tmiw

I mentioned it a little bit in the EMV thread but Baskin-Robbins may be one of the few places in the US that do DCC based on what I saw on the receipt last time I was there. I don't expect opting out to be difficult, however, since the terminal stays in control of the customer the entire time.

I kinda wish I still had a Revolut card so I could find out, in any case.

Majuki

There are a number of retailers who do DCC stateside besides the usual suspects of airport duty free shops. We saw it at Forever 21 and Kate Spade two years ago. The terminal, of course, is customer facing, and the cashier didn't seem to have any access to the DCC prompts. I was surprised to see DCC, but it does occur in the US.

Some other instances were at Red Lobster and Olive Garden as well as JC Penney, but I've never used a non-USD card at any of those. Macy's and Nordstrom were also DCC free.

I never had Revolut, so I don't know how it functioned. Would a terminal think the card is denominated in whatever currency was supported? I thought cards have a default currency? Such a card would be useful with places like Global Blue or AirBnB that do multicurrency conversion.

Are Baskin-Robbins terminals all identical? I thought there was wide variance among locations. If they're identical, we could use Mrs. Majuki's one non-USD Visa if it still works (and probably get a call from the bank and in-laws in the process).

tmiw

From what I remember the currency on Revolut's chip is GBP so it should trigger DCC prompting even if in a country that uses one of the card's supported currencies. I was never able to trigger the prompt, however, but I didn't really test it anywhere other than a Travelex ATM (which I thought were all DCC capable, but maybe not in the US).

As for Baskin-Robbins, they seem to mostly use the same MX915s that Dunkin Donuts use. The combination BR/DD stores may be an exception, however. EMV needs to be enabled on the terminal too in order for DCC to be a possibility; there are some here that are but I don't know about elsewhere.

TerryK

It is well known that Amex doesn't support DCC while Visa/MC does. How about lesser known cards? Discover? JCB? CUP?

Majuki

No, they don't support DCC. UnionPay's exchange rate is on average .25-.50% worse than Visa/MC but still far better than DCC.

TerryK

Oh great!:-: How about Discover or JCB?

Majuki

I was referring to all three: Discover, JCB, and UnionPay. None of these three supports DCC. Only Visa and MC support DCC.

I went into detail about UnionPay because they do have a spread on their exchange rates that's a little higher than Visa/MC. The limitations on using one of these cards are the acceptance as well as few card products available/limited rewards compared to Visa or MC products.

The ICBC UnionPay is a viable alternative in places like Hong Kong, Macau, and Mainland China, especially in unavoidable DCC cases for 1x merchants.

TerryK

Thank you, Majuki.^:-: Shame on you Visa/MC.

Majuki

More of the blame should be on the acquirers and merchants. Acquirers have the locked down terminals and sell the service to merchants. Merchants don't train employees how to opt out customers and are on the take of the profits. The payment networks could actually be on the losing end of the DCC deal because they don't get any cut of the currency spread.

percysmith

Not at all. I think payment networks don't do more to stamp out errant acquirers because they want to maximise acceptance. Cardholders be damned.

AllieKat

They also want to avoid lawsuits. The Australian government has sued and WON to prevent the networks from banning or interfering with DCC.

percysmith

(Edited 14/6 20:20) Woah https://www.accc.gov.au/media-releas...ng-accc-action .

Most boneheaded thing I've seen ACCC do. Otherwise I wish there's an ACCC in HK.

TerryK

Seriously? What does Australian government have to gain by promoting DCC?

TerryK

Visa/MC networks could have banned DCC and process charges via one official currency only.

Merchants should be required to OPT IN, not opt out, of DCC, if DCC is allowed.

tmiw

Isn't that already the case in most places? There are some problematic countries whose acquirers at best seem to hard sell DCC to their merchants, of course.