Jun 25
Again - I am bad at math - but this doesn’t add up!
on June 25th, 2007 - UncategorizedAdd comments
I ordered some books for my daughter today from Barnes and Noble.
They’ll get the books here a week earlier than Amazon, and with free shipping. Go figure. I think Amazon’s shipping calculator is broken.
Anyway, here’s the math quiz - the email I got from B&N ended with this:
Order Summary:
YOU SAVED: $3.40 Barnes & Noble Membership
$58.01 Total Order Price
$58.02 Credit Card
So why does my total not equal the total? Does B&N tack a penny onto every credit card transaction? If so, Why? It seems it would be easier to hide that penny in the price of the book than have a completely separate line on an invoice for it.
Weird.
*** Random Post ***
June 25th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
I think that the establishment that uses your credit card runs an extra transaction of cent which is taken and given back to. This happened to my father’s card several times but usually didn’t reflect in the monthly record. The last time this happened was the last time I used the card - with this airline.
June 26th, 2007 at 12:02 am
Sisir - that makes sense, I guess. I’ve never had any of those “temporary transactions” shown on my invoice bfore though.
Even at hotels, when they “block out” enough to cover your room when you check in - I never see that transient amount on a hotel statement or a credit card statement.
I am not really sure what B&N is doing here - but I know it’s not good to add extra lines to an invoice - even if it’s just for a penny!
Rob
June 26th, 2007 at 12:10 am
Yes, they don’t appear in the monthly invoice. But if you can check your ongoing transactions online like my father’s card, then you can view all these one-cent verification transactions.
June 26th, 2007 at 12:12 am
I mean before the one-cent transaction is completed-like immediately after confirming payment through an establishment.
June 26th, 2007 at 5:14 am
@Sisir: What? Your father has a credit card?
(That was a lame joke after a lame day at school. Would somebody please laugh?)