Did you have possession of the terminal, or did the attendant process the card for you? Was there any way to do a contactless payment?

The attendant sits with her window to the customer on her left and the terminal on her right. There is absolutely no way for the customer to reach the terminal, nor to see what is being displayed on it.

The Visa I used doesn't have contactless (stupid Chase), so I didn't pay attention to whether it was possible. Also, couldn't see if there was anything about that on the terminal, as it was so far away.

I have never been to Greece, so I can't say how prevalent contactless is there. I know that the Pays aren't enabled in Greece. I have to wonder if they have PIN bypass since many coming from others countries would have chip-and-PIN cards. In this sense, I prefer countries with widespread contactless use and chip-and-PIN because the terminals are always customer facing. With a customer facing terminal one can at least see the prompts.

I highly doubt PIN's bypassed with any terminal in Europe. I'm not sure how that situation would be handled, though. Maybe they tap every European card and reserve insert for Americans?

It's hard to say. I'm venturing a guess that outside of UK cards - which I believe would all have contactless - pretty much the only critical mass of non euro denominated cards they'd tend to see would be American.

It could be possible the terminal has PIN bypass for both chip-and-PIN and chip-and-singature cards (merchants bears fraud loss).

Whatver they lose in fraud they more than recoup than DCCing every non-Euro card.

That's not really bypass though but more configuring the terminal so that it doesn't support PIN. Bypass occurs when the terminal asks for one but you push Enter without entering it.

I had no trouble refusing DCC this weekend in Barcelona, but I did pick up a couple amusing data points:

Paid at a bar with an American Visa via Google Pay, was offered DCC with a stated 2% markup that looked a little off. I did the math and the markup was 8%.

TMB (the main transit provider) fare vending machines worked fine with my CSR. Despite having a PIN pad with a display like most transit vending machines in Europe, the machine's main display offered to DCC me. At least the stated markup was accurate.

Question for people that spend more time in Spain than I do: are that many visitors really that naïve, or are there that many British visitors with 3-5% FTF for whom a 2% markup would be a good deal assuming it's accurate? (I leave Americans out since many American issuers would charge the FTF on any Spanish transaction, even in USD)

I agree with this assessment. Most people aren't even aware they are being DCCed. Even if they know to ask for local currency, there are so many caveats, and DCC choices aren't always respected. Far fewer will make a fuss when hit with DCC and begin the chargeback process with their issuer.

The same can be true of merchants as well. While a restaurant on Las Ramblas is likely in on the con if forcing DCC on its customers, I would give a waitress at the Red Robin in Evansville, IN the benefit of the doubt.

Buying SIM cards at the Auckland airport in New Zealand was offered DCC without any stated mark-up. A choice between $50NZ and $36+USD (don't remember the exact cent amount, I want to say 36.87 but not sure). The card transaction is listed as pending $34.53 right now, so mark-up must be anywhere between 4.25% and 6.75%. Buying a few items at a supermarket in Auckland paid with Google Pay, charged in NZ$, DCC not offered.

On one hand, DCC isn't all that common in the US and where it does occur, it's generally easy for the customer opt out. On the other hand, I can see a few less scrupulous merchants that already don't bother with anything customer facing (and hate having to accept cards in the first place) forcing DCC if they knew it was an option. I'm not sure I'd give those any benefit of the doubt.

Hopefully, though, Visa/MC being US based makes such abuse easier to stop.

I would say that DCC in the US is more common than we think. Just because we don't see it doesn't mean it isn't there. Far more likely is that there is a critical mass of USD cards, so DCC rarely comes up.

I've asked those with non-USD cards about DCC in the US, and many have said certain chain restaurants have DCC with various levels of hassle to disable. (Oftentimes the waitstaff doesn't know what's happening.) I've witnessed it firsthand with my sister-in-law's AUD card at a number of big box retailers. Not too long ago, someone with a Turkish Lira denominated card encountered DCC at Best Buy, which I would guess is standardized across every US location.

December 2018 update on this property... The rate is still listed as being at 4.36% over Visa's. I was offered a charge of $336.23 via DCC on a bill of NT$9900. The posted transaction was $321.41, saving $14.82, effectively a 4.61% surcharge. I don't know where they get their percentage markups because they've never been accurate even when taking into account exchange rate fluctuations. I ticked the NTD box and signed the slip with the DCC verbiage - and was sure to take a photo before the lady took it away - and presented with a final DCC free credit card charge slip in NTD.

