[silviogutierrez]

It's actually the end merchant (seller) that bears the cost of fraud. So credit card companies have little incentive to fix this, beyond customer support costs.

Say you sell a camera to someone using a stolen credit card.

The real owner of the card gets his money back after doing a chargeback. The thief keeps the camera. The merchant loses a camera, the money, and gets a ding in his credit card merchant reputation.

[andrewfong]

Seems like the legislative solution then would just be to shift (at least some of) the burden to the credit card processors then.

[silviogutierrez]

I agree. It's a tricky problem. Chargebacks are really easy for the consumer - too easy. There has to be a happy medium, but I can't quite think what it is.

Bitcoin, on the other hand, is sided on the other extreme. The merchant has almost all the power. However, the merchant still has a reputation, which might be sufficient incentive.

[largote]

Doesn't the merchant bear the cost of the fraud ONLY if they'r e using obsolete equipment?