海角乱伦

If you have a bankcard that allows you to put transactions through on savings there is no charge. The surcharge covers the fee their bank charges them when they are paid with a credit card. There should not be a fee if you are use 'eftpos' on savings/cheque account.

Some times the bank charge fees to the merchant when they a customer uses credit card to pay and it's up to 3 to 6%. I agree with that @Aussieinmauritius said. If you can use a savings account or a debit card for purchases no fees gonna be applied on.

Thank you @AussieInMauritius and @clairjulie0306 for the explanations.聽 I guess that I am used to vendors paying those fees as normal 鈥渃ost of doing business鈥� and included in the price.聽 Since I do not have a local bank account, I can either go 鈥渁ll cash鈥� or pay the fees.

One of the downside of going all cash is that I will typically leave less tips as it鈥檚 much easier to check the 15% amount and sign.

If you gonna be in Mauritius for long maybe you could try to get one of the local card for uses in the meanwhile.

@clairjulie0306 , I agree that getting a bank account setup is one of the first things that I would set up if I decide to stay long.聽 I am decades away from retiring and working in a field that does not exist locally, I am not sure when the "long" period will start.聽

In the meantime, I am doing the real estate tour to see if there are properties that my family and I like and can potentially work remotely from.聽 If there is something that I would like to purchase, then a bank account would be the next thing.

Purchasing a property in Mauritius is probably an endeavor that dwarfs the credit card surcharge fee though and I will probably need to ramp up on all the forum posts that exist on the matter.

Thank you for the feedback.

@clairjulie0306 , I agree that getting a bank account setup is one of the first things that I would set up if I decide to stay long.
-@Pablo888

Be ready to spill your personal details to the local bank as they are bound to report everything to Uncle Sam because of FATCA !

Be ready to spill your personal details to the local bank as they are bound to report everything to Uncle Sam because of FATCA !
-@External

@External, thanks for the heads up.

I guess that I will cross that bridge when I get there.

@Pablo888 We've used credit card at restaurants without surcharge, but did have to pay the 3% at a travel agency because the card is also our travel insurance. Alternative to bringing more cash is to use ATMs with your debit card as needed.聽 Debit card at other establishments also are no additional charge.

@pescerana , thank you for the suggestion of the use of debit cards and ATMs.聽 I have always avoided debit cards because they tend to be linked to your bank account.聽 If your debit card PIN is compromised, you may find your account drained suddenly.聽 ATMs also have the problem of hidden fees associated with its use such as out of network and access fees.

My point here is that it used to be a lot easier in the past when all vendors would not charge extra for taking credit cards.聽 For me, this credit card surcharge fee only happens in Mauritius and nowhere else.

In the USA, there is no credit card surcharge fee but rather a discount for cash transactions.聽 This discount favors the customer and vendor at the expense of the bank.聽 It seems that the opposite is occurring in Mauritius - i.e. the bank is charging the vendor and the vendor is passing on the cost to the customer.

Times have obviously changed.

I think that I failed to explain how the cash discount works.聽 After the explanation, people will be able to discern whether the fee free or the cash discount method work for them.

If a vendor is selling something for Rs 100, a customer using a credit card pays Rs 100 and if using a low commission credit card fee of say 3%, the vendor gets Rs 97 and the bank gets Rs 3.

If the vendor implements a cash discount policy of say 2% for the sale of the Rs 100 product, the customer pays Rs 98 (100 - 2%). The customer saves Rs 2,聽 the vendor effectively pockets Rs 98 and the bank gets nothing.

Although this sounds unfair to the bank and all its employees, credit card services is a service and when not needed, there should not be a penalty to the vendor and consumer.

The cash discount method has the advantage of providing leverage to the vendor and consumer by not depending too much on the bank as the transaction mediator.聽 With enough leverage by product vendors, banks can be forced into competition and thus reduce their transaction fee percentage.

Use of bank originated ATM and debit cards for fee free transactions is intentional because banks want to use those cards as there are heavy incidental fees / fines (such as overdraft) if those cards are not used in the way that the banks want you to use them.聽

Banks are very good at encouraging vendor and consumer behaviors that will result in fattening their profit margins.聽 This is common information that can be gleaned from public annual financial statements.

Disclaimer:聽 I am not endorsing or promoting any of the methods above.聽 Just providing general information.

After this explanation, I realized that the cash discount method is very commonly used in the whole world not only USA - my bad in attributing this to the USA - mea culpa.

FYI.聽 My experience with extra credit card fees at a gas (petrol) station was only at an Indian Oil station.聽 I have been to 2 Shell stations and I had had no additional credit card fee problems with the use of my card.聽 This could have been an isolated incident.聽 I think that this thread can be closed.

@Pablo888

Hi Pablo,

Not sure where you got that..but it is not compulsory to pay 15% tip in Mauritius..could you send us any link to that please ? Thanks

Best,

David

聽 聽 @Pablo888
Hi Pablo,

Not sure where you got that..but it is not compulsory to pay 15% tip in Mauritius..could you send us any link to that please ? Thanks

Best,
David
聽 聽

聽 聽 -@Davidray10

Hi @Davidray 10, this tipping guidance of 15 to 20% is "standard" in Canada and US - because waiters are not typically receiving a living wage and depend on tips to make ends meet.聽 聽See the explanation -> 聽 That's why a "tipping revolution" is brewing in North America - but changes will be slow.

Of course, tipping is really optional in Europe as the waiters get paid a fair salary.