I'm surprised, because there's a couple of local stores that have a purchase minimum for credit cards but not debit cards (I'm in NYC). Also, I remember Jet.com used to offer a (very small) discount if you paid by debit card specifically, although I think they've stopped that in recent months.
If they have a purchase minimum, it's because they generally have low ticket values, sub $25 average receipt value. They exchange a low percent (as low as 1.00% on average vs ~%1.75) for a per transaction flat rate (say $.25-$.50 per transaction). The minimum is a way of keeping the processing costs in line (sub 3% for example).
The debit cards have different regulations which as far as I understand, don't exist (ie, it's like the old credit card contracts where they didn't allow you to charge a separate price for cash transactions). This is only my assumption.
There was no discussion on what regulations we had to follow for our merchants when it came to bank network transactions(the deals are brokered on a per bank basis, you can see which networks your card supports by looking at the back of the card for instance). Because of the segregated nature of the debit networks, they have less clout than visa or mastercard.
But why would you want to do the credit card company's work for them? That regulation is in place purely because of political bribery by the credit card industry.
The consumer-friendly thing to do is to charge proper rates for things with higher processing fees, like credit cards, and not subsidize them by punishing everyone else.
>But why would you want to do the credit card company's work for them?
I'm not sure I'm following. The reason you'd do it is because you want to pay for a small purchase with your debit card. Like if you run into a gas station and buy a soda and a bag of chips but don't have cash on you.
>That regulation is in place purely because of political bribery by the credit card industry.
It's in place because it was determined that people shouldn't be subjected to a minimum purchase amount for paying with their own money through their debit card. (As opposed to paying with borrowed money through a credit card.)
>The consumer-friendly thing to do is to charge proper rates for things with higher processing fees, like credit cards, and not subsidize them by punishing everyone else.
Again, I'm not following. We're talking about minimum purchase amounts. What's punishing someone else?
(I always have money in other accounts for emergencies, but this keeps day-to-day spending in check.)