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Comment by megaman8 | Hacker News Reader

The problem isn't the consumer who takes advantage of the system. the problem is the regulations that prevent consumers from choosing whether they want to pay that extra 2-3% that credit card companies charge the merchant. Right now, if i want to pay with cash, I still end up paying that extra 2-3%, even if the merchant wants to give me a 2-3% discount, they're not allowed, due to those regulations.

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It's payment network agreements, not regulations in the government sense. E.G. If you accept Visa, you cannot mark up credit transactions & discount for cash per your agreement with them. It's nuanced (gas stations do it compliantly by advertising both prices next to each other).

More info: https://www.pymnts.com/visa/2018/non-compliant-cash-discount...

But that is a sign of a lack of regulation, as that is obviously anticompetetive behavior (demanding that a competing product cannot be sold cheaper).

It's the same product being sold, not a competing product. And as a merchant, you aren't required by any law to accept Visa, or credit cards of any kind. Many merchants don't accept Amex, for example, because their fees are a few points higher than competing networks.

Cash and Mastercard are competing products, and Mastercard requiring the merchant to sell payment with cash at the same price as payment with Mastercard is obviously anti-competetive. Whether the merchant has the choice to not offer a particular product is irrelevant.

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