I'm in Singapore now and have been able to avoid seeing DCC via Google Pay use (plus taking advantage of the promo with Chase).

Actually, it is not even standardized across a specific chain. I reside in the US but have used my foreign billed CC's for the last couple of years, and it is rare to encounter DCC. Not even all Best Buys will do it, that is why I had posted that picture, as I was surprised to find it in a non-touristy place. (So far encountered at 2 best buys, Tri Cities, WA and Akron, OH). I've probably encountered DCC about once a week over the last couple of years and in extremely weird places. Especially in rural parts, the shopkeep's typically do not have any idea what it is or why it's doing that and I've had my more than fair share amount of people that are surprised that there's an international credit card and that the rest of the world is in the same banking system 😂 Last encounter was in rural Alabama last week, in a small Asian dry cleaner.

Interesting on the lack of standardization across a chain. My point was exactly as you have described. We have few data points on non-USD cards on this thread, so the only information I typically get is from visitors. I did expect this from smaller merchants who probably have it enabled via their acquirer without their knowledge of what's happening. Furthermore, it's a problem when the terminals are not customer accessible and they 1) present DCC and/or ask for a PIN. At least at most major big box retailers the PIN pads with the DCC prompts are customer accessible. Have you always been able to opt out?

Yes I have been able to instruct them on what to do every time. Also of particular note is that normally outside of the US, if I bypass the pin more than 3 times, the card gets blocked. Here in the US it doesn't matter how many times they bypass it, which happens a lot especially with tip adjust establishments like restaurants or spas. What is also peculiar is that if pin is entered on a tip adjust, it still prints a receipt with a tip box but no signature. I wonder how they'd prove that it was the cardholder that entered the tip in cases of chargeback with no signature.

They probably realize that it's unrealistic to have the same block policy for the US considering that there's nothing mandating that PIN should or shouldn't be supported. (Though if we're going to stick with the taking cards away thing, maybe PIN support at restaurants should be prohibited.)

Speaking of that, though, it might be worth another visit in the card network rule documents to see exactly what chargeback would be filed in the tip adjust with PIN scenario.

Why do you do that? Most non-US cards that I'm aware of charge foreign exchange fees and non-US credit cards generally have vastly worse value rewards schemes than US ones. I'm curious as to what non-US cards exist that would ever be worth using in the USA.

For most of us, that would cost way more (3% forex fee) than transferring the money to a US bank account.

If you have an Amex overseas, you should be able to get a transfer to Amex in the USA. Most Amex rewards I'm aware of are somewhat worse outside the USA and have been deteriorating. (e.g. the reductions in MR->Marriott transfer rates for Canadian and Australian Amex cards recently)

Actually no. I tried and the issue was that the card had to be issued by Amex or its subsidiaries. Not by a bank under license from Amex.

Also, you do get more APR internationally and SWIFT is generally free if you're a "good" customer of both banks, so running down is a moot point.

Mrs. Majuki bought a handbag from the Longchamp store at the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur. I've proactively been trying to use mobile payments as much as possible to avoid DCC offers, but this store did not have the option of contactless payments (or simply refused to take them). The DCC offer appeared on a monochrome customer facing signature pad, and the terminal was down on the counter. The cashier helped me select MYR on the signature pad, and the DCC selection was completely within the customer's control if one knew what to look for.

The quoted DCC offer was $126.25 for 485.00 MYR at 3.83%. The posted transaction amount was $117.42, saving $8.83, which would have effectively been a 7.52% surcharge with DCC had I accepted the DCC offer. I don't know how the acquirers calculate the percentage since the exchange rate hasn't changed between the transaction time and the posting date. Chase uses the Visa exchange rate from the posting date of the transaction, the effective percentage could change if there's a material change in the exchange rate between the transaction date and the posting date for the transaction.

Just came back from Ukraine and used my American visa credit card on Google Pay contactless. Pretty much every terminal offered DCC, luckily, cashiers usually hit UAH instead. What is really weird though is that sometimes, when the cashier hit UAH, they asked to tap again - it seemed like the terminal required that.

I thought people in some countries had mentioned that tapping avoided DCC? I guess it didn't then. I also came across DCC offer in Poland while tapping.

