Visa and MasterCard have surged in the past two decades, reaching a combined $1 trillion market cap. That has attracted unwanted attention from regulators.
These network transactions cost between 2 to 4 % for merchants, which is a cost passed to consumers by businesses raising prices. That’s a fairly large “inflation”, and certainly it seems out of line with the effort they out into it. It’s anticompetitive practices that keep it in place.
Fwiw debit card transaction are capped around 21 cents per transaction depending on the size of the bank holding the account. You’re right for credit cards though. Also, imho, I’ve never seen merchants pass along these debit card savings to the consumer. With they would though.
Those truck stops that have the X gas price for cash Y gas price for credit (x < y) are a good example of a merchant passing the savings onto consumers. More niche is all the coin shops I’ve been to pass the fee onto you if you use a card.
These network transactions cost between 2 to 4 % for merchants, which is a cost passed to consumers by businesses raising prices. That’s a fairly large “inflation”, and certainly it seems out of line with the effort they out into it. It’s anticompetitive practices that keep it in place.
Fwiw debit card transaction are capped around 21 cents per transaction depending on the size of the bank holding the account. You’re right for credit cards though. Also, imho, I’ve never seen merchants pass along these debit card savings to the consumer. With they would though.
Those truck stops that have the X gas price for cash Y gas price for credit (x < y) are a good example of a merchant passing the savings onto consumers. More niche is all the coin shops I’ve been to pass the fee onto you if you use a card.
Our transactions cost 3 dollars per 100 spent
And the merchant terms are getting worse and more arbitrary.