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I remember reading a comment here a while back about merchants being offered a discount on the processing fee if they also transmitted detailed data about the p
by techdmn 7d ago
I remember reading a comment here a while back about merchants being offered a discount on the processing fee if they also transmitted detailed data about the purchase (essentially the data that would be on the receipt). That data could then be resold on to advertisers. Does anyone remember this or have links to more data? (Not having much luck with search, maybe I'm hallucinating the whole thing.)
- mikeweiss 7d agoI would love if it was transmitted to the bank for my own use so I can easily remember what I purchased or run budgeting software against it! Obviously wouldn't be excited about it being resold tho.
- deleted 7d ago[deleted]
- ctkhn 7d agoIt's crazy it is resold but we don't even get it for our own use. Budgeting with credit card statements would instantly become so much more useful with less effort.
- kccqzy 7d agoIt does, at least in some cases. When I book flights directly from an airline, the bank knows the name of the passenger, the date of the flight, the origin and destination airports, as well as the cabin class. For one bank (Chase), the information is printed on the statements; for another they have a web lookup tool.
- c0_0p_ 7d agoFlights are one of the very few cases where this happens automatically though the card providers systems. It's called L2 data, and it's sent a little while after the transaction goes through.
- kccqzy 6d agoYup. I’m actually quite curious how airlines are convinced to send such information to banks whereas other kinds of stores aren’t.
- c0_0p_ 6d agoAirlines are just about the only business that have the ability to charge credit cards without real time authorization by the network. This is for things like buying a drink while in flight. I wouldn't be surprised if this was all part of the negotiation.
- supertrope 7d agoLevel 3 data.
- hadrien01 7d agoLevel 2/3 data: https://docs.adyen.com/payment-methods/cards/enhanced-scheme-data/l2-l3 https://docs.adyen.com/payment-methods/cards/enhanced-scheme... It's only available in the US, many countries have lower interchange fees and prohibit sending this data.
- iancarroll 7d agoImportantly, there is only an incentive for L2/L3 data on business/corporate cards, which have an inflated interchange rate above personal cards anyway. This is not a scheme to get enhanced targeting data for personal transactions.
- tylergetsay 7d agoI believe most prepaid visa gift cards are being monetized in this way. https://www.walmartgift.com/AcctMgmt/Controls/WalMartGiftCard/Support/tps.aspx https://www.walmartgift.com/AcctMgmt/Controls/WalMartGiftCar... Ive heard of casinos trying to pay out winnings using some kind of prepaid card, where theyd also get info about how people spent their casino winnings. Lots of ways to leverage that data.
- iancarroll 6d agoPrepaid cards are great for the vendor because they have breakage (the unspent amount before expiry). I doubt the data is worth much relative to that. If anything, they have much less of a tie to the individual.
- soared 7d agoAlso available in Canada now!
- RobRivera 7d agoThis would explain why so many damn coffee shops dont deal with cash now - the double as a coffee shop and data reseller
- mikepurvis 7d agoI mean, cash is also expensive in its own way. It has to be handled and insured, coins may need to be rolled before being taken to the bank, a register is a mechanical device to power and maintain, petty theft by employees is a concern. It's not really that hard to see why a business charging $5-20 per transaction from people who all have phones and credit cards anyway might choose not to accept cash.
- why-el 7d ago> a register is a mechanical device to power and maintain, surely a million times less expensive than a subscription to a POS....this is not a strong argument.
- nemomarx 7d agoif you cut out all the other details they mentioned I guess. how much do you think taking the cash to the bank weekly costs?
- carlosjobim 7d agoNothing, because the owner is rejoicing every step of the way. I'd say employee theft is the only reason a coffee shop would be "no-cash", and fear of robbery in a few places.
- warkdarrior 7d agoYou think the owner is taking the cash to the bank?? Unless they are an one-person operation, they likely have an employee do it (among their other duties).
- massagedpelican 7d agothe main purpose of that data is for fraud detection, anything downstream (i.e. selling it to advertisers) is just the cherry on top. Merchants are always financially incentivized both implicitly and explicitly to do anything that would reduce fraud and increase the rate of successful authorizations.