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can someone ELI5 why Visa/MasterCard is frequently called a duopoly? as someone who mostly uses my amex and discover cards for day-to-day purchases, I don't rea
by leetcrew 6y ago
can someone ELI5 why Visa/MasterCard is frequently called a duopoly? as someone who mostly uses my amex and discover cards for day-to-day purchases, I don't really understand this. four major processors (two being their own issuers) seems like a decent amount of competition and diversity of offerings.
- adrian_b 6y agoOnly Visa/MasterCard matter outside USA.
- techdragon 6y agoI’m an Australian and as much as I want an Amex I’d have to change banks to get one, it’s quite rare over here and in a number I’d other countries from what I’ve been told by other people.
- PurpleFoxy 6y agoFrom what I have seen, most businesses explicitly refuse to accept it since it charges higher fees than visa and MasterCard
- banana_giraffe 6y agoVisa and Mastercard combined represent 83% of the number of credit cards in circulation, and 100% of the number of debit cards in circulation. That last one, too, is probably a big part of the reason for the classification. There are more Visa/MC debit cards out there than their are credit cards.
- ksec 6y ago1. If you look into Credit Card World Wide, Amex and Discover Cards aren't even viable outside US. 2. If you look at transaction, Amex and Discover may have higher processed transaction value of something like 15% in US. But if you look at transition volume, Visa / Master are 90%+. 3. Both are Credit Card only. Debit Card is where the majority are using for Payment. 3. Consider there are no other electronic / digital payment method that is as ubiquitous as Visa / Master payment network ( ignoring Asia ) and they are the baseline method for e-payment, as well as an extreme high level barrier of Entry. The two are considered as Duopoly.