[jarrettch]

Merchants absolutely can pass on the fees or give "discounts" for cash, at least in the USA. Gas stations are one of the major businesses that practice this.

Anecdotally, I worked at a company store years ago where we would charge customers paying with cards a 2.75% fee, which is what we were paying. And that store was operated by a Fortune 500 company.

Also, virtually every small private business I go to in Los Angeles charges some fee, or has stipulations, for credit card transactions.

[wpietri]

This wasn't originally the case. Passing on the fee was for a long time against most merchant agreements. Which makes sense from the credit card company's point of view: they don't want shoppers to have any reason not to whip out the card.

The big change came in January 2013 after a big court judgment. Adding fees, though, is still illegal in some states: https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/business-surcha...

[jarrettch]

Thanks for that link.

Made me wonder about the stores/restaurants I frequent here that do charge, apparently they're still ok to do so after 2015(link from the comments in your linked post): https://oag.ca.gov/consumers/general/credit-card-surcharges

[mcguire]

Where? I haven't seen any in years, at least in the southeast.

There are more stores not accepting credit cards than charging extra.

[jarrettch]

Maybe I should've mentioned "Los Angeles" higher in my comment, but looking at the sibling comment to yours, apparently there are plenty other states where it is legal to pass on the fees as a surcharge as well. Obviously your situation may vary.

[BillinghamJ]

In London, there's quite a large number of merchants who have now stopped accepting cash - requiring cards/NFC only.