Just bought booze at 711 with US Visa Card......

[KhonKaenKowboy]

First time, ever...no fee, but a 300 THB minimum...and they don't take American Express (like Tesco), nor Master Card.  Now I don't have to cross the Canal Rd., to use my CC.

[swissie]

What a relief, thanks for sharing. Although most Farangs refuse to cross busy streets and canals to get their Booze. They go around a street corner to a "mom & pop" shop and pay in form of cash.

= Cash: Local currency in form of paper currency or coins. Try it ! Works anywhere !

Cheers.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

If mom and pop knew the difference between beer from last month and beer from last year; they would certainly get more of my business, even without the free flights or 2% cash back, and better exchange rates.

[swissie]

5 minutes ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

If mom and pop knew the difference between beer from last month and beer from last year; they would certainly get more of my business, even without the free flights or 2% cash back, and better exchange rates.

I know what you mean. My comment had a sarcastic undertone. Not unusual, that mom and pop stores sell beer that was brewed when I was 5 years younger (in the sticks, well understood).

Relax, no offence. Cheers.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

Good mom and pops are few...almost none up here by CMU.  I can be a loyal customer, as long as they are loyal to me.  I know a mompop in bkk that I will travel 10 km out of my way to visit....clean toilet, owner rotates beers in freezer, fresh beers, place to sit, friendly customers...a very rare bird in CM, nowadays.

[Pungdo]

I noticed the girls in my local 7-11 yesterday wearing Visa card ads on there shirts, I was wondering what it was about.

 

[GBK]

"First time, ever...no fee, but a 300 THB minimum...and they don't take American Express (like Tesco), nor Master Card"

 

AFAIK, Tesco is not a franchise, but I could be wrong.

 

Either way, I only pay with Amex in Tesco.  Operator error is common with Amex though.

[hdkane]

8 hours ago, swissie said:

What a relief, thanks for sharing. Although most Farangs refuse to cross busy streets and canals to get their Booze. They go around a street corner to a "mom & pop" shop and pay in form of cash.

= Cash: Local currency in form of paper currency or coins. Try it ! Works anywhere !

Cheers.

Agreed...the use of a credit card in Thailand is simply asking for your accounts to be hacked...I use cash anywhere and everywhere I can.

[BrainLife]

Someone is happy things are getting in Thailand the same as back home

[davidst01]

All of the credit card companies are going to charge you expensive exchange rates guaranteed. When you see the bill in usd convert that back to thai using bloomberg currency calculator. Then you will cry about how expensive your booze was

[thurien]

2 hours ago, Pungdo said:

I noticed the girls in my local 7-11 yesterday wearing Visa card ads on there shirts, I was wondering what it was about.

 

that only means you can rent them by the hour using VISA...

[elgordo38]

11 hours ago, swissie said:

What a relief, thanks for sharing. Although most Farangs refuse to cross busy streets and canals to get their Booze. They go around a street corner to a "mom & pop" shop and pay in form of cash.

= Cash: Local currency in form of paper currency or coins. Try it ! Works anywhere !

Cheers.

Don't rain on the guys parade. He is only having a Eureka moment. 

[Dan5]

3 hours ago, hdkane said:

Agreed...the use of a credit card in Thailand is simply asking for your accounts to be hacked...I use cash anywhere and everywhere I can.

I've been using credit cards every day in Thailand for many years and never had a problem. Don't know that you are more likely to have a problem here than in the USA.

[sanemax]

4 hours ago, Pungdo said:

I noticed the girls in my local 7-11 yesterday wearing Visa card ads on there shirts, I was wondering what it was about.

 

I think that they were advertising Visa cards

[KhonKaenKowboy]

2 hours ago, davidst01 said:

All of the credit card companies are going to charge you expensive exchange rates guaranteed. When you see the bill in usd convert that back to thai using bloomberg currency calculator. Then you will cry about how expensive your booze was

Let me guess..Bernie Sanders told you so.  Actually, I don't pay a foreign transaction fee and the rates are better than any Thai bank exchange rate...plus there is no annual fee...the card is chip protected, and I can dispute any charge without calling or sending anything.

[mesquite]

2 hours ago, davidst01 said:

All of the credit card companies are going to charge you expensive exchange rates guaranteed. When you see the bill in usd convert that back to thai using bloomberg currency calculator. Then you will cry about how expensive your booze was

 

3 minutes ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

Let me guess..Bernie Sanders told you so.  Actually, I don't pay a foreign transaction fee and the rates are better than any Thai bank exchange rate...plus there is no annual fee...the card is chip protected, and I can dispute any charge without calling or sending anything.

