I've gotten PINs for my a MC and a Visa card issued in the US but I've been able to use them to do things like purchase train tickets. I enter the PIN for them when I am charging (need to do this in AMS as well). Is the 3.75% charged for these cards in Denmark?

If the pin number somehow works there is no 3.75%. But that has never happened for me because I find the accepted pins are not for US cards, they are for the Danish credit cards. The Danish credit cards are different. Many of them have a chip in them. They are not swiped but placed into the reader. And yes, you pay 3.75% and the exchange rate. With VAT it becomes outrageous. Solution: apply for and get a Danish credit card if you go there a lot. Problems with solution: the banks will tell you foreigners can't get Danish credit cards (wrong), the cards are not easy to get if you are a US citizem (true--I had to get a letter of reference from my bank) and the websites are all in Danish when you log on to online bank. I love my Danish wife...but she and her country are expensive.

My PIN definitely worked when buying a train ticket at the airport. I don't remember if it worked at a restaurant or if I just paid with Amex.

Yes it is outrageous, but it is caused by the international credit card companies thinking that they are entitled to commissions of up to 10% of all retail purchases worldwide. With SEPA bringing an end to national debit cards, we may soon see fees spreading to other European countries as well. These fees may be based on the true costs of the payment method for the retailer.

It is a rip-off and will continue as long as people do not reject it. The only way to do this is to file charge backs on them every single time it happens. If we don't all file charge-backs then you can expect this problem will continue to escalate.

Yes the merchant makes money by doing this. The processor offers them a return for using the DCC. Some deals are as low as no fees on their accounts and some are even more lucrative.

The terminal does have the ability to select a minimum of two currency choices. The choices are Local and Card. Some terminals offer an additional option.

The problem is that merchants either don't train their employees. This can be because of any of the following:

1. Lack of frequency of the event so merchant does not remember or think it is necessary.
2. Lack of time to train employees or concern of this.
3. Don't want the employee to know how so that they make the extra money.
4. Don't want you to know they know how, so they get a spiff for doing it.

Small and medium retailers in Asia do it all the time because they have to pay 3-5% in fees. Only hotels, airlines, department-stores etc. will let you pay with cc without a surcharge

Being a Dane, I have both a Dankort and MC (issued by Danish banks). No doubt that the retailer pays a %-fee when payment is made by cc (not Dankort where the fee is only 0.5 DKK as I recall it) but I have never experienced that the customer pays a fee or surcharge to the retailer. Maybe it is because my MC is not considered to be foreign when issued by a Danish bank?

A lot of retailers in DK don't accept MC due the exorbitant fees and because Dankort is dominant and widely accepted in Denmark.

Yes.

Some years ago when I had this charged added to my US CC, I changed my PIN to 4 didget and can now purchase gas and even use it in grocery stores without this charge.

Also I have noticed than when you use your card with a PIN you often will be asked if you want to pay a little over the price for the merchandise and get cash back. Works fine.

There actually is - most new Visa & Mastercards issued are marked debit/credit and it's up to you to decide at the moment of payment how to use it.

My Amex (euro denominated) is practically unusable outside the euro area due to their xchange mechanism - first they convert the local currency at the buying rate to usd than convert that usd amount at the selling rate to euros. Yes, charges in usd are also OK.

It's not a Danish specialty, most European cards are chipcards these days - aside from Amex & Diners

The problem highlighted in this thread has nothing to do with card having chips or not, beeing debit or credit cards, and anything else but if the card is or isn't issued in Denmark

Presently in Sweden, I sneaked round the corner from Hilton Malmo to a 7-11 store; on the cash register said clearly (translated) All Card debit <100SEK will have a fee of 5 SEK. No difference whether your card was issued in Sweden or Kyrgyz Republic. Shop owner said their cost for card transactions merited this extra fee, but frowned, when I told him about danish procedures. The 3.75% fee for foreign CC transactions in Denmark does not have any limitation, thus can be a rather bitter experience.

It's a sort of discrimination against foreigners, I think

To be precise, it's against foreign issued cards. Danes with foreign cards are also punished, while foreigners with Danish issued cards are not. But I agree, it sucks. (as a matter of fact I never came across this issue, but it's been a year or two since I used CC in DK. Maybe Finnish issue Nordea MCs are seen as "domestic"? At least I get DKK from the Nordea ATMs without any charges)