Update: ScanMyPhotos.com Earns Raves for Battle against Visa and Mastercard

Due to our participation at the International Photo Marketing Association convention in Las Vegas, we are preoccupied with several speeches we are presenting at the DIMA and PMA conventions (www.Pmai.org)

However, it was rewarding to receive absolute encouragement in our battle from other retailers who saluted and applauded our campaign to take on Visa and MasterCard’s anti-competitive pricing structure. Even at a luncheon today, sitting next to a photo industry executive from England, who we met during our speech there last September, they too shared our fight, even though the rates they pay are just half that in the U.S.

PMA this year is all about technology and innovations to lower prices, which shines more light on the question of how the banks and Visa and MasterCard could continue charging such high fees even tough technology should have led to lower rates?

For updates during the weekend, see ScanMyPhotos.com blog – Tales from the World of Photo Scanning.

“EU’s McCreevy Pushes for New Payment Card Schemes” (via Reuters)

Click here to read entire (Jan 28) article by Reuter’s Huw Jones.

  

 Want to know more about lead plaintiff ScanMyPhotos.com?  Click here and read their daily blog: Tales from the World of Photo Scanning

Kodak Earns Raves for Innovations And Extraordinary Transformation

Unlike Visa and MasterCard, the Eastman Kodak Company just earned raves from us due to its commitment to lower fees, raise efficiencies and create an entirely new business model to prove they are the world’s leaders in photo imaging.  More information will be announced as early as this week in Las Vegas during the International Photo Marketing Association convention.  Mitch Goldstone, from 30 Minute Photos Etc. and ScanMyPhotos.com [lead plaintiff in the merchant interchange litigation and co-editor of WayTooHigh.com] will again be addressing two sessions at PMA and DIMA. 

If Kodak can reform its entire business model and cause us to loudly applaud, imagine if other businesses were to mirror their lead and also put their customers first?

See Tales from the World of Photo Scanning link for complete profile.

Note to Visa and MasterCard, Not All Costs Keep Rising; Technology Helps Lower Ours

It helps when you are not part of a giant cartel.

ScanMyPhotos.com [30 Minute Photos Etc.] is doing the inverse and not replicating Visa and MasterCard’s business model. We use technology and innovations to constantly help provide more value to our customers around the world (rather than to member banks around the world) and we lower prices.  Our pricing is so low that we receive calls every day asking how we can charge so much less then anyone else.  It helps that we were the entrepreneurs who pioneered this new technology and helped commercialize Kodak document imaging scanners for photo industry applications and, just like the speed of transacting an electronic credit card payment , we too are super fast – 1,000 pictures digitally scanned in 10-minutes.  See Kodak.com profile.

For regular updates on ScanMyPhotos.com and our daily tip and updates on super-fast photo scanning and digital imaging, read our other blog, Tales from the World of Photo Scanning, click here.  On our most recent update, we even have very favorable comments on another large, non-financial services  company.  

It is interesting that since our litigation, the rate of record interchange fee hikes seem to have somewhat mellowed.  While that is a good start, why exactly were they consistantly rising prior to our litigation and how was that justified as technology and efficiencies should have helped lower fees?

  

 Want to know more about lead plaintiff ScanMyPhotos.com?  Click here and read their daily blog: Tales from the World of Photo Scanning

Interchange Fees Should Have Gone the Way of the IBM Selectric Typewriters

[originally posted Oct 18, 2007]

Unlike the fee structure of interchange rates, it is transparent that the named defendants along with their legal and advocacy teams are regularly reading WayTooHigh.com, yet, they remain nearly silent on many issues.

So, let us step back and remember the history of technology. Whatever happened to the millions of manual typewriters? How about the IBM Selectric typewriters – which were the staple for most offices just decades ago? The same question can be directed towards the manual credit card imprinters and multi-paged carbon copy paper payment receipts?  Our company, ScanMyPhotos.com, still has a manual imprinter that we use to demonstrate how unfair these fees are.  See this article with photo.

