That cash back is coming from the merchants who are being screwed by the card companies on your behalf.
I asked my wife to stop using her Amex because they are the worse, but all card companies do it.
2% may not sound like a lot, but on $1M worth of sales, a medium size shops annual turnover, that's $20,000, which is the salary for a junior sales assistant.
We're playing the same games with Bitcoin we already play with fiat:
Stop it, stop it now.
Do you have a source on this? I assumed cashback cards were just pulling the rewards out of their revenue/other stuff
That is their revenue/other stuff.
Card companies charge merchants monthly fees and transaction fees which is their earnings and profit which some split with their card users.
But in that case, if I'm gonna use a visa anyways, maybe I'd rather get the cashback than give it to the bank?
Anyways, I don't have time for another bank, but if I was a big spender I would consider it.
Same argument as JPEGs on Bitcoin, if it's going to happen anyway, I might as well not bother to do anything.
Debit card fees are normally cheaper for the merchant than credit card fees. Cash is free, although some banks charge merchants to deposit cash these days and other countries are making large amounts of cash illegal.
We're supposed to be the good guys, changing the system for the better, not ambivalent to it.
6% of $1M is $60,000
6% of your $4 coffee is $0.24
They look different, but they are the same.
Maybe THEY should accept Bitcoin when I offer it.
YES 💯 💜🫂
Yes. We should expect merchants to eventually recognize the value of accepting Bitcoin instead of paying other payment processing fees... so much so, merchants ought to offer a couple points discount for purchases via Bitcoin in order to entice customers away from using credit cards that provide them with rewards.... until then, I say punish the merchants for not making it worth your while to spend your Bitcoin: just keep forcing them to pay credit cards fees so that you can earn the rewards that you can ultimately turn into more Bitcoin for yourself.
So nostr:nprofile1qyt8wumn8ghj7etyv4hzumn0wd68ytnvv9hxgtcppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qqsd7gqv4s60d743gfv8x4z09krv6zmn6x02sswcfsrt0ymshw3pfqcap2vcl have an interesting proposition.
They are able to offer traditional merchant services at around 50% the cost of other companies because it is subsidised by the Bitcoin gains they make by also accepting Bitcoin and optionally converting on the fly to fiat for merchants that prefer not to hold Bitcoin.
Even if you have no interest in Bitcoin, as a merchant you are still incentivised to choose them, then you become incentivised to start accepting Bitcoin and eventually holding Bitcoin as you see the value proposition.
Game theory in full force 💪
That sounds awesome!... particularly for the merchants... If all those merchant incentives eventually lead to merchants providing real incentives for their customers to spend their Bitcoin, then we'll really have something.
But i don't know what my existing no cashback card is charging merchants. If they can charge whatever they want, why wouldn't they?
