Re:Payments is not a consumer product
by vertex-four on Tuesday March 20, 2018 @07:43AM
(#16627652)
The thing is - and I don’t know how this is in India - cards often have rewards programs funded off that 3%, and you don’t usually get a discount for paying in cash. So if you pay in cash or “cheaper” payment options, you’re actually just paying more money to the supermarket than if you used a card and got some of that 3% back.
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In Australia the government decided this was non-competitive and regulated interchange fees down to less than half a percent. They still have credit cards, but limited rewards programs.
The 3% processing charges are really just inertia in North America, since costs have gone down a lot over the decades, but the fees have been reallocated into marketing/rewards.
I'm okay with the market keeping the money than MC/VISA getting it. Here's the thing: I want the market to make money and stay open so I can keep shopping there. I don't care if MC goes up in flames.
Re:Payments is not a consumer product
by vertex-four on Tuesday March 20, 2018 @09:55AM
(#16628546)
The point is that the market has already raised prices 3% on the assumption that their customers will be able to afford it because they’re getting some portion of that cut back in rewards - the only situation where this doesn’t work is where many of their customers don’t use rewards cards.
I honestly think reward cards are a rent-seeking mechanism against merchants. Merchants (or CC processors a la stripe) pay the higher transaction fee just because a customer swiped their “Platinum Bonus Cash Back Rewards Ultimate Black++” card for the painting they want to buy from you. Fuck that.