When I asked why they'd started accepting Amex, they said that the rates on some rewards cards they were accepting were so high that Amex was better value for them.
I also assume it was helped that the demand for Amex is higher in the City than the UK average.
It's funny that many medium-sized business will reject Amex, while a little burger stand at a farmer's market will (sometimes) accept it.
Perhaps iZettle have decided to take the hit on the Amex fees and charge a flat fee to their customers.
Not only are there a higher percentage of personal cards but a lot of corporates use them.
Amex though, very few places accept amex.
If you're a small business, Paypal charges are also high compared with standard debit and credit cards, but my understanding based on conversations with people in the SMB space is that somehow the marketing types think the benefit of having a "pay with Paypal" button on your website outweighs the additional charges. For the moment, anyway.
Stereotypical narrative: The wife will have a fit if she sees a credit-card transaction for an expensive hobby item. But if you just see "PayPal transfer, $300.00", or better yet, nothing because you paid out of a balance you filled up by selling junk on eBay, it has plausible deniability.
For paypay security isn't simply a cost center, their whole business is keeping these transactions secure. For a regular retailer, their business is selling some product, security is just an added cost.
Of all the online payment solutions, I think paypal is the most security-free solution I have come across so far. And the one that works the hardest to get your money into the system and to make sure that you can never, ever get your money back out.
Those fees have been banned in the UK (I think it might be an EU regulation) now
This doesn't seem right as it must be more expensive for them to process a credit card payment.
"Choose your transfer type
Bank transfer Low cost transfer - 2.54 GBP in total fees Send the money from your bank account.
Debit card/Credit card Fast and easy transfer - 3.54 GBP in total fees"
That's a surcharge for paying by card vs a bank transfer.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/venessawong/were-all-su...
IIRC these surcharges are now illegal where you live.
The thing is reward credit cards really feel like the banks are fleecing merchants and giving a small portion as a kick back to the consumer. If card issuers want to provide an incentive to their customers then they shouldn’t fund it by charging the merchants more.
All that will likely happen is merchants will increase their prices and those without reward cards will end up paying more and getting less. It’s probably why on so many sites (especially airlines!) I have to pay ‘2% credit card processing surcharge’.
If Visa and Mastercard don’t want retailers to get selective then there needs to be a single charge rate - and I think it would be a good idea that this information is shared with purchasers at time of a payment.