I'll have to remember to pay by check.

Ron L

-----Original Message-----
From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com
[mailto:78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] On Behalf Of Kurt Nauck
Sent: Sunday, August 10, 2014 5:06 PM
To: 78-L Mail List
Subject: [78-L] OFF TOPIC: Convenience Fees


Hey there Darren

Just a couple of comments regarding your posts. So that others will
understand what your comments referred to, the "Convenience Fee" is a charge
we add to a purchase that is paid for by credit card or Paypal to cover the
fees assessed by the card processor on our end. (We do not charge any fee to
persons spending under $100.)

In days of old, people would send checks to cover their wins and purchases,
which we would then deposit into our bank account. Simple, straightforward
and no charges involved. But as time went by, more and more people began
paying by cc or pp. For a long time we absorbed those charges, but it
finally reached a point at which we could no longer do so.

Now most companies build these sorts of charges into the price structure of
their product; however, we sell mainly by auction so that is not possible.
(Which is why most auction houses also charge for payment by these methods.)
The only way we could build this in would be to add it to the shipping and
packing charges, which would have been a reasonable solution. However, I
didn't wish to penalize bidders who preferred to pay by check.

So the fairest method - as it always is - was to give customers a choice.
Send me cash or check with no fee, or pay the fee to use a cc or pp. To me
it makes no difference, because the fee is not profit generating; it only
covers processing costs. (By the way, processing foreign transactions such
as yours is much more expensive than US
transactions.)

Like you, I agree that the phrase "Convenience Fee" is annoying. 
However, there is (or was) a legal reason for that terminology. My processor
wouldn't allow me to simply say something like "add 3-5% to your order if
paying by cc." These companies fought long and hard to prevent businesses
from steering customers away from using plastic. 
But if a vendor established a rate schedule (not a percentage) and called it
a "Convenience Fee," then it was allowed. So that's what I had to do to
remain in compliance.

This has now changed, and I can use a percentage and call it what I like.
And perhaps eventually I will, but I have more important things to attend to
at the moment. Once I've created a process, it is difficult (for many
different reasons) to change it.

I trust that this sheds more light on our decision-making process. I spend
many hours and a great deal of thought on how to better serve our customers
and keep their costs down. Those efforts brought you things like a bidding
protocol that awards you records at 10% over the next highest bidder (or for
the MB amount if you are the only bidder), and much lower shipping costs for
foreign customers. These savings more than compensate for a voluntary
payment fee.

Thanks for all your past business, and for being such a good and loyal
customer!

Kurt Nauck
c/o Nauck's Vintage Records & Texas Ready
22004 Sherrod Ln.
Spring, Texas  77389

www.78rpm.com  |  www.TexasReady.net
www.MDADA.org  |  www.NewPledge.org

E-Mail: nauck at 78rpm.com
Phone: (281) 288-7826  |  Fax: (425) 930-6862


_______________________________________________
78-L mailing list
78-L at klickitat.78online.com
http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l