Both typewriters and manual credit card imprinters are nearly obsolete.

Today, you can buy a keypad for your computer for a couple of dollars on EBay, but only the Smithsonian in Washington is interested in those antiquated manual credit card imprinters. They all served a purpose, back when interchange fees were cost-based, but, one part is still around. The merchant payment system is still with us, and now amounts to a nearly $40 billion annual hidden tax that few retailers or consumers even understand.

Today, as the banks continue reporting dismal profits, due to the housing sub prime mortgage fiasco and other egregious mismanagement, the interchange boondoggle continues to fill an otherwise failing levee of corporate wretchedness. If it was not for the political and massive financial might of the banking industry (its member banks jointly owned Visa® and MasterCard®), these fees would have nearly disappeared.

Just as how the health care industry got a kick in the head after Michael Moore’s film “Sicko,” perhaps that is what Visa and MasterCard needs too.

Today, due to extraordinary political and economic schemes and collusion, the interchange rates in the U.S. are more than double, and often even more than that of collections in other, economically and technologically less developed nations.

Today, their market power is desperately grasping to hold on to these fees, especially when their other sources of revenues are being threatened.

Today, just as the Selectric typewriter and other ancient-like products abdicated to new technologies and innovations, we still have confidence that businesses and consumers will soon wake up and recognize that the banks’ electronic payment system are also relics; built on what we assert are illegal, price-fixing schemes to fill their vaults with billions of dollars that are being misdirected due to their absolute market power and price-fixing by agreement.

Whether it is forcing credit card paying motorists to toss over upwards of nearly two-percent of the total cost of a fill-up, to demanding that an inner-city mom, shopping at her local convenience store for a gallon of milk is helping to subsidize the premium affinity cardholders’ free mileage trip to the tropics, this must come to an end.

During the previous nearly [940] postings by WayTooHigh.com over the past nearly three years, we have provided news, commentary and updates on what we assert is an extraordinary conspiracy by the Visa and MasterCard associations to wield their market power to fix the price of credit card interchange fees.

Visa is wrong.MasterCard is wrong.

And, their member banks are wrong.

To quote from the movie “Network,” the payments network has enraged merchants, who, like us are mad a hell and are not going to take it any more

  

 Want to know more about lead plaintiff ScanMyPhotos.com?  Click here and read their daily blog: Tales from the World of Photo Scanning

If You Thought Just Interchange Fees Were Hidden, Read This…

We came across this threadon FlyerTalk’s online bulletin board forum about service charges at restaurants. Readers commented on how some restaurants add a service charge which patrons might not notice, and then double the tip. 

When compared to the nearly $40 billion in interchange fees that Visa and MasterCard’s member banks are still able to charge, this situation is tempered, but helps draw attention to a variety of hidden fee tricks.  In the case of restaurant guests, when the bill comes they can carefully review and choose whether to leave an added tip, but for all electronic payment transactions, merchants and cardholders are invisible in the process and are forced to pay what few understand.  From prior postings, we asked why Visa and MasterCard have not implemented out simplified receipt solution, by printing the exact interchange fee on every receipt? Click here for more info.

Click here to read the entire FlyerTalk forum thread

“How Credit Card Fees Inflate Prices of Goods” (Business Daily, in Nairobi)

A very worthwhile and detailed credit card interchange fee profile was written on Jan 28 by Wanjiru Waithaka for Business Daily, published in Nairobi.

The reporter raised questions that have been ringing non-stop by us for years.  Interchange fees should be lower in industrialized nations.  For a more global analysis, the reporter should look beyond their northern neighbors and research interchange fees in other nations too.

If they think interchange fees should be lower in Europe due to technology and infrastructure, what about in the U.S.?  Rates in the United States are, in some cases, more than double the fees charged by many EU nations.

Click here to view entire article.

