4 ms·

> That means on a $100 purchase, if a customer pays with a credit card, the retailer will get at least $99, where they previously would have kept as little as $

> That means on a $100 purchase, if a customer pays with a credit card, the retailer will get at least $99, where they previously would have kept as little as $97 in some cases. I absolutely love the heavy lifting “as little as” is doing here. > Businesses with annual Visa sales volume below $300,000 will qualify for the lower fee, as will those who do less than $175,000 from MasterCard. That’s revenue, not profit. So your business basically needs to be casual or failing to get the lower rate.

viraptor 3y ago
> needs to be casual or failing to get the lower rate. Or in a positive version - it may be just starting up, so every $ matters.
umeshunni 3y ago
I bet this is mostly so that very small business who might have switched to Venmo or some other P2P payment system (Interac in Canada?) stay with Visa/MC
BoorishBears 3y ago
I love how tech margins are so insane we think going from 3% to 1% isn't that much, meanwhile entire industries built on the margins that fit in said gap...
- quickthrower2 3y ago
  It is a lot for most small businesses and they tend to pass on the cost.
woodruffw 3y ago
> I absolutely love the heavy lifting “as little as” is doing here. My understanding is that grocery store margins are typically between 1% and 3%, so even "small" shifts in the interchange rate can have massive impacts on their bottom line.
- dguest 3y ago
  I would assume that grocery store margins are that low because they price competitively, so this will just drop prices by a few % and the grocery store margins will stay the same.
- Dalewyn 3y ago
  Not to mention parent poster neglected to take the wider picture into account. That $2 dollar difference comes out to $20 over ten transactions, $200 over a hundred transactions, $2000 over a thousand transactions, and so forth. That is a huge difference.
matsemann 3y ago
What I often find surprising is people or shops complaining about the fees, and then trying to use cash everywhere. Dealing with cash is so incredible expensive, just because you don't see the fee doesn't mean it's not there. Like my parents had to deal a lot with cash before. That meant thataafter every shift, you had to spend time counting it, and whole processes around that. Safe storage, extra security, extra threat of robbing. Then have to spend time taking the money to a bank, and purchasing rolls of change.
- yccs27 3y ago
  Most shops accept both cash and credit, and the costs of dealing with cash don‘t go down by much just because half your customers pay cashless.
  - matsemann 3y ago
    As for my parent, it's 99% cashless. Might be one person a week or so using cash. So can now skip most of the time waste of dealing with cash. But Norway has had a high card usage for decades, so this might not be as prevalent other places. (I lost my wallet ~2 years ago, including my cards. Everywhere is contactless, so I had no issues just using my watch/phone to pay everywhere I went, until I now recently finally replaced my cards. Even my driver's license is an app now)
    - mixmastamyk 3y ago
      Complete loss of privacy. Personally went back to mostly cash, although it’s not clear how long it will be available.
- carlosjobim 3y ago
  - There are machines to count cash. - Storage and security doesn't have to be expensive if you're smart about it. - You can set your prices so that you don't keep running out of a certain coin. - You are not obliged to take the money to the bank. It really is not "incredibly expensive" to deal with cash.
danpalmer 3y ago
> where they previously would have kept as little as $97 in some cases Or lower. A number of years ago I worked in an Apple reseller, and there were Apple products that wouldn't break even when the customer paid with AMEX, and that's only based on margin/card fees, not counting all other business costs. IIRC AMEX could reach as high as 5% and Apple's wholesale discount could be as low as 5%. Possibly the worst two companies to be stuck between as a retailer!
- Havoc 3y ago
  Yeah as much as I like my amex I fully understand when retailers tell me no amex accepted
  - danpalmer 3y ago
    I think it works against them so much. I barely use mine because I can't use it at many small shops, can't use it abroad (because it's ~2% exchange fee), and often buy flights in other currencies to save so can't use it for those (big purchases).

viraptor 3y ago

> needs to be casual or failing to get the lower rate. Or in a positive version - it may be just starting up, so every $ matters.

umeshunni 3y ago

I bet this is mostly so that very small business who might have switched to Venmo or some other P2P payment system (Interac in Canada?) stay with Visa/MC

BoorishBears 3y ago

I love how tech margins are so insane we think going from 3% to 1% isn't that much, meanwhile entire industries built on the margins that fit in said gap...

quickthrower2 3y ago
It is a lot for most small businesses and they tend to pass on the cost.

woodruffw 3y ago

> I absolutely love the heavy lifting “as little as” is doing here. My understanding is that grocery store margins are typically between 1% and 3%, so even "small" shifts in the interchange rate can have massive impacts on their bottom line.

dguest 3y ago
I would assume that grocery store margins are that low because they price competitively, so this will just drop prices by a few % and the grocery store margins will stay the same.
Dalewyn 3y ago
Not to mention parent poster neglected to take the wider picture into account. That $2 dollar difference comes out to $20 over ten transactions, $200 over a hundred transactions, $2000 over a thousand transactions, and so forth. That is a huge difference.

matsemann 3y ago

What I often find surprising is people or shops complaining about the fees, and then trying to use cash everywhere. Dealing with cash is so incredible expensive, just because you don't see the fee doesn't mean it's not there. Like my parents had to deal a lot with cash before. That meant thataafter every shift, you had to spend time counting it, and whole processes around that. Safe storage, extra security, extra threat of robbing. Then have to spend time taking the money to a bank, and purchasing rolls of change.

yccs27 3y ago
Most shops accept both cash and credit, and the costs of dealing with cash don‘t go down by much just because half your customers pay cashless.
- matsemann 3y ago
  As for my parent, it's 99% cashless. Might be one person a week or so using cash. So can now skip most of the time waste of dealing with cash. But Norway has had a high card usage for decades, so this might not be as prevalent other places. (I lost my wallet ~2 years ago, including my cards. Everywhere is contactless, so I had no issues just using my watch/phone to pay everywhere I went, until I now recently finally replaced my cards. Even my driver's license is an app now)
  - mixmastamyk 3y ago
    Complete loss of privacy. Personally went back to mostly cash, although it’s not clear how long it will be available.
carlosjobim 3y ago
- There are machines to count cash. - Storage and security doesn't have to be expensive if you're smart about it. - You can set your prices so that you don't keep running out of a certain coin. - You are not obliged to take the money to the bank. It really is not "incredibly expensive" to deal with cash.

danpalmer 3y ago

> where they previously would have kept as little as $97 in some cases Or lower. A number of years ago I worked in an Apple reseller, and there were Apple products that wouldn't break even when the customer paid with AMEX, and that's only based on margin/card fees, not counting all other business costs. IIRC AMEX could reach as high as 5% and Apple's wholesale discount could be as low as 5%. Possibly the worst two companies to be stuck between as a retailer!

Havoc 3y ago
Yeah as much as I like my amex I fully understand when retailers tell me no amex accepted
- danpalmer 3y ago
  I think it works against them so much. I barely use mine because I can't use it at many small shops, can't use it abroad (because it's ~2% exchange fee), and often buy flights in other currencies to save so can't use it for those (big purchases).