They do. This is why, even after you are shipped a product from a merchant, you can go to your credit card company, take the money back from the merchant and ding them an extra fee on top. Meanwhile, there doesn't seem to be a good way for merchants to cite customers for fraudulent usages of these mechanisms (you might win the chargeback, but honestly if that happens the customer's credit card should be put on hold or cancelled).
"Q: Can a merchant charge me a fee to use my MasterCard card? Can a merchant require a minimum purchase amount to use my MasterCard card?
A: The answer to the first question is almost never; the answer to the second question is not ever."
Travel agents and airlines throughout Europe started to charge processing fees (usually ~ 8EUR by airlines) when you pay by credit card.
Unfortunately there is usually no other reasonable means to pay for the service so I bite the bullet and pay it.
It bugs me and annoys me, but I think - at least in Europe - this is perfectly legal and within the framework of the merchant agreements.
(Don't get me started on the 20 Euro "Service Charge" I pay when I purchase a flight ticket on the internet for the privilege of doing their work by hacking the necessary data into their systems)
>Q: Can a merchant charge me a fee to use my MasterCard card? Can a merchant require a minimum purchase amount to use my MasterCard card? A: The answer to the first question is almost never;
Technically true, but merchants can offer a cash discount. It's effectively the same thing, with the key difference being that they can lower their stated price if you pay in cash, but they can't raise their price at time of purchase if you choose to use a credit card.
>the answer to the second question is not ever.
The FAQ is out of date on this point. Visa, Mastercard, and AmEx all started allowing a $10 minimum purchase last year:
