That's right. If a store has a thousand cheap items that do not have a visible price tag or price label, and one single item that has a visible price of $1,000, you are required to buy the $1,000 item. Twice! So you need to go $2,000 out of pocket or the shop will be rejected.
It's my understanding that the credit card company client has an agreement with vendors that they are not allowed to charge additional credit card fees or provide a cash discount if they accept their credit card. Therefore, the purpose of this shop is to catch the business breaking the contract red-handed. There can be no disputing the evidence that the location is charging more for credit cards. I suppose that's why they're so strict about it, and I imagine the client requires all of those things to be in order for the shop to be accepted.
Is that fair to the shopper? That's debatable. A lot of these have been rejected on technicalities. My frame of mind when doing these is that there is always a chance that it could be rejected. Therefore, I have used my own experience and my knowledge I've picked up from this forum to try to eliminate rejections. I also only do these when they get up to $25 or more and the business seems like it should be relatively easy too fulfill the requirements.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2025 02:22AM by thunderdeacon.