Visa Survey Finds Consumers Not Sympathetic to Merchant Costs
Visa has released results of a new survey finding that "consumers believe retailers benefit far more from accepting credit and debit cards than they pay in costs." Visa said that the survey also found that consumers believe merchants see card cost acceptance as a part of doing business, much like paying for utilities such as electricity.
Retailers and their well-funded trade associations have filed lawsuits and are aggressively lobbying Congress to allow them to shift their business costs to consumers by allowing merchants to charge checkout fees whenever consumers use credit or debit cards. At the same time, national convenience store chains have launched misleading, in-store petition campaigns to cover for their checkout fee efforts.
"The response is loud and clear: consumers aren't buying the message convenience store chains and big retailers are selling," said Bill Sheedy, group president of the Americas for Visa Inc. "This research demonstrates that consumers are well aware that legislation is a Trojan horse that likely will lead to higher prices for cardholders while retailers pocket the savings."
"Retailers want the best of both worlds - the benefits of card acceptance without paying the costs," Sheedy added. "This research shows that retailers who are campaigning for checkout fees or uneven legislative schemes that shift the cost of doing business onto the backs of consumers are risking a customer backlash."
Add your comment... (note that all comments are reviewed before they're published)