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Forget Google, time to end the Visa-MasterCard duopoly

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Re: Forget Google, time to end the Visa-MasterCard duopoly

#441

Post by mnw21cam »

bjelkeman-again wrote: post #427
Symbiote wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Denmark, the majority of shops have little signs "Due to Covid-19, please pay by card or phone" or sometime "Due to Covid-19, cash is not accepted". On a recent trip to Germany, I didn't see a single such sign. Germany is changing gradually, perhaps due to the EU's limits on the fees Visa and MasterCard can change, but Covid-19 doesn't seem to have much effect.

In Stockholm, Sweden, many stores have stopped accepting cash altogether. Even before Covid.

In Gothenberg, Sweden, for instance, you can't buy public transport tickets with cash. Which meant that when a beggar approached me and asked for some cash so he could travel home, I knew he was lying. I hadn't even bothered getting any Swedish cash when I visited the country.

Re: Forget Google, time to end the Visa-MasterCard duopoly

#442

Post by bluedino »

JAlexoid wrote: post #278
reaperducer wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't say "Get 2% if you use cash instead of VISA". (Notice that nobody ever advertises that?) Because VISA doesn't allow it. I see this all the time. * At more than one bookstore, the dry cleaner, markets, my current and previous landlord, my accountant, and pretty much every gas station since the 1990's. * Pre-quarantine. Now I don't see anything.

There are cases, where the person you're interacting with isn't likely to be audited or doesn't have a direct contract with the payment processor. Gas stations I find weird, in general. How did they get that exception?

Lots of gas stations have the 'cash' price listed on the sign

Re: Forget Google, time to end the Visa-MasterCard duopoly

#443

Post by alt_f4 »

omosubi wrote: post #90
alt_f4 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not though. No one is forcing you or anyone else to sign up for credit cards - it's a choice, unlike taxation.

How would you pay for things online, many of which are not available in person? Or stores/airplanes/services that don't accept cash?

Everyone in Europe uses debit cards. You don't have debit cards in the US?

It's a plastic card, it is issued by your bank, it's still using the visa/mastercard network, but instead of credit, it is tied to actual funds in your bank account.

Re: Forget Google, time to end the Visa-MasterCard duopoly

#444

Post by alt_f4 »

namdnay wrote: post #387
jobigoud wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know anyone personally that owns a "credit" card. Virtually nobody uses them here in France and I think in the rest of Europe, it's always debit card. Never had an issue with renting cars.

It is a common issue for French people renting cars outside of France - search on Google, there are hundreds of angry people who ended up with no car because agencies in other countries refuse debit cards (debit immediat)

That's not true at all. It's certainly not common to require credit cards for car rentals in Europe. Must be an American thing.

Re: Forget Google, time to end the Visa-MasterCard duopoly

#445

Post by alt_f4 »

sdenton4 wrote: post #88
alt_f4 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not though. No one is forcing you or anyone else to sign up for credit cards - it's a choice, unlike taxation.

It's not optional, though. I still have to pay the higher transaction costs even without a credit card, because the credit card companies require that vendors have the same prices for card or cash, resulting in higher prices for everyone.

Will you go to jail or pay a fine if you don't use a credit card? No?

Then it's nothing like taxation and it is optional.

Re: Forget Google, time to end the Visa-MasterCard duopoly

#446

Post by richardwhiuk »

rbrtl wrote: post #419
Ratiofarmings wrote: post #417

So instead of sometimes one of the two not being accepted, you want me to carry 50 different ones and have 2/3 rejected? No, thank you.

No... You have the option of any of 50, and they can all be accepted everywhere; rather than the option of only two if you want a chance of being accepted. I believe this is already law in the EU anyway, but there are few competitors to the big two.

What's law? That you have to accept all types of payment? Nope.

If everything has to be accepted everywhere, then there's no differentiation

Re: Forget Google, time to end the Visa-MasterCard duopoly

#449

Post by alt_f4 »

komali2 wrote: post #110
systemvoltage wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Debit cards? The other option is to use a Credit Card but pay off at the end of the month. Why is that so difficult? That’s literally like a Debit card except for the additional “buffer” of safety and security from your bank account.

Every debit card I've had has still involved a credit card company in some way - they've all had the visa logo on them.

For fuck's sake, do some basic research. Literally at the top of the wikipedia article:

> Visa does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers; rather, Visa provides financial institutions with Visa-branded payment products that they then use to offer credit, debit, prepaid and cash-access programs to their customers.

Re: Forget Google, time to end the Visa-MasterCard duopoly

#450

Post by alt_f4 »

omosubi wrote: post #196
UnpossibleJim wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't think of a bank that doesn't use a card that works as a credit card when it comes to online transactions.

They're still visa or MasterCards though...

> Visa does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers; rather, Visa provides financial institutions with Visa-branded payment products that they then use to offer credit, debit, prepaid and cash-access programs to their customers.
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