The article’s highlights included these quotes:

• “[i]n Europe, telecommunications is efficient so they have low transactions costs and can argue that card fees are high compared to the costs.”
• “Frequent telecommunications failure also restricts banks from aggressively pushing retailers to accept card payments….  The market would grind to a halt because the existing infrastructure cannot support bulk usage of cards [in Africa].”
• “Although they provide a solid revenue stream for the card issuers, interchange fees are an irritant to merchants and can be among the largest and fastest-growing costs of doing business for many retailers.”
•  “The credit card interchange system therefore serves as a hidden tax, both on merchants and consumers, and raises the costs of all products regardless of the form of payment.”
• “In Kenya,  95 per cent of card business is controlled by Visa and merchants pay a fee to acquirers on each card transaction called merchant commission. “We pay a commission of three per cent and the price is set by the bank, we don’t negotiate the fee,” says Frank Kamau, general manager of Tuskys, a supermarket chain with 18 outlets.”
• “The acquirers share out the merchant commission as follows: a standard 1 per cent interchange fee goes to the acquirer, 0.5 per cent franchise or facilitation fee goes to Visa or MasterCard and the acquirer keeps the balance.”
  

Twilight Zone: The Movie, Visa and MasterCard Style

Do you remember the segment in the 1983 film, The Twilight Zone where a person befriends a mysterious 10-year-old boy and ends up trapped along with his relatives in an alternate reality created by the boy’s imagination?  To us, that is how MasterCard and Visa operate. People are frightened to call attention to the two giant credit card associations’ collusive price fixing schemes.  There are dozens of class-action law suits, all which followed after we initiated the first updated case in May 2005, but there are millions of other stories too. 

Because nearly every merchant, non-profit and entrepreneur across the globe is beholden to Visa and MasterCard and its 80% market power, many are silent on what is a nearly $40-billion annual hidden tax. 

WayTooHigh.com – The Credit Card Interchange Report has been filing news and commentary updates for nearly three years and are pleased to have such broad-based readership – beyond the defendants and their high-powered advisors. 

But, how many other businesses were brave enough to do what 30 Minute Photos Etc. [ScanMyPhotos.com] did: actually call and email Visa and MasterCard and ask them to rescind their fees [see profile]?  Because they were non-responsive, they now face a multi-billion dollar antitrust suit that, according to them could cause both card association’s to become “insolvent.”  Not to fret, as the banks would never let that happen.

When we launched our litigation, the banks appeared much more stable, but over the years, they have paid out billions from their misadventures and executive mismanagement decisions.  When a single trader can cause more than $7 billion in losses, our suit is looking less weighty.  But, we long knew that we were well inside the Twilight Zone when we decided to stand up to the banks and their payment card pricing schemes.

Thanks Reuters, We Too think Visa’s IPO is in Question

Welcome to our growing number of daily readers around the globe. 

While our company’s blog site [Tales from the World of Photo Scanning] enjoys readership around the country, WayooHigh.com with its nearly three-years of news and commentary updates on Visa, MasterCard and its member banks’ schemes is read internationally.

Today’s Reuters story on Visa’s IPO follows our WayTooHigh.com posting after the European market crash earlier this week.  We too think the Visa IPO may be in question. 

Following the presentation to the International Consumer Electronics Show on Jan 8th, next week in Las Vegas, for the International Photo Marketing Association, we again will be addressing a major industry. This time, talking on topics about innovation and public relations.  We will again look forward to hearing more stories from people also impacted by the credit card cartel’s market power as they too are forced to fund the banks’ other fiscal misadventures. 

The photo industry intemiately understands how technology and innovations has helped to lower costs and boost savings, while the credit card associations still maintain nearly 100 separate fees which should, effectively cost just pennies per transaction, but instead grab a share of each total charge for most credit card transactions.

“Visa IPO Hit by Unexpected Snag–Recession Fears” (Reuters)

Click here to read Reuters article.

“EU Payments Scheme Gets Boost” (Guardian)

Click here to view the article via Reuters.

