Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/06/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Sun, Jun 10, 2001 at 06:27:18PM +0200, Pascal wrote: > I am asking this (maybe trivial) question, but a German dealer with whom I > want to conduct business refuses to take my credit card for payment since > the item he sells is "demo" (though still quite expensive). He only takes > cash (obviously impossible since I am living in Belgium), a cheque or a wire > transfer *before* he sends the goods to me. Reason he cites: these are not > new goods, but sales "at a discounted price". That would not be a Leica dealer in Munich, wouldn't it? I had exactly the same problem with someone in Munich last year. Unfortunately there seems to be a general reluctance in Germany to accept credit cards for anything but petrol and CDs. BTW, the reason he gives seems to be a lot of male bovine excrement - there is no obvious reason apart from him having to pay the transaction cost (4% if it is the dealer we are talking about). OTOH he might be worried that you would cancel the credit card transaction for whatever reason and he would have to bear the loss. > I am feeling reluctant to do so, but would like to ask for advice on the > matter. I am still amazed at how some, especially European (and German in > particular), dealers expect to do business with a Europe-wide audience if > they don't take credit cards for payment. Mainly because there are alternative payment systems in Germany (i.e. Eurocheque cards are widely accepted and bear lower transaction cost for the dealer AFAIR), > By contrast, the two largest German Leica dealers (Foto Hobby in Frankfurt > and Leica bei Meister in Hamburg) take credit cards for *all* sales, even > second hand items (at prices much lower than "demo")... No problem whatsoever here in the UK. May I suggest you go somewhere else? > Is this normal behavior in the year 2001 ??? I'd say it is for Germany - and I am German, so I'm allowed to complain :-). Not that I live there anymore, though... HTH, Timo