Thread

1. carlosjobim · 1790944813 · focus · HN ↗

   And the benefits for users would be?

   1. asimpletune · 1790945273 · focus · HN ↗

      Probably lower prices since there’s competition between payment processors

      1. carlosjobim · 1790945587 · focus · HN ↗

         There's already competition between payment processors, and not lower prices.

         1. furst-blumier · 1790945946 · focus · HN ↗

            Isn't it actually "competition" in the visa/mastercard case?

            1. carlosjobim · 1790947341 · focus · HN ↗

               There are many other options already besides Visa and Mastercard. What I'm asking and nobody wants to answer is what the benefits for users are. The first thing you should think about when making a new product or service.

               People are only answering me here with benefits for European politicians and their sovereignty. That's alright. But what I'm asking about is benefits for the users.

               For example, Visa and Mastercard offer fraud protection to the users, and many card emitters offer cashback to their users. Can this new European system offer this? If not, why not? Can they offer something else which benefits the user over current providers?

               1. asimpletune · 1790950916 · focus · HN ↗

                  > What I'm asking and nobody wants to answer is what the benefits for users are.

                  I answered that it will lower prices, does that not count as a benefit to users?

                  Even if merchants pay the processing fees, those prices are inevitably passed onto their customers. With more competition among payment processors there will be pressure to lower processing fees.

                  All of this happens automatically. It’s the beauty of markets.

                  I’ll rephrase your own question in a different way that I think actually supports my point: Since there is no difference, as a product, between visa, Mastercard, and this new European alliance, then there is very little reason to not want more competition.

                  Payment processing is essentially a commodity in this sense. It’s all the same, with the differentiator being supply. If we increase the supply the price will go down. That’s it. It should honestly be stupid to not want a European alternative.

                  1. carlosjobim · 1791029156 · focus · HN ↗

                     > I answered that it will lower prices, does that not count as a benefit to users?

                     Very fair point! Although we haven't seen it online after many years of national digital payment systems in Europe.

                     The only places where I've actually see discounts offered for non-card payments is in physical small businesses if you ask for a discount for this kind of payment. Places like the mechanics. But such payment isn't cross-border.

                     > It should honestly be stupid to not want a European alternative.

                     More options are always better, but to me it seems that the benefit for the customer is always forgotten in these projects. The customer is king, and only the most hardcore EU loyalists would actively hurt their own interests just to follow things like this.

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