“Peer Review: Merchants Pay Fees for Sales That Use Plastic” (StarTribune.com)

Thanks to the Star Tribune (Jan 24) and their article on debit vs. credit cards.  According to the paper (and we agree), “[y]ou have heard correctly: Merchants pay fees when you use your plastic for purchases. Those charges are called “interchange fees,” although there may be some fees with other names built in as well. The system is fairly complicated, but the fact is that if you spend $100 using plastic when shopping, the merchant likely will see only $98 or $99 of it. Credit-card and debit signature transactions typically cost merchants between 1 percent and 2 percent of the purchase amount in fees, depending on the type of card and the banks involved.”

Click here to view the entire article.

Most Popular Recent (WayTooHigh.com) Credit Card Interchange Report Postings

1. Stock Market Meltdown… Visa’s IPO Mess… BAC Quarterly Profits Down 95%… Will Interchange Fees be Lowered?…
2. MasterCard’s Most Disingenuous Ad Campaign Yet?
3. Visa’s International Merchant Discount Interchange Fee
4. Visa Inc. Files 10-K Annual Report, Amends S-1 Registration
5. “BofA Boosts its NASCAR Incentives”
6. Fact: Visa USA Continues Its Legacy of Discriminating Against Its Cardholders
7. Interchange Fees: Casualties of Technology?

  

 Want to know more about lead plaintiff ScanMyPhotos.com?  Click here and read their daily blog: Tales from the World of Photo Scanning

“BofA Boosts its NASCAR Incentives”

Bank of America might not seem worried by the billions from a sub prime mortgage meltdown or its recent quarterly results and instead, we quip, could be using cash reaped from cash cows like its merchant interchange fees to speed forward with marketing projects.  Or, are they just so focused on their huge cash inflow from potentially unloading part of their stake in Visa, Inc?  Either way, spending they are doing.

According to The Charlotte Observer (Jan 23), the bank [which is a defendant in our antitrust price-fixing litigation] is speeding forward and that “[a] sharp drop in profits isn’t keeping Bank of America from pursuing NASCAR fans as new customers.  The Charlotte-based bank on Tuesday announced it was more than doubling the number of drivers featured in race-themed accounts.  The bank also will boost its NASCAR rewards program…”

Click here to view the entire article.

More Interchange Revenue Centers

Merchants already are forced to pay from upwards of one-hundred separate interchange fees.  Few understand how these charges work, and even we didn’t know of one of the added chargeback programs.

Even though we are the lead plaintiff in the merchant interchange litigation and co-editors of WayTooHigh.com – The Credit Card Interchange Report, we didn’t know about the “chargeback fees.”

30 Minute Photos Etc and our ecommerce business, ScanMyPhotos.com might have had under a dozen chargeback requests over the past 17-years.  These are generated when a customer questions a specific electronic payment charge.

Just today, we received a multi-page chargeback notification from Visa USA domestic. The customer disputed a charge from early December and reported that it was a duplicate processing charge for the same order. The fact was this customer placed two separate orders for differing amounts over the span of a few days.

As a merchant, our account was immediately dinged for the full amount. A financial adjustment was made to our account as a result of the chargeback initiation.  While were were offered to dispute the charge, which we did, Chase Bank USA already took the money back.  Can you imagine that?  Ok, we are the lead plaintiff, suing JPMorgan Chase and the other member banks, along with Visa and MasterCard for what could be multiple billions of dollars, but did they have to be so petty?

What happens when other merchants overlook those chargeback notifications?  Funds could also be automatically withdrawn and if not challenged, lost.  Also, what happens to the interchange fee that we initially paid?  Would a disputed charge still have to incur an interchange fee?

Fact: Visa USA Continues Its Legacy of Discriminating Against Its Cardholders

Through Visa USA, most of the same thousands of member banks which collectively owned MasterCard and Visa are again tricking cardholders (for those not reading the very fine, tiny print).  This time, Visa USA is taunting millions of cardholders with a less than slim chance of getting  a golden ticket to the Olympic Games in China [Visa  is again a worldwide Beijing 2008 Olympic partner].

