What is the incentive for merchants to let you pay by credit card?

for every transaction taht you pay the merchant with a credit card, the credit card company charges them a fee. why would merchants agree to letting you pay by credit card then, when they have to pay a fee whereas if you pay by cash or debit then they dont' have to pay any fee. thanks!

I never carry cash. It's just not safe. If a merchant doesn't accept credit cards, I'll spend my credit somewhere else. :)

Ultimately , you pay, in the form of higher prices. Used to be, you got a knock off for paying cash, now incentives seem to spring from everywhere to use the card.There are several reasons to go with the card from the merchant's perspective. 1: security. If he ( the merchant ) isn't holding the cash ,well,sure as hell can't be taken from him. 2 : He doesn't have to make change and doesn't have to run to the bank after a day's work to make the cash deposits. 3: He KNOWS ( and you should know) that you can buy ANYTHING , ANYTIME, IT IS SO DAMNED CONVENIENT TO USE!! You will use it readily , whereas cash transactions require a little more forethought and preparation. At that point , you should see just how easy it is to be ON THE HOOK OF THE CARD!! 4:There are certain schools of thought that see our society going ...cashless, the Card handles ALL transactions.And there are 2 sides to that way of thinking. 5: CONTROL OF YOU AND YOUR LIFE. One being that the Card will just be so handy for everything ,24/7 ,any where, anytime, any reason, and the flip side of that is that EVERYTHING you buy or service you pay for , is recorded and duly noted, your privacy,...gone. The other school of thought is a little darker.We will all have the Card, with a tattoo or standalone sub dermal microchip to verify who we are and of course the utter convenience of it all. Here again , all our transactions recorded and kept for marketing purposes and evidence if need be. These credit cards or chips in a cashless society can be issued on a basis of an oath or pledge to certain forms of government , in which case , given your particular leanings for or against a type of government, could be real tough on your lifestyle. If no cash is used anywhere, and the Chip or Card rule , and you don't have one your life could suck, real bad. I personally don't care for that , but who's to say what's comin'down the road.

Because they make a sale that they otherwise would not make as credit cards are the primary "Impulse Buying" tool .

You spend more with plastic.

Increased business, that's the incentive.

A card can be a tool for impulse buying which merchants know will be utilized, thus contributing to additional revenue and therefore profits. The fee merchants pay to get the sale always contribute positively to the bottom line as their margins always cover the expense they make for the fee.

Accepting credit cards brings in more sales. Even with the credit card fees, the total profit increases.

Customers without cash or their checkbook (with money in the account) couldn't buy anything. Customers who have the money, but who like the convenience of credit cards would take their business to the competitor who accepts the card. No sale means no profit at all.

Checks bounce and result in total losses.

Debit cards do carry fees for the merchant (the bank isn't processing them for free).

The incentive is convenience/choice of payment option for the customer, and therefore more customers.

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment:

Archive: Forum -Forum -Finance - Links - 1 - 2 - RSS - All RSS Feeds
The Causes and the Results. 0.004
Copyright (c) 2011 Financial Crisis Sunday, May 27, 2012 - Terms of use - Privacy Policy