Speaking of Poland, many stores here flat out advertise paying in your own currency as an advantage. Many stickers are shown advertising it and it's an option that's available everywhere. So there is that. I'll take a picture to show you that at some point.

Contactless might have avoided it at some point, but I suspect they figured out how to make it work within technical limitations/the current rules.

Speaking of advertising, Elavon in the US is really pushing it as good for customers. On the other hand, this hospitality FAQ from them implies there might be re-certification work involved in getting DCC enabled, which may dissuade some merchants from going for it (but then again, the promise of additional revenue might make it worthwhile).

I've not seen DCC when using Google Pay even with merchants that offer it with a physical card. There are counterexamples to this though as mentioned above and in earlier posts.

Merchants state that you will pay a certain fee on top of a reference rate, but the merchant sometimes chooses a reference rate which already contains an unspecified fee. Instead of trusting the merchant's quoted reference rate, always look up a reference rate yourself from a trusted source.

You can always change the currency to original currency of transaction with PayPal and eBay. Where you cannot do so is Buyee.jp, for example.

Paypal sometimes changes that setting back to using DCC and some websites directly debit your Paypal account without showing any Paypal pages which means DCC without notification. The Visa and Mastercard terms of use state that a shop using DCC must ask you if you wish to use DCC or not for every transaction, and this is hardly satisfied by having a hard to find checkbox which sometimes automatically reverts back to using DCC. Just request a chargeback if you don't have the option to disable DCC.

Malta
 

Ran into the DCC scam this evening at an established restaurant in Malta. A bit surprised because everything else that I have charged in Malta, there has not been a currency choice - just Euros.

Charged dinner - X Euros. Waiter returns receipt for me to sign. Shows Euros and USD and the fine print that I have chosen USD. I told the waiter that this action just took the enjoyment out the of a very good local meal and I had not chosen USD. I refused to sign the slip and that it needed to be charged in Euros. I got the 'I just do what the machine tells me'. I told him that I'd dispute the transaction with VISA (Chase) and the restaurant would likely receive $0. (Not sure whether or not that is accurate.)

He sent the manager over. The manager did a good job back peddling - the waiter made a mistake, I'll train him better, and how can I fix it? I suggested that we use xe.com and he pay me the difference in Euros - cash - and I wouldn't dispute the charge. He agreed and all is good. But the difference was significant. That adds up when you do that to all of your customers.

It was funny that the manager quickly agreed to using xe.com...maybe he has run into this in the past...and the demeanor of the up to then friendly waiter changed for the worse.

First sentence of the OP:

A small island in the Mediterranean.

Do you care to name and shame the restaurant?

This isn't completely accurate. In a full Reason Code 76 chargeback Chase would send the transaction back to the acquirer for the restaurant, and the transaction would be reprocessed in euros. Typically the acquirer will penalize the merchant for a chargeback. It's a fantastic headache for the merchant, and I relish any opportunity to do this for those in on the DCC scam.

I would have stood my ground and demanded that the restaurant void the transaction. Your chosen path unfortunately allows the restaurant to get away with this without penalty. You can still file a chargeback when you get home. I seriously hope you didn't tip...

I am traveling, and packed up my receipts. I'll shame when I write my Trip Advisor review. Thanks for the clarification for the Code 76 procedure. I concur with the last statement in that a forced void would have been ideal, but a bit more time consuming for me as I was already pressed for time. And, no, I absolutely did not tip, and would have if this had not occurred.

As a best practice with chip and signature transactions I take a photo with my phone of any receipt that I sign or quote slip that indicates a choice. In any situation where there is forced DCC, I would write "local option not offered" and cross out the DCC verbiage at the bottom.

After you get home, if you have the receipt, you can contact Chase about a chargeback for DCC stating that the merchant did not offer the opportunity to void the transaction and rerun without DCC.

To be reprocessed in EUR, I think that the restaurant needs to submit evidence that the customer has agreed to the EUR amount. Some merchants may be unaware of how the process works or that the merchant needs to do something and if they do not act, the customer probably gets everything back.

The merchant also has to pay a fee of possibly a few tens of euros to the bank for processing the chargeback, so settling for the xe.com exchange rate and refunding in cash was probably a lot cheaper for the restaurant than using the chargeback process.