According to the promotion, “8 symbolizes good fortune in China,” it also symbolizes another reason why interchange fees are unfair.  Why exactly does Visa USA discriminate against its PIN-based and ATM cardholders anyway?

Just as with previous MasterCard sweepstakes, this time according to newspaper print ads (LA Times, Jan 23, A6), “8 fans will be on their way to the Olympic Games from Visa.”

Although no purchase is necessary, the millions of PIN-based and ATM cardholders better plan on tuning in on television, rather than watching from the Beijing stadiums.  Use of those cards are “not eligible.”

See this Visa USA link to read it in their own words.  The world’s largest credit card association describes this “exciting promotion” as a way to build “customer loyalty,” but at who’s expense?

While MasterCard and Visa promote PIN-based and ATM card use, they are encouraging cardholders to force merchants to process each electronic payment transaction at the much higher credit card interchange rates.  When you think of the chances of winning, the restriction is rather petty.  But, that is not the point.  The real game is to again train cardholders to demand that merchants swipe their card at much higher rates.  What consumers don’t understand is that they too are being taken on a ride because ultimately the $40 billion annual interchange charges are paid by them through higher costs. 

Background – Summary of Prior Related Articles

The Really Price-less MasterCard Holiday Promotion Debit Card Holder’s Can’t Enter

MasterCard Worldwide® Sweepstakes More Like “Cheap”-stakes (commentary WayTooHigh.com)

Your PIN-based Cards Are Not Always Welcomed (Commentary, WayTooHigh.com)

The Wild Ride Continues: An Interchangeable Menu of Payment Card Schemes (Commentary: WayTooHigh.com)

MasterCard Worldwide® Sweepstakes Scheme Impacts Merchants (WayTooHigh.com)

  

 Want to know more about lead plaintiff ScanMyPhotos.com?  Click here and read their daily blog: Tales from the World of Photo Scanning

Wachovia Corp. Earnings Tumbled 98 Percent

Fed Cuts Interest Rates .75%; Why Don’t Banks Cut Interchange Fees Too?

Due to the global financial crisis of confidence, if the Federal Reserve can implement such fast-action by slashing key interest rates by .75%, why aren’t MasterCard and Visa’s member banks also at the same table, helping to soften the economic chasm? 

Interchange fees – a relic pricing schemed from decades ago – account for nearly $40 billion in hidden charges each year.  It is based on an antiquated system designed decades ago to cover a four-party payment system.  If the Federal Reserve has no fees to clear checks, why are Visa and MasterCard’s network able to charge so much? 

Today, the entire electronic payment network is seamless, automated and highly advanced.  Think of the Internet network as a model for efficiency.  There are few manual credit card imprinters today, instead, it is mostly automated and efficient, yet the fees are anything but modern.  With today’s emergency market conditions, if the electronic payment system were to be altered, think of the immediate cash infusion that consumers and merchants would have, rather than the banks, which as we know are facing management quagmire, as they continue to report billions in write-offs and steep revenue declines. 

Stock Market Meltdown… Visa’s IPO Mess… BAC Quarterly Profits Down 95%… Will Interchange Fees be Lowered?…

The banks must be in full throttle panic. 

If you thought that it could not get worse than Bank of America (defendant in our litigation) reporting its quarterly profit fell by 95% and had trading losses of more than $5 billion, it did. 

It potentially just got much worse.

When the U.S. markets open Tuesday morning, investors will recognize that the financial institutions’ latest flotation tool – unloading part of their Visa investment and trying to potentially pass off the litigation liability onto public hands – has become much less attractive. 

Has their liquidity just been shattered?

If you thought the billions in bailout dollars to the banks was a huge chunk of change, just study our 931 prior WayTooHigh.com posts.  Our multi-billion dollar merchant antitrust litigation – as we battle the banks and MasterCard and Visa over their years of alleged illegal, anticompetitive price fixing is impacting all consumers and merchants.

One news report indicated that the current bank bailout will be about $40 billion, an interesting amount, as it nearly parallels the annual bill that consumers and retailers are forced to pay to the card associations’ member banks each year.$40,000,000,000 is a great deal of money, especially when you multiply it over many years.

