Shopping Discussion

Why is Costco checking the ID of those who use a third party MasterCard?

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  • Dec 12th, 2015 8:24 am
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Aug 2, 2010
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Poutinesauce wrote: Well yes, the card was in my hand and I was putting it in the ATM, and the clerk took it and ripped it from my hand, it is exactly what happened.

Sorry but as I say I don't like unneccessary checks and balances and I think the only way to curb them, is whenever presented with them, to protest. Their getting chargebacks is none of my business. If I get a MasterCard, I'm not supposed to have to put up with this.

I was on vacation in the Philippines recently, where I had to have my bags searched before entering every mall and go through metal detectors, and where most stores where I used my credit card required me to show an ID. If Canadians tell themselves every time that it's "just one more check" and to "let it go", before we know it we'll be a society as tightly controlled as the Philippines.
Oh geez, it's not an ID check. And ID check is if you have to show your drivers license or your passport.
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Dark Phoenix wrote: I would be pissed it a cashier literally ripped it out of my hand.
It's very obvious OP is embellishing.
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Dec 14, 2005
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Pre MasterCard days they would never check my credit card. They would just look at my blurred out face on my Costco membership to see if somehow I am not that person in the picture. Funny thing is in my picture I'm wearing glasses and a hat which I typically don't wear.

Nowadays they are always looking to see if my credit card and the membership has the same name. They have even asked me to give it to them to verify before I even insert it into the machine.
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Feb 28, 2004
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oh god! cashier checked the name on my card!
Invasion of privacy!
My rights violated!
Discriminated!
Disrespected my family!
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Feb 10, 2013
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Everyone has a mastercard but not amex lol. Costco should have stuck with amex.
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Mar 12, 2010
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zoro69 wrote: Mastercard in Canada does not allow requiring additonal information (like showing photo id) to be a conditon of acceptance, it does not sound like that is what happened here. You showed id as a condition of shopping at costco, which had nothing to do with how you are paying. Then they wanted to look at your card, which they can do. They cam make sure the card is signed. On cards without chips or failed chips they can compare signatures. They can look at your card to phone in an authorization if they are worried about something.

If they demanded a drivers license to let you pay with a credit card, that would be a violation of the merchant agreement
The snag is though, you don't HAVE to show additional id, but they also don't have to accept the payment card. If you don't play along and they say you can't pay with it now then you are SOL.
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redgrandam wrote: The snag is though, you don't HAVE to show additional id, but they also don't have to accept the payment card. If you don't play along and they say you can't pay with it now then you are SOL.
It a violation of mastercard and visa rules for them to make showing ID a condition of acceptance in Canada. That doesn't mean they "have to" the same way a stop sign doesn't mean you "have to" stop. But mastercard and visa will accept your complaint and follow up with the store who is breaking the rules. No idea what they'd do if the store continues to refuse to comply, the ones ive reported have started complying, eg Basics put up signs in their stores about reqiuing ID to buy a gift card. I sent that to someone a t MC, and all those signs were removed

If the store is accepting MC or VISA, its a violation of their merchant agreement to refuse to accept any card with that logo on it (other then no pin for a chip or not signed/matching signature)
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Aug 8, 2006
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Where in the merchant agreement does it state that asking for photo ID is not permitted? Is this maybe an old thing that has now changed?

This is the most recent rulebook:
http://www.mastercard.com/us/merchant/p ... public.pdf

One instance where you are allowed to ask for ID is if the card is not signed. You are to check ID, make the customer sign the card. If they refuse, you can refuse transaction.

It also states that you can do ask for ID for non-chipped cards. (not applicable to chip+pin/contactless payment/automated terminals)
7. For face-to-face unique Transactions, request personal identification of the Cardholder in
the form of an unexpired, official government document (for example, a passport,
identification document, or driver’s license) that bears the Cardholder’s signature, the
Cardholder’s photograph, or both. Compare the signature, if present, on the personal
identification with the signature on the Card. Compare the photograph, if present, with
the person presenting the Card. Record the personal identification on the Transaction
receipt.
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wilson_wu wrote: Where in the merchant agreement does it state that asking for photo ID is not permitted? Is this maybe an old thing that has now changed?

