4 ms·

They don't as far as I know. Merchants are free to offer discounts for cash.

ntakasaki 12y ago
Very few merchants do that. I am talking about the end result of the current setup where a typical consumer pays $400 per year in credit card fees while buying things. This is because the true cost of using cards are hidden from them because of the merchants, just carriers do for a $199 iPhone.
- function_seven 12y ago
  That is a valid point. I personally offset that $400 with rebates. The remaining amount is totally worth it to me to have chargeback ability, extended warranties, insurance on my rental cars, and all the other perks you can get from credit cards. Having to visit ATMs and be responsible for actual cash is a (small) burden that I'm happy to be rid of. On the merchant end of things, accepting card payments reduces their exposure to risk from theft (both internal and gun-in-your face type). For the big guys, the fee is in the low 1%. But you're right about the lack of transparency. If card fees were required to be itemized separately, the whole dynamic would shift dramatically. But as far as Apple Pay and similar systems are concerned, the 0.15% is bitten off the banks' fee already, and the price of the transaction isn't based on cost, but on value. As a thought experiment, imagine if Apple stopped taking a 30% cut of app store purchases. Do you think that $0.99 games would be priced at $0.69? Probably not. I think the same is probably true of merchant fees--that they're not going to--on average-- increase by 0.15%. We'll know for sure in the next several years though.
  - wfjackson 12y ago
    >That is a valid point. I personally offset that $400 with rebates. The remaining amount is totally worth it to me to have chargeback ability, extended warranties, insurance on my rental cars, and all the other perks you can get from credit cards Now, imagine a poor or homeless person with bad credit that pays in cash, debit or non-rewards credit card. That person is paying more for the same things compared to you at the store and gets none of those perks. >As a thought experiment, imagine if Apple stopped taking a 30% cut of app store purchases. Do you think that $0.99 games would be priced at $0.69? Probably not. Even if not, the developer has 30% more to spend on developing the app, resulting in more and better apps. Apple, meanwhile, is buying back stock and giving dividends with all the extra cash because they don't know what to do with it.
brigade 12y ago
Only since January 27, 2013, and not in all states. [1] [1] http://usa.visa.com/personal/get-help/checkout-fees.jsp http://usa.visa.com/personal/get-help/checkout-fees.jsp

Very few merchants do that. I am talking about the end result of the current setup where a typical consumer pays $400 per year in credit card fees while buying things. This is because the true cost of using cards are hidden from them because of the merchants, just carriers do for a $199 iPhone.

function_seven 12y ago
That is a valid point. I personally offset that $400 with rebates. The remaining amount is totally worth it to me to have chargeback ability, extended warranties, insurance on my rental cars, and all the other perks you can get from credit cards. Having to visit ATMs and be responsible for actual cash is a (small) burden that I'm happy to be rid of. On the merchant end of things, accepting card payments reduces their exposure to risk from theft (both internal and gun-in-your face type). For the big guys, the fee is in the low 1%. But you're right about the lack of transparency. If card fees were required to be itemized separately, the whole dynamic would shift dramatically. But as far as Apple Pay and similar systems are concerned, the 0.15% is bitten off the banks' fee already, and the price of the transaction isn't based on cost, but on value. As a thought experiment, imagine if Apple stopped taking a 30% cut of app store purchases. Do you think that $0.99 games would be priced at $0.69? Probably not. I think the same is probably true of merchant fees--that they're not going to--on average-- increase by 0.15%. We'll know for sure in the next several years though.
- wfjackson 12y ago
  >That is a valid point. I personally offset that $400 with rebates. The remaining amount is totally worth it to me to have chargeback ability, extended warranties, insurance on my rental cars, and all the other perks you can get from credit cards Now, imagine a poor or homeless person with bad credit that pays in cash, debit or non-rewards credit card. That person is paying more for the same things compared to you at the store and gets none of those perks. >As a thought experiment, imagine if Apple stopped taking a 30% cut of app store purchases. Do you think that $0.99 games would be priced at $0.69? Probably not. Even if not, the developer has 30% more to spend on developing the app, resulting in more and better apps. Apple, meanwhile, is buying back stock and giving dividends with all the extra cash because they don't know what to do with it.

brigade 12y ago

Only since January 27, 2013, and not in all states. [1] [1] http://usa.visa.com/personal/get-help/checkout-fees.jsp http://usa.visa.com/personal/get-help/checkout-fees.jsp