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Comment by lotsofpulp | Hacker News Reader

> SEPA in EU is already something but it is taking ages for it to become an actual payment platform in everyday's life.

Is there anything stopping merchants from offering different prices to people based on different payment methods?

I assume the reason merchants do not list a discount for paying via SEPA or ACH or debit card or whatever local non credit card (and non Visa/Amex/MC) option, is because merchants benefit from the higher prices that people are willing to pay when using credit cards (compared to the cost of accepting credit cards).

In the US, Target is the only big retailer I know that discounts for using ACH (debiting directly from bank account). They give 5% off.

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In some countries it is illegal to charge different prices based on which payment method is used.

Here in Italy for example there is a lot of discussion around this topic now that most stores are legally bound to accept digital payments but cannot charge a different price if you pay with card instead of cash.

Which basically means that you pay credit card charge even for cash payments.

That is a bad rule. It hides the cost of the CC for the consumer. Ideally the card holder should pay the whole fee and it should be on the recipe.

> Traders in the EU are not allowed to charge you extra for using your credit or debit card.

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/pri...

Here's a sticker at a large Danish supermarket showing it isn't necessarily that simple.

It says local and foreign debit cards are free, but Danish credit cards cost 0.9375% extra and foreign ones 1.75% extra. Maybe the rule only applies in the Eurozone?

https://imgur.com/a/UDnathK

Interesting. So foreign cards have to be accepted at the same price?

I know credit card fees are capped in EU, so this might be a reasonable policy, but if merchants and domestic customers have to eat costs due to foreign card costs via higher prices for everyone, that does not seem fair.

Some expensive cards (historically mainly Amex) are just not accepted widely.

> So foreign cards have to be accepted at the same price?

No, only regulated cards have to be accepted at that price.

So a surcharge can be charged for EU commercial cards which also cost > 2% and are not subject to the interchange regulation.

Which is basically the government helping an oligopoly instead of fighting it. Of course, considering how attractive the idea of all transactions being trackable must be to governments this is hardly surprising.

What they can do is offer a rebate if you don't pay by credit card.

Swiss (the airline), for example does that.

But I think that goes with the card fee limit of 0.2-0.3% if I remember correctly.

I think this indirectly happens. I live in Haarlem, Netherlands, and some popular supermarkets in my area would not accept a VISA/Mastercard. They only accept Maestro(Which I think is cheaper for them because it is a debit card that Dutch banks give out). I found it surprising because that should mean they lose out on some business from so many expats that visit/live in Netherlands, but apparently not.

Maestro and Mastercard Debit cost more or less the same for NL-issued cards, interchange is a fixed 2ct [1]. As Mastercard is getting rid of Maestro, Dutch banks will start issuing Debit Mastercards soon.

Probably the supermarkets will switch to only accept Mastercard Debit/Visa Debit.

[1]: https://www.mastercard.com/content/dam/public/mastercardcom/...

This happens in the US, too. A local (western US) example is WinCo Foods, a chain of grocery stores. The only cards they take are debit (and EBT, but that is a different issue). No credit cards.

Interestingly, Aldi in the US used to only take debit cards, and changed to accepting credit cards a few years ago.

It's called surcharging and it's not allowed in the EU.

> Is there anything stopping merchants from offering different prices to people based on different payment methods?

Yes, it is usually not allowed in your contract with the card payment providers. If you start doing it anyway - as some do - you risk them terminating the contract.

> Is there anything stopping merchants from offering different prices to people based on different payment methods?

I think there's an EU rule about that. I've seen a business (justeat) charge a card-processing fee for cash-on-delivery orders.

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