141–150 of 178 posts
> Visa and Mastercard alone control 70% of the market based on purchase volume. And lack of competition reduces the incentive for firms to improve the efficiency of their technological systems or price their services fairly. Some detail about the pricing might help here. Most of the fee is actually going to customers, believe it or not, and sometimes processors. It is an interesting study in complex two-sided market…
People look at you funny for not knowing how a credit card has worked for the last 30+ years. Here chips got introduced mid-80's and all cards had chips circa early-90's.
Why did it take so long for credit card to feature chips in the US ? Because it took a while for CIA's in-q-tel to take over control of gemplus, the company who owned the smart card technology, which happened early 2000's. This is known as "l'affaire gemplus". Once they got control, the company HQ got moved to luxembourg tax haven and the R&D and tech moved to the US. A few years later in 2006 it merged with competitor axalto to form gemalto famous for making SIM cards and recently for their SIM crypto getting in NSA hands[1]. In 2009 french government tried to counter the takeover by becoming gemalto's major shareholder, but it was too late, CIA got what they were after as shown by in-q-tel selling its shares in 2010 which coincidentally was the years EMV credit card got introduced to the US.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Sadly swiping is being replaced by chipcard. I see this being downvoted, and I'm wondering if it's not simply just misinterpreted. Most places in the US I've used chip&pin, the process goes like this: - arrive at merchant, select goods, get total. - look for a sign that says chip is not enabled. - failing that, move assuredly towards the chip reader and keep an eye on the cashier to ensure he or she doesn't move to…
Any idea why is the experience this bad? I'm in Europe and never used swipe cards (haven't seen a cheque since I was a kid, not sure they're even used anymore, but I digress) but the experience is really simple and the times you mentioned are always shorter. Select goods, put the card in, enter PIN, 10 seconds later I'm walking out of the store. With contactless cards it's getting even simpler and faster and I insist…
With chip, I have to wait after the clerk has scanned all the products and after he pressed the "pay with card" button on his terminal. During the authorization, I have to keep the card plugged into the POS. I do this while I bag my own goods, because in Europe the clerks do not fill up your bags like in the US. At some point during the packaging process, I have to stop to take my card back because I don't like to leave it there while the clerk has started processing the next customer.
The experience sucks profoundly. The convenience at swiping at any time during idle time cannot be understated.
> What happens when you swipe a credit card People look at you funny for not knowing how a credit card has worked for the last 30+ years. Here chips got introduced mid-80's and all cards had chips circa early-90's. Why did it take so long for credit card to feature chips in the US ? Because it took a while for CIA's in-q-tel to take over control of gemplus, the company who owned the smart card technology, which happe…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well if we really believed in the free market and consumer protection, there'd be a law requiring the total transaction cost be printed on the sales slip. Whether the merchant pays it or passes it onto the consumer would be up to the merchant, but the amount would appear on the slip so the consumer sees these costs and who is paying for it. What we really have is mercantilism, where the issuer by contract disallows f…
> Well if we really believed in the free market and consumer protection, there'd be a law requiring the total transaction cost be printed on the sales slip. So "if we really believed in the free market", we should regulate the details of how a private transaction can take place? Leaving aside any other aspects of that proposal, whether positive or negative, it doesn't seem reasonable to describe it as "free market".
Making it explicit to customers with debit cards that they're subsidising the rewards of other customers will [edit: "could"!] incentivise them to demand lower fees, for example. This is a free market at its best.
> What happens when you swipe a credit card People look at you funny for not knowing how a credit card has worked for the last 30+ years. Here chips got introduced mid-80's and all cards had chips circa early-90's. Why did it take so long for credit card to feature chips in the US ? Because it took a while for CIA's in-q-tel to take over control of gemplus, the company who owned the smart card technology, which happe…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Expiry date: It checks that you're not using an old card that someone has just thrown away, often card numbers remain the same if you get a new one. This is effectively just specifying the version of the card, and is something that needs to be on cards anyway (so the user knows when they're no longer valid). Additional benefit is that it means your customer has just checked that their card is still valid. CVV: Not su…
exp date could be checked by the server. I just mean they shouldn't ask me to enter it during a purchase.
> What happens when you swipe a credit card People look at you funny for not knowing how a credit card has worked for the last 30+ years. Here chips got introduced mid-80's and all cards had chips circa early-90's. Why did it take so long for credit card to feature chips in the US ? Because it took a while for CIA's in-q-tel to take over control of gemplus, the company who owned the smart card technology, which happe…
[0]: https://www.franceinter.fr/emissions/rendez-vous-avec-x/rend...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Any idea why is the experience this bad? I'm in Europe and never used swipe cards (haven't seen a cheque since I was a kid, not sure they're even used anymore, but I digress) but the experience is really simple and the times you mentioned are always shorter. Select goods, put the card in, enter PIN, 10 seconds later I'm walking out of the store. With contactless cards it's getting even simpler and faster and I insist…
It's not that bad in Europe, but it's still bad. With swipe, I can swipe before the clerk has finished scanning my products, and then I can put my card back in my wallet. With chip, I have to wait after the clerk has scanned all the products and after he pressed the "pay with card" button on his terminal. During the authorization, I have to keep the card plugged into the POS. I do this while I bag my own goods, becau…
So you don't have any control over the amount he can enter/withdraw?
> Visa and Mastercard alone control 70% of the market based on purchase volume. And lack of competition reduces the incentive for firms to improve the efficiency of their technological systems or price their services fairly. Some detail about the pricing might help here. Most of the fee is actually going to customers, believe it or not, and sometimes processors. It is an interesting study in complex two-sided market…