With the stock market meltdown, we cannot help but pause to reflect on the banks’ most recent billion-dollar planned bailout by cashing out part of their ownership in Visa.  Will the IPO move forward, or be shelved due to market conditions?  If so, think of the additional lost revenues to the banks; the IPO valuation must be much lower today than initially forecast.

WILL INTERCHANGE FEES BE LOWERED?

We guess that Tuesday’s market reactions will force more interest rate reductions. Why then aren’t Visa and MasterCard’s member banks also following along and lowering their merchant interchange fees too?

There are already calls for the U.S. Federal Reserve to suspend the pending market free-fall and change investor psychology by lowering interest rates a full 1.0 percent.  We know where an additional $40 billion could come from to immediately upright the economy.  Perhaps the presidential candidates will share our view too.

 

 

 Want to know more about lead plaintiff ScanMyPhotos.com?  Click here and read their daily blog: Tales from the World of Photo Scanning

Tales from the World of Photo Scanning

Sometimes, it’s helpful to understand the business model of those most impacted by interchange fees. Today, much of our business is ecommerce and electronic, so we are fully affected by the anti-competitive and enormous 80% market power wielded by Visa and MasterCard. 

For an understanding of how different our businesses are, where technology and efficiencies led to steep price reductions at ScanMyPhotos.com [30 Minute Photos Etc.], visit our blog: Tales from the World of Photo Scanning. 

The blog updates help showcase how we were able to pioneer and commercialize a new technology to help consumers, while Visa and MasterCard continues to operate an antiquated payment system that harms and costs billions.  We are lowering prices while the thousands of credit card associations’ member banks are enhancing theirs.  The interchange fees impact our entire economy.  These are supra-competitive, hidden and obscure fees that amount to nearly $40 billion each year.

This week, as the world’s financial markets face a near melt down, we cannot help but examine how much of the cause was related to the financial institutions mismanagement with the housing market. 

Their funding games are a lead cause for this earthquake-like tremor that is plaguing the world markets.  

Their involvement along with Visa and MasterCard, with illegally fixing merchant interchange fees is another concern.

Just think how helpful that $40 billion annual tax would be if it was not sent to the banks – to help fund their other write-offs – but, instead saved by consumers and retailers if the antiquated payment scheme was terminated.

Riddle: What’s The Difference Between The Cost To Send An Email And An Electronic Payment? $40 billion each year!

repost.

As our company continues to make news for the super-fast photo scanning business we built that is transforming the photo imaging industry and using technology to slash prices for preserving generations of photo snapshots, we wondered why technology has not also led to rock-bottom and tumbled-down interchange fees?

To be more transparent and divulge just how ghoulish this hidden tax is, Visa® and MasterCard® should post the exact interchange fee for each transaction as a separate item on every debit and credit card receipt. We first raised this issue in January, 2006, but they seem too busy figuring out how to go public to distance the banks from our alleged antitrust violations. If they would only pause from what we assert is their attempt to pass along the liability from this litigation onto the public, and instead, agree to post the exact interchange fees on every receipt, then, all merchants and cardholders would understand why we are so passionate about this issue. There would no longer be a hidden tax, but, rather a very vocal cascade of resistance against the peddlers of these unfair fees.Why are the merchant interchange fees about 1.7% in the U.S. and as low as zero in other nations? And, as other electronic transactions have been slashed too rock-bottom, why have some of their rates [ex. debit cards] tripled in the past 8-years?

Let us pause for a brief study break and review the historical way of sending [”transmitting”] a traditional letter and the processing of a charge slip. In the previous decade, if you wanted to send a letter, you generally bought stationary, an envelope, postage and drove to the Post Office to mail it; days later it was received. Also about ten years ago, merchants, like us, had to stock up on thick, multi-page, carbon-copy charge card receipts, swipe the payment cards through a manual imprinter, mail it to the processing company on the other coast [Florida]. Then, days later, the transaction – less a substantially lower interchange fee than today – was credited to your bank account. As technology advanced, instead of lowering interchange fees, it has actually leaped ahead.