This is the most recent rulebook:
http://www.mastercard.com/us/merchant/p ... public.pdf
This is a US link, perhaps Canada is different
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zoro69 wrote: It a violation of mastercard and visa rules for them to make showing ID a condition of acceptance in Canada. That doesn't mean they "have to" the same way a stop sign doesn't mean you "have to" stop. But mastercard and visa will accept your complaint and follow up with the store who is breaking the rules. No idea what they'd do if the store continues to refuse to comply, the ones ive reported have started complying, eg Basics put up signs in their stores about reqiuing ID to buy a gift card. I sent that to someone a t MC, and all those signs were removed

If the store is accepting MC or VISA, its a violation of their merchant agreement to refuse to accept any card with that logo on it (other then no pin for a chip or not signed/matching signature)
Yes but the point you are missing is you first need to be a member and if the name on your MasterCard is not the same as the name on the Costco membership card then you are not the member. So yes present any MasterCard IF you are a member.
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eonibm wrote: Yes but the point you are missing is you first need to be a member and if the name on your MasterCard is not the same as the name on the Costco membership card then you are not the member. So yes present any MasterCard IF you are a member.
I realize that, and that was my original reply to the op that his situation did not appear to be asking for Id to use a credit card. Subsequent replies were directed at other comments about stores asking for id
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The "ID" rule

"5.8.4 Additional Cardholder Identification
A Merchant may request but must not require a Cardholder to provide additional
identification information as a condition of Card acceptance
, unless such information is
required to complete the Transaction, such as for shipping purposes, or the Standards
specifically permit or require such information to be collected.
A Merchant in a country or region that supports use of the MasterCard Address Verification
Service (AVS) for MasterCard POS Transactions may require the Cardholder’s ZIP or postal code
to complete a Cardholder-Activated Terminal (CAT) Transaction, or the Cardholder’s address
and ZIP or postal code to complete a mail order, phone order, or e-commerce Transaction.
"

IF a card isn't signed, its not a valid card at all and the merchant has to get the user to sign it and compare the signature with id to accept it. The other exception in Canada is buying $500+ of prepaid credit cards at once as its an anti money laundering/terrorism thing to check id
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Poutinesauce wrote: I was on vacation in the Philippines recently, where I had to have my bags searched before entering every mall and go through metal detectors, and where most stores where I used my credit card required me to show an ID. If Canadians tell themselves every time that it's "just one more check" and to "let it go", before we know it we'll be a society as tightly controlled as the Philippines.
There have been an unfortunate amount of terrorist attacks in Filipino malls in the last 15 years. The searches are not unwarranted. Stop being a drama queen.
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Oct 18, 2008
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Vancouver Island
This is what happened to my husband a few years ago at the Langford store in Victoria, B.C., but with an American Express/membership card. He came into Costco to pick up an item and to get some hotdogs before heading off to a Royals hockey game with two of our sons. The clerk at the till, all of a sudden grabbed the card, muttered something about "there appears to be a problem with your account", and disappeared with the card. He came back about 10 minutes later, refused to give the card back and told him to come back on Monday (this was Friday) as the accounting person was off until then. No explanation! We live over an hour away. Not knowing what was going on, my husband went ballistic on him, grabbed the card out of his hand, and reprimanded him for taking his credit card out of sight., and that there was no way in hell the employee was keeping it. We submitted complaints to both American Express and Costco. Oh, and if anyone is curious, this was over an error that a returns clerk had made on an returned item that had a discount coupon! Unbelievable!

OP...........I believe you. Some of Costco employees have no customer skills!
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Sep 30, 2008
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Is it True that they aren't allowed to ask for ID if they suspect you aren't the card holder?

Doesn't seem like a very good rule to help prevent fraud.
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Albin wrote: Pre MasterCard days they would never check my credit card. They would just look at my blurred out face on my Costco membership to see if somehow I am not that person in the picture. Funny thing is in my picture I'm wearing glasses and a hat which I typically don't wear.

Nowadays they are always looking to see if my credit card and the membership has the same name. They have even asked me to give it to them to verify before I even insert it into the machine.
I'm guessing it's because many (maybe even most?) people paying with an Amex back in the day were paying with a CostCo Amex (since very few people have their own Amex cards). So there was very little chance of somebody trying to check out using their friend's CostCo membership, but paying with their own card. In contrast, many people have third party Mastercards, so since the switchover they are likely on much higher alert for that kind of fraud.

Having said that - I *did* once see somebody getting asked to see their Amex when they were trying to check out using a separate Amex card from the costco membership. So it's not like this policy didn't exist in the Amex days. (And in that case, the woman in question was using an Amex with a man's name on it. She claimed it was her husband's, but needless to say they didn't let her use it to check out).

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