Retailers want all benefits to themselves: accept cards without paying costs

According to the results of the new survey conducted by Visa, “consumers believe retailers benefit far more from accepting credit and debit cards than they pay in costs."

Visa also found clients believe vendors 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 lobbied Congress, filing a lawsuit, to let them shift their business costs to consumers by enabling vendors to charge checkout fees whenever consumers use credit or debit cards.

In turn, national convenience store nets have implemented misleading, in-store petition campaigns to cover for their checkout fee efforts.

As group president of the Americas for Visa Inc said Bill Sheedy stated, company’s 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."