Visa cards no longer accepted at Walmart as of next month

[llwhiteoutll]

Walmart states that transaction fees on Visa cards are too high and will no longer accept them starting on July 18th. Will continue to accept Amex, Mastercard and Discover (I didn't know Discover was still a thing).

http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/wal-m...ards-1.2941775

Should be interesting to see if the fees they don't have to pay will offset the loss in business.

[nik-]

Hmm, Walmart's typically bully route might have bitten off more than it can chew this time.

Edit: nm, it's just in Canada it seems.

[killer_carlson]

I wonder if other retailers will follow suit.

Wallmart cuts a pretty big swath.

[edslunch]

Presumably they've run the math and figured they would come out ahead. I'm not convinced that inconveniencing your customers is a great strategy though

Edit: or they figure Visa has more to lose and will buckle

[Looch City]

No Walmart, I still will not sign up for your Mastercard.

[Dion]

Doug Stephens, a Toronto-based retail analyst and strategist, noted that both sides will likely see disadvantages to this deal. "If you can't walk into a mass merchant and use a Visa card, that's going to seem very strange," Stephens said.

"You can't ignore the fact that Visa has a tremendous market share," he said. But he added, "If you do business with Walmart, and Walmart ceases to do business with you, you can't help but feel that."

Consumer finance industry newsletter Nilson Report says that Visa made up 56 per cent of credit card transactions globally in 2015, and Walmart Stores Inc., Walmart Canada's parent company, is widely reported to be the world's largest retailer.

"At the end of the day, when we strip everything out of the debate, we're dealing with the potential that six out of ten customers will come into a Walmart store and be disappointed that they can't use their credit card," Stephens said. "Competition is extremely tough. This is not a good time to limit your consumer's ability to buy from you."

He said Walmart's analysts have likely crunched the numbers, and determined that without having to pay Visa's fees, it would stand to make more money than it loses.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/walm...visa-1.3630956

[Dion]

Originally Posted by edslunch

Presumably they've run the math and figured they would come out ahead. I'm not convinced that inconveniencing your customers is a great strategy though

Edit: or they figure Visa has more to lose and will buckle

They already charge you 5 cents a bag so I highly doubt they really care what the customer thinks.

[Scornfire]

Ha, who's going to go out of their way to shop at Walmart if they don't have cash on hand? Hope this hurts them big time

[keratosis]

It won't. And they recently won a large lawsuit against visa in the states about charges. To lazy to look it up right now.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Scornfire

Ha, who's going to go out of their way to shop at Walmart if they don't have cash on hand? Hope this hurts them big time

Costco doesn't take Visa and it hasn't hurt them.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

nm

[Jacks]

This has nothing to do with transaction fees, if it did they would have stopped taking AMEX a long time ago. AMEX charges merchants ridiculous rates, that's why most places won't take it.

This is about them pimping their own Mastercard, they want to make the big interest on unpaid balances.

[Scornfire]

Originally Posted by Dion

Costco doesn't take Visa and it hasn't hurt them.

The funny thing is, Costco is switching to VISA this very month.

I doubt it really hurts Walmart either, unfortunately. I just hate the place, and tend to cheer for any potential hit to their bottom line. Taking away an option (whereas Costco had never offered it to begin with) should result in the loss of some customers at any rate

[oilyfan]

Originally Posted by Scornfire

The funny thing is, Costco is switching to VISA this very month.

I doubt it really hurts Walmart either, unfortunately. I just hate the place, and tend to cheer for any potential hit to their bottom line. Taking away an option (whereas Costco had never offered it to begin with) should result in the loss of some customers at any rate

Costco Canada does not accept Visa

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Scornfire

The funny thing is, Costco is switching to VISA this very month.

I doubt it really hurts Walmart either, unfortunately. I just hate the place, and tend to cheer for any potential hit to their bottom line. Taking away an option (whereas Costco had never offered it to begin with) should result in the loss of some customers at any rate

I thought that was only in the US? Because right now they still use Amex at US Costco. Canada contract with Amex ran out quite a while ago. It's been MC here since.

[keratosis]

Originally Posted by Scornfire

The funny thing is, Costco is switching to VISA this very month.

News to me.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Scornfire

The funny thing is, Costco is switching to VISA this very month.

I doubt it really hurts Walmart either, unfortunately. I just hate the place, and tend to cheer for any potential hit to their bottom line. Taking away an option (whereas Costco had never offered it to begin with) should result in the loss of some customers at any rate

Not in Canada, they've already switched to mastercard here.

Shamefully beaten by about 5 others...

[T@T]

They'll refuse the visa and offer you a Walmart mastercard.

[TorqueDog]

This is worse for VISA than it is for Walmart.

Walmart clerk: "Sorry, we don't take Visa."
Customer: "Okay, here's my debit card / MasterCard / cash."

There are multiple ways for customers to pay Walmart, but there is only one way that VISA can make money from that transaction.

What would hurt Walmart is if they stopped accepting VISA for their online transactions, as the cash and debit option isn't available, and VISA Debit probably wouldn't be accepted either.

[calgaryblood]

Originally Posted by Dion

They already charge you 5 cents a bag so I highly doubt they really care what the customer thinks.

5 cents a bag isn't killing anyone and if you re-use the bag as a garbage bag you're ahead at 5 cents a bag. Heck if you re-use the bags ask for 20 more because at 5 cents a bag you're getting a bargain.