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Please read this

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puffstuff

Active Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2005
Messages
1,134
Bank of America letter received earlier this week "We are tracking card activity which may be considered "high risk" or may involve additional responsibilities for us which are not cost-justified, and have found such activity in your business. Our transaction analysis shows that your business is currently in Merchant category code (MCC) 5993, processing tobacco sales in a "card not present" environment, where face to face with your customers and not properly registered with the card organizations (Or Bank Of America) to do so.
Bank of America Merchant services does not support card not present transactions in (MCC) 5993. Therefore you must discontinue card not present transactions and attest to that you will not resume this practice in the future.

It goes on to tell me if I don't, I violate my agreement and will be dropped, etc., etc.


I urge you to call Mastercard and Bank of America and let them know about this. I am dropping Bank of America and I would ask you to do the same if you feel this is unfair. I have put a call into my landlord that is a whiz attorney when it comes to suing corporations to see what he thinks and if we can all get together and do something about this.

This letter was sent to me by

Susan Willet (Bank of America) here is her direct line to let them know how you feel. 502-315-5644 please make this call guys.

This is a direct attack on small business, not just tobacco. If they get away with this, they will be able to dictate whatever is sold in interstate commerce. Discriminating wherever and whenever they see fit. As you see by this letter it doesn't matter which card you use because the Merchant service account is who runs. them all Visa, MC, Amex, Discover, Diner's club etc.

Please keep this topped and get involved or you may no longer be able to order your cigars from out of state.

Al
 
I'll be calling first thing in the morning. This is complete bullshit!
 
Al for all you have done for us, I too will call tomorrow and make a complaint.. "NO more AL deals" :angry: . That would be absurd...
 
puffstuff said:
Susan Willet (Bank of America) here is her direct line to let them know how you feel. 502-315-5644 please make this call guys.
Click to expand...

This looks like a Louisville, KY telephone number. Any of you BOTLs in that area have the time to drop by her office and deliver a gruesome upper decker to her? :angry:
 
Al, do you accept MO? It maybe our last option.
 
I will be making a call in the morning as well. The corporation I work for is a big client of theirs. I will be sure to relay that information as well.
 
As a libertarian....

This is complete bull. I can't stand it when States start a smoking ban. All they are doing is shooting themselves in the foot. They kill thousands of small businesses, they increase taxes for everyone else. And now the freaking credit card companies are joining the bandwagon.....ALL DURING A RECESSION. America needs all the business they can get.
 
Outsidesmoke said:
As a libertarian....

This is complete bull. I can't stand it when States start a smoking ban. All they are doing is shooting themselves in the foot. They kill thousands of small businesses, they increase taxes for everyone else. And now the freaking credit card companies are joining the bandwagon.....ALL DURING A RECESSION. America needs all the business they can get.
Click to expand...


+1

the STATE (any individual one or all of them inclusively) doesn't have the first clue about what makes a solid economy. They just keep shooting themselves in the foot.
 
This is bullshit I will make a call tomorrow. Didn't I read somewhere Mastercard it trying to making it very difficult for tobacco sales over the internet
 
Well I did a White Pages search for her addy and came up empty handed....I guess sending her a bag of shit won't work :(
 
Holy cow, Al. I have a buddy in BOA and I'll drop him a line to see what I can find out.

But for now, do as you say and drop the fuggers. Do what you need to do and we'll do everything we can do to continue supporting your business.

What freaking crazy times.

Wilkey
 
Crazy indeed. This, the MasterCard-tobacco issue and the NJ tax thing. What the hell is going on?
 
WTH Al? Last I checked you don't have a mail order or internet presence. Why are they picking on you? Tell them you want to see the signed affidavits from the supposedly out of state purchasers. I of course have enjoyed all of my visits to your humble establishment. :whistling:
 
Spoke to Al on the phone tonight (and Al, please correct me if I don't have this right) but as I understand it, MasterCard is pressuring their transaction processors (BOA) to disallow these transactions and cut off folks that don't comply. But, understand that while MasterCard is driving this one, transaction processors won't process ANY credit card transactions they feel are "risky". So, it won't matter if you have a Visa, AmEx, or other credit card if the transaction processor won't process the sale.

It's nothing more than a huge CYA by the credit card companies and it's being led by MasterCard. I still think we need to find an offshore agency to process these transactions, but that really only solves the problem temporarily.

Never forget, gentlemen, our passion is perceived as "evil" by the majority out there. They'd be very happy to see us lose this hobby altogether. Smoking bans, limits on transactions, putative fines, duplicate tariffs...you to wonder where it will stop. We stick together < NOW > or we stand to see small businesses go under and lose our ability to enjoy our hobby as we choose. Don't lay down on this one, it's important.

Best Regards - B.B.S.
 
I think that this is about state tobacco taxes and not really harassing smokers, but they are taking the fight to smokers first because we are an easy target. I want to know when they will stop processing for Amazon, I was not charged sales tax there on my last purchase. Of course we all know that will never happen.

I guess we have to trust our vendors so we can send MO. Glad we have you AL.

Keith
 
Man I am tired of business and government crawling further and further into our lives. I purposely try to purchase locally to support the local shops eventhough it costs me more, but this really makes me want to circumvent the system because they are being so punative. It never ceases to amaze me that no matter how far they go, they still want to go farther. I am going to give MasterCard a call for sure.
 
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