• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Walmart to stop accepting Visa cards in Canadian stores

Status
Not open for further replies.
Visa Credit cards specifically.

Didnt even know they had problems with Visa in 2014, guess its official now

Walmart soon won’t accept your Visa card.

A spokesperson for Walmart Canada said that the fees associated with Visa are just too expensive.



“Following an evaluation of credit card transaction fees in Canada and the rest of the world, we have recently concluded the fees applied to credit card purchases are unjustifiably high,” Alex Roberton told Global News in an email.

“Unfortunately, Visa and Walmart have been unable to agree on an appropriate fee for Visa transactions.”
The change will start with three stores in Thunder Bay on July 18, and then be rolled out across the rest of the country. So far there is no official time frame for when your local store will stop accepting it.



Roberton says the retail giant, which has over 400 stores across Canada, knows that it’s a blow to Canadians.

“We sincerely regret the impact this will have on our customers that use Visa and remain fully committed to reaching an agreement with Visa,” he said.

The move comes during a long legal battle between Walmart and Visa. In 2014, Walmart brought a legal suit against the credit card company for what it called “swipe fees.” In May, the retail giant sued Visa over how the companies verify a card purchase, according to the Wall Street Journal.

http://globalnews.ca/news/2755692/w...g-visa-cards-in-canadian-stores/?sf28480042=1

As others mentioned No Frills stopped taking Visa Credit Cards recently here, hmm
 

soultron

Banned
Does Walmart use Apple Pay in its Canadian stores? I know all of our major banks here just got support for it. I wonder if this also factors into how Walmart and VISA haven't been able to reach an agreement?
 

McDougles

Member
You already can't use it at No Frills. I guess paying with credit is a frill? Then why do some stores have pharmacies?
 
Makes sense given that they keep trying to sell me their crappy MasterCard all the time. Guess they thought they could to take the risk?

You already can't use it at No Frills. I guess paying with credit is a frill? Then why do some stores have pharmacies?

Ok I'll admit that got me lol
 
Fees battles are always stupid. Like when some gas stations started charging more for credit, I just took my business to ones that didn't.
 

Nobility

Banned
Credit fees are dumb but still surprised by this news.

Especially for a huge corporation like Walmart.

MasterCard life it is...
 

Dingens

Member
[...]
MasterCard life it is...

until they start getting the upper hand, become cocky and even more greedy and than start charging stores a premium...
And now imagine the no cash society some lobbyists and politicians are striving for. Sooner or later you, the consumer will have to pay those fees, because the stores sure as hell won't.
 

Makai

Member
We really need to get international electronic payment systems that are feeless. Seems crazy that we still have to pay a fee for simple transactions.
 
We really need to get international electronic payment systems that are feeless. Seems crazy that we still have to pay a fee for simple transactions.

Debit transactions are basically free (I think 1 or 2 cents for the merchant). In Canada a non-profit consortium (called Interac) runs debit cards, that's why they've been ubiquitous for 20+ years and available everywhere.
 

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
Smells like posturing to me

Not that I am a fan of Wal-Mart or can speak as to whether or not it's smart for them to do this in this particular case, but there has to be a limit to the fee that credit card companies charge companies for the transaction. Otherwise the credit card companies could arbitrarily raise the fee to some ridiculous amount.

Credit Card companies are going to raise the fee as high as they can in order to get more money out of retailers and businesses and there has to be a point where a business say "enough is enough" and that the fee is too high to justify using that payment method in their business.
 

Fuzzy

I would bang a hot farmer!
Like I implied in the other thread, this is Walmart and MC colluding to push out Visa. MC and Visa agreed to freeze those fees to 1.5% for 5 years so there's no reason to accept one but not the other except for one thing, Walmart's own credit card is a MC.

Why doesn't No Frills accept Visa? Same reason. No Frills is owned by Loblaws who also owns PC Financial which uses MC. This is going to be an ongoing trend for Visa here.
 
Like I implied in the other thread, this is Walmart and MC colluding to push out Visa. MC and Visa agreed to freeze those fees to 1.5% for 5 years so there's no reason to accept one but not the other except for one thing, Walmart's own credit card is a MC.

Why doesn't No Frills accept Visa? Same reason. No Frills is owned by Loblaws who also owns PC Financial which uses MC. This is going to be an ongoing trend for Visa here.

Is that Bob's?
 

Az987

all good things
Walmart and Visa have been at it for two decades.

Walmart hasn't accepted Visa st Sam's Club for a while too.

There was a lawsuit that a bunch of major retailers had with Visa and MasterCard for price fixing that reached a settlement of 5.7 billion in 2012 but Walmart dropped at saying it wasn't enough.
 

Pachinko

Member
I'm sure this has absolutely nothing to do with that annoying as hell mastercard partnership they have. You know, the one where every single teller get super pushy when you pay with debit and asks 5 times if you would like the walmart mastercard ?

Ugh.

I don't pay with credit at walmart anyway but yeah...
 

Az987

all good things
Like I implied in the other thread, this is Walmart and MC colluding to push out Visa. MC and Visa agreed to freeze those fees to 1.5% for 5 years so there's no reason to accept one but not the other except for one thing, Walmart's own credit card is a MC.

Why doesn't No Frills accept Visa? Same reason. No Frills is owned by Loblaws who also owns PC Financial which uses MC. This is going to be an ongoing trend for Visa here.

It has to do with Visa having the biggest market share too. Visa has around 50% I believe.
 

jstripes

Banned
Like I implied in the other thread, this is Walmart and MC colluding to push out Visa. MC and Visa agreed to freeze those fees to 1.5% for 5 years so there's no reason to accept one but not the other except for one thing, Walmart's own credit card is a MC.

Why doesn't No Frills accept Visa? Same reason. No Frills is owned by Loblaws who also owns PC Financial which uses MC. This is going to be an ongoing trend for Visa here.

Can't say I have much sympathy for Visa, with them aiming to push out the Interac debit system.
 

SRG01

Member
They have started accepting Visa Canada as well.

Wait what? Where?? Ontario perhaps?


At any rate, the fees that Visa charges for retailers is absolutely insane. MasterCard is no different too. I wouldn't doubt Walmart will drop MasterCard eventually if MasterCard isn't willing to give a discount.
 

ghostmind

Member
Walmart is working hard to lose my business.

In the last month they have started charging for bags, locking up carts so you need a Loonie to unlock them (I don't carry change), and now this.

Amazon it is then.
 

Lagamorph

Member
If Visa are too expensive I'm guessing they don't take American Express?

Or is Canada the opposite of the UK where American Express has the cheaper fees? In the UK anywhere that takes cards will take a Visa, but it's pretty hit and miss if they'll take Amex or not. It's a right bugger since virtually all corporate cards tend to be Amex in my experience.
 
I'm 28 and still have never used a credit card. I only use debit. I know having good credit is still important for major purchases but I'm hoping that I can keep enough cash in the checking account to make any major future purchases.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom