really, this should all be trip-report material

[waider]

but I'm waiting on an email and itchy to write stuff. Credit card use here is astonishing, and may in fact account for the priciness of things (if you have to factor in a transaction cost on everything you sell, it's going to add a few points). It is not uncommon for someone to buy a hot dog (approx $3.50) using their credit card. I've gotten into the swing of it myself, buying a beer ($8, more expensive than when I got here due to a shift in currency rates) on plastic because frankly I couldn't be bothered playing with the coins and notes. I'm sure my signature gets progressively more interesting as the night goes on. Speaking of, I've not quite figured out the circumstances under which a signature is required. I've bought $20 meals with no signature, yet every single beer has required my scrawl on the line. I used know something about this, since I spent a year working in the credit card industry, but I can't really make sense of it - it doesn't seem to be split by merchant (which was my expectation) nor by product nor by amount, although ultimately that last is what usually triggers the more serious credit checks (signature, ID, etc.) I'll just shrug and keep signing.

Comments

[zadcat.livejournal.com]

more expensive than when I got here due to a shift in currency rates

It's more likely because there's been a sudden beer shortage in Iceland over the last couple of weeks. They just can't work out where it's all going.

[wisn.livejournal.com]

That may end up only kind of a joke.

As for signatures on credit purchases, over here some stores require it, some don't. Gas stations don't when you pay using the pump's card reader but require it if you perform the identical transaction with a station attendant. Of two outlets of a major store chain i frequent, one requires it at the automated checkout and its sibling eight miles away doesn't. This seems at odds with increasing card fraud statistics (and accompanying media paranoia), but the public is unwilling to let reducing the risk of identity theft and the ruination of their credit history get in the way of checking out eight seconds faster.

Your nationality and banking reporting laws may vary.

[waider.livejournal.com]

You obviously aren't familiar with Icelandic drinking habits. They make the Irish look like a nation of teetotal lightweights. Someone bought me a shot on Thursday night consisting of Baileys and Absinthe. Oh, and it was ON FIRE. URP.

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

But where has all the rum beer gone?

[waidesworld.livejournal.com]

I remember vaguely someone saying something to me recently that if the CC amount was less than $10 then they didn't require a signature, yet I have bought from the internet several thousand dollars worth of hardware (so the company had bad credit and I used an Amex) without signing the screen.

Question is though, why didn't you keep a tab?

[waider.livejournal.com]

The "no signature" threshold amount usually varies with the type of card, the merchant, and a whole bunch of other crap. Buying off the internet is classed as a cardholder-not-present purchase and runs on a completely different set of rules (and attendant fraud handling).

[waider.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I didn't keep a tab most of the time on account of the "just one more beer" syndrome.