Gas Stations and credit cards

[mike_s]

anyone else tired of this?

You go to a gas station, use "pay at the pump" and while you're pumping gas the pump stops at some preset number. Usually around $50 bucks.

You have to re-scan your credit card for a 2nd purchase to continue pumping.


The gas station mangers blame it on the credit card companies. But if that was true then it would happen at EVERY gas station..... so someone is lying to us.


I mean I shouldn't have to scan my card twice to fill up a Honda Accord. It's gas tank just isnt that big. I big truck with 2nd gas tank maybe. but not a Honda.


What purpose does this serve the consumer or the gas station?

 

[Brandon]

That policy serious needs to be revisited... I wish people could apply common sense to corporate decisions like that.

It made sense at one time, it doesn't make sense anymore. Fix it.

-B

 

[akscubainst]

Mine used to shut off at $75, but lately, I've noticed it's going to $100.

DM

 

[Damselfish]

When you swipe your card at a pump they preauthorize a set amount, and the pump stops there. If they preauthorized an amount that was way too high so this never happened people would probably complain, especially those that are always running close to their credit limits. I guess $50 used to be the common compromise but now it doesn't fill many tanks. For whatever reason it seems to have taken some stations a while to do anything about it. I don't know if it is a simple call to each credit card company, or if it's at the station end. Maybe some of these stations or pumps have really old systems where the amount can't be changed easily, or the owners just don't know how or something.

 

[BMR]

These amounts, usually 50-75, were originally put into place to prevent fraud because thats where the majority of stolen credit and debit cards are tested.

It doesnt actually prevent it really, but limits the amount that could be stolen.. Now with gas being so high, legitimate purchases frequently exceed these amounts.

 

[DivingLonghorn]

I actually work for a merchant service provider, we enable retailers to accept credit cards and I work in the petroluem division. V / MC (and issuing banks) setup regulations and subsequent fees for different types of card transactions (std credit cards, reward cards, business cards, checkcards) and ways the cards are transacted (pay at pump, ecommerce, retail, etc). So according to V/MC and the issuing banks, pay at the pump transactions that are conducted with a credit card (NOT A CHECKCARD or DEBIT CARD) i.e. Visa / MasterCard go out for a preauthorization for $1. That $1 preauth gets the gas station upto $75 "protection" for that transaction. But what else is happening is the major brands (Shell, Exxon, etc) abide by the same rules but many times will cover any disputes, etc for transactions that are over $75. Many of the independent station owners or smaller brands don't have the big brand protection so to minimize their risk they have the pumps shut off before $75. It used to be $50 protection, but V/MC, etc have recently changed it and will probably change it again. This regulations and fees are generally changed 2x year. Checkcards and Debit cards are different, they normally go out for a pre-auth for a higher amount ($50, $75, etc). In addition, this "pre-auth" could be a hold on your funds in your checking accounts for a few days after you filled up.

This is a very complex and ever changing industry and by no means does this description above reflect a the full story of credit acceptance in the petro arena, but gives you a pretty good idea.

I

 

[SteveAD]

I will never re-swipe my card. If the pump shuts off before I'm full, that station loses my business.

 

[mike_s]

I think part of the problem is also that the person/company that owns the convience store (gas station) is not usually the person who owns the pumps.

From what I can tell locally, often the pumps are owned by a different petroleum company than the store.

So the store has no control over what policies are set up by the pump owner.



this is still frustrating though. One place when filling up that had a lower limit I had to scan my card 3 times and make three seperate transactions to buy one stinkin' tank of gas.


I know that this is some perceived protection of fraud.... but once they've got the gas, if they had to scan their card 1 time or 2-3 times with a stolen card, the merchant is still out the gas regardless....

It seems to me the only one that makes out in a situation like this is the credit card company. Because they get a processing fee with each transaction in addition to their base percentage. While the processing fee is small, if you have to process 2 transactions to make a sale (full tank fillup), they are doubling their money on gas sales by credit card.

 

[DivingLonghorn]

mike_s
you are spot on these "jobbers" many times don't own the gas they just own the c-store, so they don't have control over the pumps. The $75 dollar limit in the previous example is more protection for certain auth related chargeback rights. Some fraud deterrents that are being used are zip code entry (putting in billing zip code of the ccard you are using) and velocity checks. This is when you can set the # of times a card can be used at your pumps or store chain, but this is pretty stupid if you only allow a card to be used 1x or 2x per 24 hour period, but then set the limits on the pumps so low that it takes 2 or 3 "fillings" to top off your tank.

In regards to your comment about the credit card companies making the most money, you are correct in that its the issuing banks (those Citibank, Wells Fargo, etc) that get the lions share of the fees associated with credit card acceptance.

 

[mike_s]

I've seen a scam on the local news where gas was stolen using a stolen card. From the video surviellence they showed. It ha done guy with the card scanning it and all his buddies drove up (like 6 or 8 cars) and filled up all at one at different pumps. He ran around and scanned the card in each... It ended up that the card was stolen and the store owner was out a lot of money.

The pumps might be owned by someone else, but usually it's the store or the employee that gets stuck with the liability of stolen gas.


As for the zip code thing... I've had to do that several times at the pump. Doesn't bother me. I wish I had to do it all the time because it adds extra protection in case my card gets stolen.