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Doesn't the merchant pay the fee? Never heard of shops having different prices for different credit cards or cash but maybe they should do that in order for card users to see the real cost of their credit cards.

Until that happens card users will not care




The consumer pays higher prices (since the merchant charges higher prices due to transaction costs), which is passed onto the network+banks via the merchant.

There’s an analogous situation with tariffs - it seems the manufacturer pays the cost of the tariffs since it is coming out of their bank accounts. But it’s actually consumers paying the tariffs.


You're right, then we should move to have different prices which show clearly the fees, I suspect a lot more people would go back to cash.

The problem is the govt wants to get rid of cash all together so I guess this will never happen


Not really true, depends on the marginal elasticity of demand whether the consumer vs. the retailer pays and how much. My wife owns a retail store, and she loves Amex customers, they’re usually the highest spenders and easiest to upsell. Having a surcharge for credit cards or Amex in particular would be counterproductive.


Well, and I assume those upsells probably have a higher margin for her. Ie effectively she's charging those Amex guys more.




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