[raw_anon_1111]

If they were really concerned about interchange fees, they wouldn’t accept American Express cards either. The difference between the interchange fees of Visa vs Amex is much greater than tap to pay versus non tap to pay.

There is a reason that there are a lot more places that don’t accept Amex than don’t accept tap to pay. You see this a lot internationally.

Just this year alone, every mom and pop place I went to in Costa Rica, Canada, UK and France accepted Apple Pay but only merchants in the UK widely accepted Amex.

[paulddraper]

They are really concerned about interchange.

Walmart will have a negotiated deal with Amex.

Costco used to take exclusively Amex. So it is possible.

In any case, it’s not only the transaction cost but also the availability of an alternative. Forcing a different credit card network is different friction than forcing swipe vs tap. (Or using the Walmart app.)

[raw_anon_1111]

Do you have any evidence that Walmart negotiated a special deal with Amex to the lower their fees to match Visa and MC?

There are plenty of companies that don’t accept Amex and every Amex user knows that they need to carry a none Amex card with them. Either that or they have never left the country which is doubtful for the Amex demographic.

And I have no idea why this is even an argument on a post about companies wanting you to use their app

https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/credit-cards/why-wont-...

https://www.macrumors.com/2025/01/23/walmart-reiterates-why-...

https://www.al.com/shopping/walmart/apple-pay/

[paulddraper]

Do you have any evidence that they haven’t? You say

”If they were really concerned about interchange fees, they wouldn’t accept American Express cards either.”

That’s a leap, considering that for years a large (but much smaller) retailer didn’t accept anything except Amex.

Maybe, maybe not. Just isn’t sound reasoning.

—-

I’m arguing against the claim “Walmart doesn’t accept Apple Pay because they want you to use their app.”

In reality they accept non-app payments.

And they don’t accept other non-app payments (I can’t tap my physical card).

Clearly something else is at play. It is well known that Apple Pay would cost them more.

[raw_anon_1111]

I just posted three links including one quoting a Walmart executive saying they want to steer customers to their own app.

The reason you can’t tap your physical card either because the same technology that allows Apple Pay is used to allow you to tap physical cards.