The customers don't have a choice. In almost all countries worldwide, bank debit cards support Visa or Mastercard, and most customers can only pay you with their bank card.
I refuse to support PayPal for my business on principle, even though it means I lose many customers who are only willing/able to pay via PayPal.
I support a range of alternative payment methods for the majority of my customers, but over 95% of all transactions are made with Visa/Mastercard enabled bank cards.
If stopped supporting Visa/Mastercard bank cards, I'd go out of business.
I'm not saying don't support them. I'm saying don't use them, or disincentivize them, (price show the price of transaction with Visa & MC in the checkout), offer discounts for other methods. I understand the severity of the problem.
I specifically got a checking account with American Express for exactly the Bank Card reason. If you are an online retailer, you should offer using Crypto as well. You should still be able to take checks.
I fully understand that this makes it difficult for everyone involved, but that's the problem. The convenience is why you have a monopoly seizing your assets and shutting down your business.
The convenience is why you have a monopoly seizing your assets and shutting down your business.
No. The convenience isn't why we have a monopoly. Nations not having control over their own monetary systems is the reason why these companies have a monopoly.
You don't have to sell shit if you have control over the monetary system. This is actually a task for the government. To make sure shit like that doesn't happen. To ensure that the fundamental needs of the population is met. Food, water, energy and yes even guaranteed access to the financial system as it is impossible to live in modern society without a bank account.
So, fun little fact about disincentivizing them, thats illegal. You straight up legally cannot do that in a public manner. Most countries have laws with very harsh penalties if you do so. So you'd have to do it in a roundabout way, and not in the way your example provides.
I dont have a source on hand unfortunately, and it has been a while since I last saw it (talking from memory of years ago).
From quick searching, its very complicated:
Some states ban it outright, such as Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Oklahoma.
Some states you cannot charge more for debit cards, period (this appears to extend outside of those 4 states).
Some states you can pass on the surcharge to the customer, must be publicly disclosed (this should be a duh), and itemized on the receipt (also should be a duh). However, some states make this more complicated, by shoving caps on the amount you can pass on.
You cannot charge more for any card purchase, period (with an exception I will mention below). AKA you cannot gain extra profit from a credit card purchase. So a Discover card will pay the same amount as a Mastercard, no discounts allowed between them (with weird caveats/loopholes here and there, but thats mostly on their end, not yours).
There is only 1 way to get around this, offering a cash discount for purchases made exclusively in cash. This is the only exception.
EDIT: This is also obviously only talkin about the USA. I have no idea how it is over in the EU. Frankly, I presume that its worse over there.
The customers don't have a choice. In almost all countries worldwide, bank debit cards support Visa or Mastercard, and most customers can only pay you with their bank card.
I refuse to support PayPal for my business on principle, even though it means I lose many customers who are only willing/able to pay via PayPal.
I support a range of alternative payment methods for the majority of my customers, but over 95% of all transactions are made with Visa/Mastercard enabled bank cards.
If stopped supporting Visa/Mastercard bank cards, I'd go out of business.
I'm not saying don't support them. I'm saying don't use them, or disincentivize them, (price show the price of transaction with Visa & MC in the checkout), offer discounts for other methods. I understand the severity of the problem.
I specifically got a checking account with American Express for exactly the Bank Card reason. If you are an online retailer, you should offer using Crypto as well. You should still be able to take checks.
I fully understand that this makes it difficult for everyone involved, but that's the problem. The convenience is why you have a monopoly seizing your assets and shutting down your business.
No. The convenience isn't why we have a monopoly. Nations not having control over their own monetary systems is the reason why these companies have a monopoly.
Yeah, and how did they sell that?
Literally this is what MasterCard is doing in Africa: intentionally displacing national currencies with Mastercard.
You don't have to sell shit if you have control over the monetary system. This is actually a task for the government. To make sure shit like that doesn't happen. To ensure that the fundamental needs of the population is met. Food, water, energy and yes even guaranteed access to the financial system as it is impossible to live in modern society without a bank account.
So, fun little fact about disincentivizing them, thats illegal. You straight up legally cannot do that in a public manner. Most countries have laws with very harsh penalties if you do so. So you'd have to do it in a roundabout way, and not in the way your example provides.
I'm not aware of those. Got an example?
I dont have a source on hand unfortunately, and it has been a while since I last saw it (talking from memory of years ago).
From quick searching, its very complicated:
Some states ban it outright, such as Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Oklahoma.
Some states you cannot charge more for debit cards, period (this appears to extend outside of those 4 states).
Some states you can pass on the surcharge to the customer, must be publicly disclosed (this should be a duh), and itemized on the receipt (also should be a duh). However, some states make this more complicated, by shoving caps on the amount you can pass on.
You cannot charge more for any card purchase, period (with an exception I will mention below). AKA you cannot gain extra profit from a credit card purchase. So a Discover card will pay the same amount as a Mastercard, no discounts allowed between them (with weird caveats/loopholes here and there, but thats mostly on their end, not yours).
There is only 1 way to get around this, offering a cash discount for purchases made exclusively in cash. This is the only exception.
EDIT: This is also obviously only talkin about the USA. I have no idea how it is over in the EU. Frankly, I presume that its worse over there.