Hacker News Reader

Comment by chrismeller | Hacker News Reader

Only tangentially related, but it’s the same in the US. Sure Discover and Amex exist, but fees for merchants are usually high and adoption is lower.

I’ve travelled quite a lot, but everywhere I’ve been there has been the same - Visa, MC, and a local alternative or two that might be popular within the country but don’t extend elsewhere.

Is there actually any other network elsewhere in the world that is of a similar scale? I assume China must have something?

View on HN

Sure Discover and Amex exist, but fees for merchants are usually high and adoption is lower.

Doesn't that suggest VISA & MC are not making obscene profits? The upstart being more expensive than the incumbent is often a sign that the incumbent is not just resting on their laurels with fat profit margins.

Neither American Express nor Discover are upstarts.... both are old.

AMEX has been issuing charge cards since 1958 and Discover has been issuing credit cards since 1985.

China mostly uses WeChat's payment system and Alibaba's Alipay on mobile devices.

And for the direct equivalent of Visa/MC there's unionpay.

Most merchants also prefer to take WeChat and AliPay because there are no fees.

Not sure why you're getting downvoted. NPR had a story on exactly this - China largely skipped credit cards and went straight for the mobile payments.

https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2017/06/29/53...

It's called "protectionism".

China did the same thing by banning Google and supporting Baidu.

Sort of.

In Baidu's case, they're a locally grown replacement. Per the article, local credit systems didn't really take off; a researcher in the article states their belief it's due to different attitudes on debt in China.

or maybe it's just the case of being "late to the game", when you don't have to stick to particular technology just because there was a significant investment in its' infrastructure, but can choose whatever you want from what is available currently.

Africa did as well for the most part, didn't they? I recall reading how people there are largely "unbanked" but they carry balances with their cell provider somehow and pay each other that way.

In Africa that would be m-pesa, started by a Kenyan telecom and Vodafone.

One fun bit is that it uses SIM applications[0], something that's barely used for anything serious except for m-pesa (and its spin-offs) but exists practically across the entire GSM infrastructure.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIM_Application_Toolkit

Interesting, I've been using a Discover as my primary payment method for a couple years now, and I think I've run into maybe two businesses in that time that accepted Visa/Mastercard but not Discover. Perhaps it's regional?

Within the US they’re widely accepted, just as Amex is. A lot of merchants hate them because their fees are usually insanely higher. Outside of the US you’ll find dozens (dozens!) of merchants that accept them, while Visa and MC are nearly, if not totally, universal.

China has UnionPay, it's accepted at quite a few places in Zurich, so it has some international adoption. No way for Swiss People to get a UnionPay card themselves though.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com