Same here.

[Khon Kaen Dave]

How do you work this one out?

I am partial to a HongTong and coke, every now and again.I say this, because The mum and dad shops in our village do not sell Vodka,Gin,or any of my other favourites.

I cannot drink Sangsom because it has an effect upon my usual genial demeanour.

Now, my usual shop sells a half bottle of Hong Tong for 139 Baht. And they have many customers.Last night i popped in there, and found that they had run out.So i went to the shop not 10 metres away, who also sells it. Their price was 155 baht for the same thing.I asked the lady in the shop why her whiskey was way more expensive than the other shop.Her answer was " we have no customers."

My wife and i had 2 bars in Patts for some 5 years, and good business tells me, that if custom is slow, you drop the prices slightly to encourage more custom. Bums on seats theory.Here i have noticed that those shops with no customers, put their prices up, way up.

To me this is not good business sense.

Go figure. My wife said that Thai minds think differently from felang minds, and this is the reason why so many of them fail.

 

 

 

[Trujillo]

Rhetorically speaking, who uses a credit card for 7-Eleven purchases? 

These are the people holding up the line for the rest of us who have cash.....

[saakura]

15 minutes ago, Khon Kaen Dave said:

How do you work this one out?

I am partial to a HongTong and coke, every now and again.I say this, because The mum and dad shops in our village do not sell Vodka,Gin,or any of my other favourites.

I cannot drink Sangsom because it has an effect upon my usual genial demeanour.

Now, my usual shop sells a half bottle of Hong Tong for 139 Baht. And they have many customers.Last night i popped in there, and found that they had run out.So i went to the shop not 10 metres away, who also sells it. Their price was 155 baht for the same thing.I asked the lady in the shop why her whiskey was way more expensive than the other shop.Her answer was " we have no customers."

My wife and i had 2 bars in Patts for some 5 years, and good business tells me, that if custom is slow, you drop the prices slightly to encourage more custom. Bums on seats theory.Here i have noticed that those shops with no customers, put their prices up, way up.

To me this is not good business sense.

Go figure. My wife said that Thai minds think differently from felang minds, and this is the reason why so many of them fail.

 

 

 

It is more likely that what she said or meant was that since the other shop had a greater sales volume, they could get it cheaper from the distributor or wholesaler. 

[Khon Kaen Dave]

2 minutes ago, saakura said:

It is more likely that what she said or meant was that since the other shop had a greater sales volume, they could get it cheaper from the distributor or wholesaler. 

I see. But more or less every shop in the village has it on sale for 139 baht.Even the little cafe i eat in is the same price.And ok, i could understand maybe 5 baht over but15 baht in this here town is a lot of money to some.

[Kadilo]

Rhetorically speaking, who uses a credit card for 7-Eleven purchases? 
These are the people holding up the line for the rest of us who have cash.....

Kasikorn do a 7/11 card for Thais so they get cash back on purchases there so I'm guessing quite a few.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[owenm]

If you use a multiple currency visa card, like Virgin Velocity, and Thai baht loaded onto it, there are no additional fees of exchange rate and bank fees. 10 different currencies can be loaded, and transfered from your primary currency. THB, AU$, US$, EU€, SING$, SA Rand, UK£ etc. Very convenient, and no additional fees if used as a currency loaded on your card. You just shuffle and transfer currencies on your card using an app on your phone...  

[Bantex]

51 minutes ago, Khon Kaen Dave said:

I see. But more or less every shop in the village has it on sale for 139 baht.Even the little cafe i eat in is the same price.And ok, i could understand maybe 5 baht over but15 baht in this here town is a lot of money to some.

You can always go to one of the other shops or the cafe.

They sell it at a higher price to increase their profits as they have fewer customers making purchases due to their higher prices so they increase the prices until no one can afford what they charge and they have to close.

[smotherb]

3 hours ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

Let me guess..Bernie Sanders told you so.  Actually, I don't pay a foreign transaction fee and the rates are better than any Thai bank exchange rate...plus there is no annual fee...the card is chip protected, and I can dispute any charge without calling or sending anything.

