You've just opened a new merchant account, ready to swipe your first credit card, but chances are you just skimmed your processor's terms and conditions and only have a rudimentary knowledge of the cardholding association's policies and procedures.  The following "do not" guidelines should assist you en route to collecting your customer's payment via the swipe credit card, conforming to acceptable practices:

- Do not refuse to accept credit cards when a customer is averse to presenting personal identification - It may be understandable and permissible to ask a customer for personal identification, such as a driver's license, but you cannot deny use of plastic if a customer does not accommodate your request.  Many states have laws prohibiting merchants to base their decision whether to swipe a card on whether the customer presents suitable ID.

The only exception to this rule is if the swiped credit card to be is unsigned.  Here, the business owner can ask for government ID and then compare the signature on the government ID with the signature that the customer will now have to provide on the back of the credit card.

- Do not require that the sale has to be a certain minimum amount to swipe the credit card.  This is in violation of the cardholding association rules.  Moreover, imposing maximum transaction amounts as a condition to accept plastic is also taboo.

- Do not charge a surcharge to your customers for using their plastic.  While it makes sense / cents for business owners to recoup credit card processing fees, customers are not supposed to foot the bill for this expense.  Of course, merchants can build such expenses into their pricing model, but they are not supposed to itemize an invoice, for example, where the customer is charged for using their credit cards.

Of interest, merchants can offer “cash discounts” to customers who pay with cash, but again, cannot penalize credit card wielding customers.  (Some institutions, such as utility companies, may be able to charge a “convenience fee” to customers for using plastic if such businesses do not ordinarily accept credit cards.  The rules and loopholes to charge convenience fees are murky so proceed with caution if this is your intent.

- Do not place a hold for the estimated tip when swiping a credit card.  The practice to authorize tips used to be habitually done by many restaurant, hotel, and hospitality businesses and is now against Visa regulations.  Too many customers became upset when their actual bill did not match the total price reflected by the merchant’s charge because it has factored in an estimated tip.

- Do not, under any circumstance, provide a refund in cash for a credit card purchase.  You can easily imagine how this practice can leave you susceptible to fraud.  It’s also against the cardholding associations’ stipulations.  

- Do not refuse to accept rewards cards.  Although there may be an additional cost to accept rewards cards, you cannot prohibit customers from using them, as long as you accept that brand.  For example, if you already accept Visa and MasterCard cards, you cannot tell customers to refrain from using Visa and MasterCard rewards cards.

- Do not try to compel customers to waive their chargeback rights.  According to the cardholding associations, customers have the right to dispute any given charge.  You may have a customer sign and acknowledge that there are no refunds, for example, but you cannot try to convince customers that they cannot initiate chargebacks.  (Of course, you would probably win a chargeback when presenting this “no refund” acknowledgement, for instance, but customers still have the right to challenge the authenticity of any transaction.

The aforementioned “do not” rules are not exhaustive but should provide a framework for retail merchants to comply with standard regulations, and safely and properly accept any swipe credit card.