brendan - 11:41 am on Jan 19, 2003 (gmt 0)

That's a good idea gsx, but I should add that even with MC and Visa you are still on thin ice if you only have a signature that was taken without the cardholder present.

Currently the consumer can very easily chargeback unless the transaction merchant has both a signed voucher and a card imprint/ evidence that the signature was taken while the card was present. Even then if the signature is different or something else is wrong the merchant is liable.

Also what Visit_Thailand says is true it is against the terms and conditions of your merchant agreement unless you have a very special arrangement with AMEX to make a charge to AMEX cardholders that you don't make to everyone else. All the card issuers want their cards to be on equal footing with cash and every other payment method other wise it is bad for their brand.

Say you charge 5% extra for AMEX then any AMEX cardholder using you could be put off using their card elsewhere for fear of hidden fees and that can really hit AMEX's profits. So not only would they revoke your agreement but they would also probably consider sueing you because what you did was unlawful.

If you do want to do it you should do it for all cards but we found the best way to do it is to put your price for everything up 5% to cover it then nobody knows the difference.