I prefer to have cash at all times. However, I see no point in keeping money here, so I use my Visa card for cash at ATMs--for better security, I use ATMs at banks. My bank never charges a fee, all local bank fees are reimbursed, the card is chip protected, I am reimbursed for any disputes, and the exchange rate is the daily FOREX rate. Of course, there is a minimum deposit, but it draws competitive interest.   Depends upon whether your financial institution is using you or vice versa. 

[KhonKaenKowboy]

2 hours ago, Trujillo said:

Rhetorically speaking, who uses a credit card for 7-Eleven purchases? 

These are the people holding up the line for the rest of us who have cash.....

It is quicker than paying with a 1000 THB note and a lot quicker than the smart phone payments.  I also go this tablet computer for free when I got the card...

[Khon Kaen Dave]

1 hour ago, Bantex said:

You can always go to one of the other shops or the cafe.

They sell it at a higher price to increase their profits as they have fewer customers making purchases due to their higher prices so they increase the prices until no one can afford what they charge and they have to close.

Well,isnt that what i am saying. Having had a vast amount of experience with the wholesale alcohol trade,having had two bars. Let me say that, it doesn't matter whether you buy one bottle of say Smirnoff, or 10,its the same price per bottle. There is no discount for buying in an amount.

 

She just wrote 155 on the 3 bottles she had left. I was in a bit of a bind because,we had people round and i didnt want to be away from the house for long. Had i had the time, i would have walked to another shop that sold it for the 139 price.The fact that she sold it to me for155 and i paid it, means that she may have gained 16 baht, but  has lost me as another customer. Its not like i paid a felang price, she had written in felt tip pen the price, so even a Thai would have had to pay 155 for it.I dont know where you live, but when a shop starts charging way over the top, the news travels quickly and the shop is shunned.It doesnt matter if its a mum and dad shop, or a hairdressers, it eventually closes.

That's why i cant work out the business sense.

[scottiejohn]

23 minutes ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

2 hours ago, Trujillo said:

Rhetorically speaking, who uses a credit card for 7-Eleven purchases? 

These are the people holding up the line for the rest of us who have cash.....

It is quicker than paying with a 1000 THB note and a lot quicker than the smart phone payments.  I also go this tablet computer for free when I got the card...

I cannot speak for all 7/11, but my local 7/11 is very happy for Farang, or anyone else, to use 1000 Baht note for 10 baht water bottle purchase etc so they can get small change. It saves the staff moving all the loose change, the usual small cost purchase leaves, out of the till into the back office safe. The cash register can hold a lot of 1000 Baht notes but not the equivalent in coins!

 

The time difference to process a credit/debit card versus 1000 Baht cash is infinitesimal!  Whether the note proffered is 100 or 1000 Baht the cashier/server will always count the change out the same number of times. About the same as the Card reader!

 

I do agree however about why use a card at a 7/11.   What size purchase are you making at a 7/11?  Makro yes.  7/11 Ugh! The risks of using cards in Thailand, and many other countries, from small outlets especially, are  horrendous.  Get cash for small purchases from your local bank ATM and get the small change from the 7/11. Keep your card for big purchases.  Peace of mind at the potential saving of minimal Dollars/Pounds etc.

 

[Khon Kaen Dave]

Bantex

 sorry, one more thing.

Before all the "whats 16 baht to you"posters come out.

16 baht is nothing to me, but i know that if i paid it, the next time i went in there, fags, would have magically gone up and everything else they think they can get away with.

I am the only felang in this village, and i dont want the reputation of being the  " pom kitwa khun tink tonk felang' I do as the Thais do.

[scottiejohn]

17 minutes ago, Khon Kaen Dave said:

it doesn't matter whether you buy one bottle of say Smirnoff, or 10,its the same price per bottle. There is no discount for buying in an amount.

That statement makes no sense.  As a bar owner if you buy in bulk you get a discount.  You may sell at the same price!  That is you choice.  BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free)

[KhonKaenKowboy]

I live by an extremely busy 711, by CMU, and they constantly drop money into the safe...so it takes often takes longer for change...they probably have less than 2000 in their drawers.  Likely store or company policy.  There are robberies around here.  So, I just checked my card...399 THB cost me 11.57 USD...or 34.4857 THB to the Dollar.  Bangkok Bank is paying 34.20 for a 100 USD note...and 34.45 for TT transfer...and I get 1% back on purchases....so only on TV is this a bad thing, but finance  with people whose biggest experience comes from signing for their pension check is a lot like pulling teeth.