Who are the price gougers: retailers or credit card processors?

Image Name: Credit card processing fees are rising
Image Credit: USA

TodayPeople today often get shocked when they get their bills at the checkout counter and find that they are much higher than expected. This is often due to secret fees and higher prices. The most important question is: Who is to blame? Either credit card processors or retailers? One has to examine both operations, their pricing strategies, and who prizes open the most from within the consumer’s pocket to get the solution.

Understanding Price Gouging
Definition: Price gouging is an excessive or unfair price charged for goods or services. More typically, such phrases are in the retail world during the times when basic goods become impossible to afford. However, from the point of view of day-to-day commercial lives, there are people who believe that hidden fees or hiking costs are also a form of price gouging. Everyone blames the retailers because they hit the front line, but less conspicuously, the credit card processors do have a great role in costs.

Retailers: The Usual Suspects
These are the usual suspects to blame when it comes to price gouging. Why? Because they are popular within the ‘face-to-face consumer’ transaction. Apart from that, these factors add reasons why retailers are guilty of raised prices:

Visible Price Markups
Retail price tags are easy to notice because the tags are set by retailers. Although it is not true that it is all because of inflation, supply chain disruptions, or strategic pricing, this increase is most certainly an attempt by retailers to ensure that their profit margins remain intact.

Charging Practices
Many retailers charge surcharges for credit card payments as a means to cover transaction costs or fees that arise with credit card transactions. In the event that a retailer decides not to announce the extra charges right before payment, the surcharges feel like an added tax for consumers.

Profitability Levels
Many retailers are classified under such low margins, but there are few who sell in high-demand sectors such as luxury products or technology whose profit margins are enormous. This differentiation leads to the belief that retailers capitalize on the price of goods to make profits.

Market-Responsive Pricing
Accusations of price gouging are also fueled by dynamic pricing. The most common examples are event tickets or airline fares skyrocketing immediately when there is an increase in demand. All of this leaves disgruntled customers.

Credit Card Companies:
The Silent Beneficiaries
Credit card processors like Visa, Mastercard, American express etc. are the beneficiaries of this whole process. Most times they do not come up when Western society points fingers at who drives up costs for consumers but the contribution can really not be ignored.

This is how they derive:

• Interchange Fees
  Every transaction that a consumer does with the credit card is imputed an interchange fee to the retailer by the issuer and the network. An interchange usually varies around 1.5-3 percent per transaction done with a card. Although this fraction seems too little, these amounts will rapidly sum up, particularly for businesses with narrow profit margins.
• Merchant Fees Passed to Consumers
  In an attempt to subsidize costs, many retailers push their merchant charges to consumers for their small-ticket items. This makes credit card processors indirectly increasing prices.
• Obfuscated Fee Structure
  The system of fees credit card providers operate on becomes confusing, between interchange fees, network fees, and processor markups. Unclear directions would generally lead to merchants and consumers having no idea about how much is being pocketed per transaction.
• Volume-Based Profits:
  As credit card usage grows, so do the profits of processors. Unlike retailers, who are pressured by market competition, credit card companies have less incentive to lower fees since they benefit from high transaction volumes.

Image Name: Retailers ask for action to end ‘price-gouging’ by card providers
Image Credit: The Times

Who Gains More from Hidden Fees?
When comparing profit dynamics, credit card processors generally enjoy greater stability and scalability. Retailers, especially small businesses, are at the mercy of fluctuating market conditions, consumer preferences, and economic cycles. Here’s a deeper look:

Retailers’ Margins Are Often Slim
For many small retailers, profit margins hover between 1% and 10%. High interchange fees eat into these margins, forcing retailers to raise prices or cut costs elsewhere.

Processors Have Scalable Models
Credit card processors benefit from a model where profits scale with usage. A small percentage fee across millions of transactions generates substantial revenue without proportional costs.

Retailers Face More Risks
Retailers absorb more risk, such as inventory losses, market competition, and operational expenses. In contrast, processors operate with minimal risk relative to their revenue streams.

Are Consumers Paying Twice?
In many cases, consumers end up bearing the burden twice: first through higher prices set by retailers, and second through hidden fees charged by credit card processors. For example, a $100 item paid for with a credit card might include:

• A $2.50 fee for the retailer to process the payment.
• A $1 surcharge is passed to the consumer to offset merchant costs.
• These seemingly small amounts compound across transactions, leading to significant hidden costs for consumers annually.

Potential Solutions to Mitigate Price Gouging
Addressing the issue of price gouging requires action from both retailers and credit card processors:

Increased Transparency

• Retailers should disclose all fees upfront, including surcharges for credit card payments.
• Credit card processors must simplify fee structures to help businesses and consumers understand transaction costs.

Legislation on Fees

• Governments could regulate interchange fees and surcharges, ensuring fair practices across industries.
• Encouraging Alternative Payment Methods
• Mobile payment systems, direct bank transfers, and even crypto currencies could disrupt traditional payment models, introducing competition and reducing costs.

Consumer Education
Consumers should be informed about hidden fees and encouraged to choose payment methods that minimize costs. For instance, some retailers offer discounts for cash payments.

The Verdict: Who Are the Real Price Gougers?
The reality is that both retailers and credit card processors contribute to rising costs, but in different ways. Retailers are more visible and thus more frequently blamed, yet credit card processors operate behind the scenes with significant profit margins from every transaction.
Retailers are often caught in the middle, facing pressure from both consumers and processors. While they pass on some of the costs, they are also victims of the high fees imposed by payment networks. On the other hand, credit card processors benefit from a lack of direct accountability to consumers, making their role in price increases less obvious but equally impactful.

Conclusion
Price gouging is not a one-sided issue. It stems from a combination of retailer strategies and credit card processor practices, both of which ultimately affect consumers. By advocating for transparency, fair pricing, and alternative payment solutions, stakeholders can work toward a system where costs are justified, and consumers are not unfairly burdened.
Understanding the dynamics between retailers and credit card processors helps demystify hidden fees and encourages more informed choices at the checkout. As consumers, awareness is the first step toward change.