What's with Credit Cards?

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › What's with Credit Cards?

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Linuxluver

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#514382 31-Aug-2011 12:04

networkn:
Anyone else noticed that lately it seems like next to no-one takes credit cards any more? I am not sure why all of a sudden retailers are refusing to take it. I used to live off my credit card and clear the entire balance each month which meant I got loads of airpoints. I don't think the fee's have increased lately, in fact now retailers can actually pass those costs on.

At this rate Credit Cards won't last the decade! At least half the retailers I regularly deal with have stopped.

VISA, inparticular, have been behaving like the semi-monopoly they are are hiking the merchant fees. Merchants say..."No thanks". Sydney Taxi drivers told them to get stuffed back in 2000 when VISA hiked merchant rates prior to the Sydney Olympics.

They also block payments to organisations and people the US Government doesn't like but who haven't been charged with any crime - like Wikileaks. They are acting like a monopoly and interfering with transactions between consenting parties out side the United States under political pressure from the US government.

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BlakJak

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#514389 31-Aug-2011 12:10

ajobbins:
chiefie: Aussie retails don't like EFTPOS... it's real weird...

I think it's to do with the current fee structure. Unlike NZ, where retailers (As I understand) just pay a service and rental fee, AU retailers pay a transaction fee, making it uneconomic for them for small purchases.

I believe there is currently a campaign running in AU to change this and get more people using EFTPOS, especially for small purchases.

Origins in the $0.25/call charge applied to phonecalls? Or whatever their business equivalent is?
Might change with the widespread use of IP type EFT instead of dialup tech?

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Lurch

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#514400 31-Aug-2011 12:21

Don't know about Credit cards but everywhere I've been accepts my debit card. Have found more and more places with mobile eftpos/credit cards it's great.

As for online use it everywhere debit card + paypal = easy :-)

timmmay

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#514407 31-Aug-2011 12:28

The only places that don't accept credit cards that i've found are small places selling small things. Dairys, fish and chip stores, that sort of place. Pretty much everywhere accepts eftpos.

xpd

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#514420 31-Aug-2011 12:39

We use our credit card everywhere, havent had any issues not being able to use it. Smaller retailers I can understand being a bit lothe to accept them due to fees etc, but at end of the day, a sale is a sale....

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freitasm

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#514422 31-Aug-2011 12:42

Not sure what's this about. I use credit cards everywhere...

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blakamin

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#514427 31-Aug-2011 12:48

BlakJak:
ajobbins:
chiefie: Aussie retails don't like EFTPOS... it's real weird...

I think it's to do with the current fee structure. Unlike NZ, where retailers (As I understand) just pay a service and rental fee, AU retailers pay a transaction fee, making it uneconomic for them for small purchases.

I believe there is currently a campaign running in AU to change this and get more people using EFTPOS, especially for small purchases.

Origins in the $0.25/call charge applied to phonecalls? Or whatever their business equivalent is?
Might change with the widespread use of IP type EFT instead of dialup tech?

That too, but transaction fees were huge. One of my sisters had a cafe and she was so relieved when she moved here.

webwat

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#514549 31-Aug-2011 15:56

chiefie: Aussie retails don't like EFTPOS... it's real weird...

Or NZ apples...

Time to find a new industry!

PenultimateHop

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#515808 2-Sep-2011 16:07

I haven't noticed any decline in acceptance of CCs, pretty much anywhere. I travel pretty much constantly and live off my credit cards.

I don't carry my NZ EFTPOS card on me anymore but I rarely need cash when I'm in NZ -- indicating to me that either I don't encounter many EFTPOS-only places (or I avoid them). My most recent trip to Australia I used about $100 in cash over a couple of weeks, which is a huge improvement to what it used to be like when I lived there.

EFTPOS in Australia was always weird - per transaction charges and the original network and terminals were all ISDN so you had to pay for a BRI as well. It never caught on as well as it did in NZ because of that.

networkn

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#515810 2-Sep-2011 16:11

I must admit when I look back over my eftpos it's all food places, fish shops etc etc etc...

Nothing other than food I can see. Still!

mattwnz

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#515818 2-Sep-2011 16:17

I've noticed an increase of businesses charging more if you pay by credit card. This I think is understandable, as there is a fee associated with it, that people paying by eftpos would be subsidising people benefiting by paying by CC. Benefits of CC is that it gives you loyality points and up to a month of an interest free loan on that purchase, and buyer protection, which you don't get if you pay cash. Either that or I notice that some companies will give a discount if you pay by cash/eftpos. Companies that do absorb the fee are often higher margin ones.

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