3 ms·

We collectively pay, as a society. Credit card fees are a tax on commerce.

• pbreit 8y ago
  Except that the bulk of the fees to the merchant are paid back out to cardholders in the form of rewards and cashback. So it's closer to a wash.
  • darawk 8y ago
    Visa still managed to make $15 billion in gross profit last year. Seems pretty significant to me.
    • pbreit 8y ago
      On $7.4 trillion in volume. So about 0.2%.
      • darawk 8y ago
        I'd call that a lot.
  • magnetic 8y ago
    Someone seems to have computed the cash vs CC money flow: https://www.bostonfed.org/publications/public-policy-discussion-paper/2010/who-gains-and-who-loses-from-credit-card-payments-theory-and-calibrations.aspx https://www.bostonfed.org/publications/public-policy-discuss... "On average, each cash-using household pays $149 to card-using households and each card-using household receives $1,133 from cash users every year."
• nradov 8y ago
  Cash transactions aren't free either. The merchant has to pay for security, transport, and typically suffers some "leakage". Depending on the type of business and location those can end up being even more expensive than payment card fees.
  • darawk 8y ago
    Yep, absolutely true. No free lunch.