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When you pay with Suica, the merchant pays a transaction fee of between 2 to 3.2%, similar to a credit card. That's surprising. IC cards are so universally and

by sowbug 20d ago

When you pay with Suica, the merchant pays a transaction fee of between 2 to 3.2%, similar to a credit card. That's surprising. IC cards are so universally and cheerfully accepted that I assumed they had no per-transaction costs. Compare the US, where merchants can be surly about card payments.

Conan_Kudo 20d ago
There's a mindset difference. People are more willing to pay to reduce inconvenience for customers there, whereas here the inconvenience to the merchant sometimes matters more.
- ryan_lane 20d ago
  This simply isn't true, or you'd see these places accept credit cards. The most prevalent mom & pop approach is either cash only or it's cash and PayPay. You may also see cash, PayPay and IC. PayPay, at first, had extremely low fees and an army of sales people that targeted mom & pops, pushing the low fees. They've since then increased fees as their saturation has increased, and now you'll see shops adding things like setapay or hachipay (which are annoyingly ku specific payment methods that are very low fee). Larger businesses are owned by massive conglomerates, or are housed in shopping complexes owned by massive conglomerates that require them to accept more payment methods. Like all businesses, they aim to reduce their costs and increase their margins. They aren't adding payment methods to reduce your inconvenience, unless they think doing so will increase their volume enough to offset the fees.
jen20 20d ago
> Compare the US, where merchants can be surly about card payments. I rarely encounter this - I find it far more common to see places that won’t accept cash at all (even small businesses like food trucks).
- kube-system 19d ago
  Attitudes depends on margin and cash-handling costs. And prior to a 2013 class-action lawsuit that changed the situation, merchants were widely banned by payment processors from charging credit card transaction fees. But now many low margin businesses pass along the cost: for instance, it is common at gas stations, and almost universal at truck stops across the US. And some businesses have long opted for minimum transaction amount for credit purchases. https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2022/03/NINTCHDBPICT000721101090.jpg https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2022/03/N... https://wpcdn.us-east-1.vip.tn-cloud.net/www.41nbc.com/content/uploads/2021/02/debit.jpg https://wpcdn.us-east-1.vip.tn-cloud.net/www.41nbc.com/conte... On the other hand, in places where the target clientele is fully-banked and handling cash is more costly, some businesses find it advantageous to opt solely for card transactions: for instance, an upscale establishment in a city. They may have higher margins that can easily eat the cost, and being card-only also decreases the attractiveness to robbers and discourages unbanked patrons. It has also been criticized for being discriminatory in the same way.

by sowbug 20d ago

Conan_Kudo 20d ago

There's a mindset difference. People are more willing to pay to reduce inconvenience for customers there, whereas here the inconvenience to the merchant sometimes matters more.

ryan_lane 20d ago
This simply isn't true, or you'd see these places accept credit cards. The most prevalent mom & pop approach is either cash only or it's cash and PayPay. You may also see cash, PayPay and IC. PayPay, at first, had extremely low fees and an army of sales people that targeted mom & pops, pushing the low fees. They've since then increased fees as their saturation has increased, and now you'll see shops adding things like setapay or hachipay (which are annoyingly ku specific payment methods that are very low fee). Larger businesses are owned by massive conglomerates, or are housed in shopping complexes owned by massive conglomerates that require them to accept more payment methods. Like all businesses, they aim to reduce their costs and increase their margins. They aren't adding payment methods to reduce your inconvenience, unless they think doing so will increase their volume enough to offset the fees.

jen20 20d ago

> Compare the US, where merchants can be surly about card payments. I rarely encounter this - I find it far more common to see places that won’t accept cash at all (even small businesses like food trucks).

kube-system 19d ago
Attitudes depends on margin and cash-handling costs. And prior to a 2013 class-action lawsuit that changed the situation, merchants were widely banned by payment processors from charging credit card transaction fees. But now many low margin businesses pass along the cost: for instance, it is common at gas stations, and almost universal at truck stops across the US. And some businesses have long opted for minimum transaction amount for credit purchases. https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2022/03/NINTCHDBPICT000721101090.jpg https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2022/03/N... https://wpcdn.us-east-1.vip.tn-cloud.net/www.41nbc.com/content/uploads/2021/02/debit.jpg https://wpcdn.us-east-1.vip.tn-cloud.net/www.41nbc.com/conte... On the other hand, in places where the target clientele is fully-banked and handling cash is more costly, some businesses find it advantageous to opt solely for card transactions: for instance, an upscale establishment in a city. They may have higher margins that can easily eat the cost, and being card-only also decreases the attractiveness to robbers and discourages unbanked patrons. It has also been criticized for being discriminatory in the same way.