Forget Google, time to end the Visa-MasterCard duopoly

Re:Forget Google, time to end the Visa-MasterCard duopoly by mediascreen on Tuesday June 30, 2020 @04:01AM (#23687805)

I think it differs a great deal between countries in the EU. I'm Swedish and I have an Amex card and most of my friends and colleagues use Amex as well. I use it for about 85% of my spending each month. The only places in Stockholm that don't accept it are smaller coffee shops, restaurants that don't get that many tourists and mom and pop stores.

You could probably get by here with just an Amex card and cash, but I keep a backup card for the places that don't accept Amex.

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Re:Forget Google, time to end the Visa-MasterCard duopoly by paranoidrobot on Tuesday June 30, 2020 @07:33AM (#23689009)

Odd. I'd given up trying to use it by the time I got to Sweden.

Your neighbours (Norway and Denmark) were unwilling to accept it. I forget which supermarkets I tried it in in both of those countries, but three large chains all had their card terminals reject it and the staff looked at it like I'd tried to use a hotel keycard or something.

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Re:Forget Google, time to end the Visa-MasterCard duopoly by mediascreen on Tuesday June 30, 2020 @10:44AM (#23690531)

The big adoption driver in Sweden is the Amex SAS Eurobonus card which lets you collect air miles with the card. It's one of the few cards in Sweden that lets you "game" a points system slightly.

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Re:Forget Google, time to end the Visa-MasterCard duopoly by knorker on Tuesday June 30, 2020 @05:09AM (#23688169)

I wouldn't just have amex and cash in Sweden. My experience is that most places don't accept amex, and soon most places won't accept cash either.

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