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Great work Visa, now I hate you

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Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you

#21

Post by efa »

mthoms wrote: post #6

During the Vancouver Olympics not only were we not permitted to use other credit cards, we couldn't even use our bank-issued debit cards for payment (in Canada we don't have Visa Debit cards - our debit cards are issued directly from banks have been accepted everywhere for nearly two decades.) Cash or Visa Only. So there I was at an official Olympic souvenir shop picking up some gifts when I was told no - I'd have to…

Wow, I would have been screwed. I had to look in my wallet because I truly didn't know if I had a Visa. I just have a card my bank provided and it happens to be Master Card. And I rarely carry around much cash.

Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you

#22

Post by jonknee »

mthoms wrote: post #17
jonknee wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Needless to say they lost the sale. How many other sales did they lose I wonder? Surely not enough to cover the massive amount of money Visa paid to be an exclusive sponsor. In London this year that is reportedly over $100M and during the first week Visa racked up $700 million worth of charges at the games.

Interesting. What you're implying is that the marketing benefits of Visa become a sponsor are secondary to the direct revenue it generates at the event. This could be the most profitable marketing spend with the quickest ROI ever.

No, I'm saying that any lost sales the IOC sees from people who don't have cash or Visa will be more than made up by the huge amount of cash Visa paid to be a sponsor. The $700m figure just shows that the exclusive relationship is doing just fine.

Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you

#23

Post by jiggy2011 »

Shenglong wrote: post #18

I disagree completely. Visa sponsored the event - why would they want competitors there? When the average person sees that his or her Mastercard is not accepted, I don't think the first response is "damn you, Visa!" Just like, when I see an AMEX card isn't accepted, I don't say "Damn you Visa and Mastercard for offering lower rates!" The image that Visa is trying to promote is that they're the most commonly accepted…

"damn you, Visa!" is exactly what my first response would be, either that or damning the Olympic committee.

This is particularly jarring , because in the UK we are just used to the fact that everywhere that accepts VISA will also accept Mastercard. I can't think of a single situation I have been in where that hasn't been the case.

AMEX is a little different , since most banks that offer AMEX will also give you a Mastercard/VISA on the basis that it's less ubiquitous but offers better perks.

Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you

#25

Post by pavel_lishin »

Shenglong wrote: post #18

I disagree completely. Visa sponsored the event - why would they want competitors there? When the average person sees that his or her Mastercard is not accepted, I don't think the first response is "damn you, Visa!" Just like, when I see an AMEX card isn't accepted, I don't say "Damn you Visa and Mastercard for offering lower rates!" The image that Visa is trying to promote is that they're the most commonly accepted…

Were there ATMs at the Olympics that would dispense cash from a non-Visa card?

You can always walk out of Tim Hortons and get cash out of an ATM, or go to another coffee shop. When your options are either "have no money" or "waste ticket by exiting venue to get cash I can not use at that venue because I can't come back in", it's a bit different.

Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you

#26

Post by jiggy2011 »

jonknee wrote: post #15
fleitz wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's the issue, you walk into a store that you've been going to since you were a kid, pull out the payment card that you've been using since you were an adult, and they point you to a sign that says only Visa is accepted even though you bought something on interac a week before. It's not about visa being exclusive to the Olympics, its about VISA being the only thing you can use to buy shit in your hometown. Basical…

But that didn't happen. He went to an Olympic stadium, probably one built just for this event. It's like complaining that only Coke products were for sale (which is also the case thanks to a giant Coca Cola sponsorship).

It's a lot easier to just settle for Coke instead of Pepsi (if you even have a preference) than it is to go to your bank and have them change your credit card type just for the olympics.

Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you

#27

Post by fleitz »

jonknee wrote: post #15
fleitz wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's the issue, you walk into a store that you've been going to since you were a kid, pull out the payment card that you've been using since you were an adult, and they point you to a sign that says only Visa is accepted even though you bought something on interac a week before. It's not about visa being exclusive to the Olympics, its about VISA being the only thing you can use to buy shit in your hometown. Basical…

But that didn't happen. He went to an Olympic stadium, probably one built just for this event. It's like complaining that only Coke products were for sale (which is also the case thanks to a giant Coca Cola sponsorship).

It's what happened to me, so I'm pretty sure it did happen.

Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you

#28

Post by wtracy »

jonknee wrote: post #22
mthoms wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. What you're implying is that the marketing benefits of Visa become a sponsor are secondary to the direct revenue it generates at the event. This could be the most profitable marketing spend with the quickest ROI ever.

No, I'm saying that any lost sales the IOC sees from people who don't have cash or Visa will be more than made up by the huge amount of cash Visa paid to be a sponsor. The $700m figure just shows that the exclusive relationship is doing just fine.

More likely, in my mind: The IOC gets the marketing money from Visa, while the independent vendors at the Olympics take the hit from not being able to accept MasterCard.

Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you

#30

Post by apendleton »

dangrossman wrote: post #11
apendleton wrote: post #3

I'm not sure what the basis is for the assumption that this is a marketing move. It seems like the more obvious motivation would be to force everyone to pay with Visa to get the credit card fees from what will undoubtedly be several million dollars' worth of purchases, as a means of partially offsetting the cost of the investment in the sponsorship.

I don't think Visa Inc., which has been sponsoring the Olympics since 1986 in whatever country it's held, gets any transaction fees from Visa card acceptance in Europe. Visa Europe is an independent company with an irrevocable license to the Visa brand and an interoperability agreement. That suggests to me that the sponsorship is purely a marketing move.

That may well be; these articles hint (without supporting evidence) that fees are part of the motivation, but I'm not sure how much credence to lend them: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2153008/Visa-branded... and http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2910799/Visa-in-Ol...
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