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MasterCard and Visa not only make money from each credit card transaction but to add insult to injury, they make money selling that transaction data as well! Th

MasterCard and Visa not only make money from each credit card transaction but to add insult to injury, they make money selling that transaction data as well! That's what I call a ludicrous business.

choward 9y ago
Or like cable companies trying to get you to pay for TV and then also wanting you to watch commercials. It's all about double dipping.
- Fifer82 9y ago
  And Cinemas! I realized a few years ago with the Scottish Indy Ref, that the BBC was state media so I briefly stopped watching and paying for that service. As a result, everything else that is moving media is surrounded by spam. Even if you pay 60 pound for a premium service (Think how much money it is, even if you have infinite money), you will spend 1/3 of that time watching Adverts. It is like a Freemium Game Model but when you pay, it doesn't matter. I have no idea why people are so careless with their time. Now that I ditched TV/Film, and found other ways to fill that time, I honestly feel better within myself. I twiddle around with robots while listening to the 20 hour audiobook (of your 90 minute film), or try to grow Carrots with some weird automated soil probe remotely at an Allotment. Compared to the enjoyment I get from these time fillers, motion picture is honestly the lowest form of entertainment and the lest rewarding.
- gdulli 9y ago
  You understand you pay cable companies for the infrastructure and it's different companies who show you the programming, right? Do you call it double dipping when you pay your internet provider and then the Netflix account isn't free?
imron 9y ago
Not sure if you meant lucrative. Ludicrous also works.
chinathrow 9y ago
Indeed - and with their stupid reward programs they essentially buy the users to spend more and more with them.
speedplane 9y ago
I've heard that this is not a very big business for Visa/Mastercard. That's because the credit card processors don't get many details on the purchase, they just know the amount, the user, and the bank they are sending the money to.
- thr0waway1239 9y ago
  That's because they can't do much with this info since they aren't also a giant ad network. Now imagine the same data in the hands of a company which has built one. They should probably start charging more :-)
- puzzle 9y ago
  False. Years ago I had a business credit card charge from either Target or Kmart where you could see the individual items. So some merchants do share that kind of detail.
- hyperbovine 9y ago
  My bank seems to know the origin and destination of all the plane tickets I buy (for example), so presumably the CC processor has this sort of information as well? I'm sure someone reading this is in the industry and can explain.
  - rcar 9y ago
    Plane tickets have an odd setup in CC processing systems where it actually shows origin/destination in the transaction information itself. The only other similar example I've seen has been in payment processors like Square or Paypal where they'll include both that it was a Paypal transaction and some customizable string showing the merchant who actually received the payment. Other than those sorts of situations though, Visa/MC or the bank issuing the cards only know where the transaction occurred and how much it was and don't directly get SKU-level data on what was purchased barring some other sort of partnership with the merchant.
  - gergles 9y ago
    Yeah, this is called "Level 3 data" and can include line items from a receipt and other details of transactions.
bonzini 9y ago
Is this also true of Amex (which makes more money from each credit card transaction than Visa and Mastercard)?
- morganvachon 9y ago
  Just an uninformed guess, but I'd say that 70% figure probably covers Visa/MasterCard but not Amex or Discover, based on what I've observed working in retail in the past.
- treyfitty 9y ago
  Yes. https://vimeo.com/155746893 https://vimeo.com/155746893 http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160517006038/en/Viacom-American-Express-Form-Exclusive-Partnership-Launch http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160517006038/en/Viac... They used to have a "Business Intelligence Group" which acted as a Consulting firm to corporations who want to answer questions like "Where should my company set up more stores?" The group often sifted through their customer data to answer that question.
  - bonzini 9y ago
    That's reasonable, and different from selling it to third parties.
thesehands 9y ago
a logical conclusion could be drawn that there either Visa/Mastercard should start an ad network, or Google gets in the credit card game (As android pay becomes more widely accepted, this may be an irrelevant step for them)

MasterCard and Visa not only make money from each credit card transaction but to add insult to injury, they make money selling that transaction data as well! That's what I call a ludicrous business.

choward 9y ago

Or like cable companies trying to get you to pay for TV and then also wanting you to watch commercials. It's all about double dipping.

Fifer82 9y ago
And Cinemas! I realized a few years ago with the Scottish Indy Ref, that the BBC was state media so I briefly stopped watching and paying for that service. As a result, everything else that is moving media is surrounded by spam. Even if you pay 60 pound for a premium service (Think how much money it is, even if you have infinite money), you will spend 1/3 of that time watching Adverts. It is like a Freemium Game Model but when you pay, it doesn't matter. I have no idea why people are so careless with their time. Now that I ditched TV/Film, and found other ways to fill that time, I honestly feel better within myself. I twiddle around with robots while listening to the 20 hour audiobook (of your 90 minute film), or try to grow Carrots with some weird automated soil probe remotely at an Allotment. Compared to the enjoyment I get from these time fillers, motion picture is honestly the lowest form of entertainment and the lest rewarding.
gdulli 9y ago
You understand you pay cable companies for the infrastructure and it's different companies who show you the programming, right? Do you call it double dipping when you pay your internet provider and then the Netflix account isn't free?

imron 9y ago

Not sure if you meant lucrative. Ludicrous also works.

chinathrow 9y ago

Indeed - and with their stupid reward programs they essentially buy the users to spend more and more with them.

speedplane 9y ago

I've heard that this is not a very big business for Visa/Mastercard. That's because the credit card processors don't get many details on the purchase, they just know the amount, the user, and the bank they are sending the money to.

thr0waway1239 9y ago
That's because they can't do much with this info since they aren't also a giant ad network. Now imagine the same data in the hands of a company which has built one. They should probably start charging more :-)
puzzle 9y ago
False. Years ago I had a business credit card charge from either Target or Kmart where you could see the individual items. So some merchants do share that kind of detail.
hyperbovine 9y ago
My bank seems to know the origin and destination of all the plane tickets I buy (for example), so presumably the CC processor has this sort of information as well? I'm sure someone reading this is in the industry and can explain.
- rcar 9y ago
  Plane tickets have an odd setup in CC processing systems where it actually shows origin/destination in the transaction information itself. The only other similar example I've seen has been in payment processors like Square or Paypal where they'll include both that it was a Paypal transaction and some customizable string showing the merchant who actually received the payment. Other than those sorts of situations though, Visa/MC or the bank issuing the cards only know where the transaction occurred and how much it was and don't directly get SKU-level data on what was purchased barring some other sort of partnership with the merchant.
- gergles 9y ago
  Yeah, this is called "Level 3 data" and can include line items from a receipt and other details of transactions.

bonzini 9y ago

Is this also true of Amex (which makes more money from each credit card transaction than Visa and Mastercard)?

morganvachon 9y ago
Just an uninformed guess, but I'd say that 70% figure probably covers Visa/MasterCard but not Amex or Discover, based on what I've observed working in retail in the past.
treyfitty 9y ago
Yes. https://vimeo.com/155746893 https://vimeo.com/155746893 http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160517006038/en/Viacom-American-Express-Form-Exclusive-Partnership-Launch http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160517006038/en/Viac... They used to have a "Business Intelligence Group" which acted as a Consulting firm to corporations who want to answer questions like "Where should my company set up more stores?" The group often sifted through their customer data to answer that question.
- bonzini 9y ago
  That's reasonable, and different from selling it to third parties.

thesehands 9y ago

a logical conclusion could be drawn that there either Visa/Mastercard should start an ad network, or Google gets in the credit card game (As android pay becomes more widely accepted, this may be an irrelevant step for them)