Today, we all use email, and essentially, it is free. Could you imagine if the two leading credit card associations and its thousands of member banks were also involved with the exploration of the Internet? Using their surreptitious market power and pricing domination, every electronic [email] “letter” would come with a beefed-up fee. But, the actual cost to use the Internet network to transmit an electronic message, must be about the same as the cost to transmit an electronic payment on its network, so why are the banks still granted the potency to exert such immense multi-billion-dollar hidden taxes on merchants, cardholders and our economy?

[Commentary: WayTooHigh.com]

Why Interchange Fees Concern Retailers and Consumers

repost (jan 2007)

Having just returned from the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, there were several instances where I felt more like a rock star than an entrepreneur at the world’s largest consumer technology trade event. There were lots of smiles and thumbs-up from those who were familiar with my role as lead plaintiff in the merchant interchange litigation. Business owners and even consumers were in our camp. Several people I ran into shared their own horror stories.

For me, the point of excessive interchange fees hit home during Michael Dell’s Tuesday keynote presentation at the Venetian Hotel. At one point, he had “Doctor Evil,” the character from the Austin Powers films appear on stage after a 30-year deep freeze. Doctor Evil showed Dell Computers’ founder his 30-year-old computer and wanted to get his “crap” off the antiquated machine; Dell was introducing new products to preserve files stored on older model computers. I couldn’t help but draw several analogies about credit card fees and the differences in technology and higher fees than from three decades ago when antiquated manual card imprinters were used.

As a speaker at CES, I addressed the future of the photo imaging industry, but throughout the show, many people I met were familiar with our litigation against Visa®, MasterCard®and its member banks. CES was not a very friendly place for the card associations, especially because it united retailers and ordinary shoppers together; both are impacted by these fees.

One observation I raised was how ironic it was that the nation’s largest trade show just celebrated its 40th anniversary – it was founded in New York City in 1967. While the bulk of the products promoted at the show will be purchased with Visa or MasterCard (they control 80% of the market), the two leading card associations operate in a 1960’s type-fee structure. Back then we were in a paper economy, today with technology, everything is digital, yet Visa and MasterCard’s price structure is based on costs from 40-years-ago.

Click here for previous “Credit Card Interchange Fee Draw Criticism and Concern at CES” press release.

Overview of Interchange Issues:

• Interchange fees have more than doubled in the last 10-years.
  
• Few customers know about interchange fees because it is virtually impossible for merchants to tell customers what the exact fee is.
  
• Every consumer pays for these hidden credit card fees, even cash customers because the cost is built into every product – a gallon of milk bought with cash by a mom is also paying to award premium signature card holders’ bonus mileage to Europe.
  
• Interchange fees are one of the worst and most unfair fees paid by American consumers – it’s more than six times what people paid in ATM fees.
  
• Visa and MasterCard control an 80% market share of the card market and control a system that is anti-competitive.
  
• Visa and MasterCard threw a bone to service stations and motorists last fall, after the peak summer driving season by capping fill-up interchange fees at $50. This was a hollow gesture and not very genuine, especially as fuel costs have recently subsequently plunged.
  
• Huge profits: Even though the actual cost to process a $1 transaction is virtually the same as that of a $10,000 transaction (buy a soda or a Cartier watch), the interchange fee is based on a percentage of the total. Even Realtors lowered their take when housing prices soared. The interchange fees are far higher than the actual cost o the transaction they are meant to pay for. The technology used to process credit card transactions are today more efficient and less expensive.
  
• Why are interchange rates higher in the U.S. in most other industrialized nations? U.S. interchange fees are close to 2%, while other countries, like the UK are typically 0.7% and Australia averages 0.55%.
  
• Did you know that merchants are forbidden from disclosing to consumers the fees that are charged?
  
• Behind closed doors, Visa and MasterCard meet to increase these anti-competitive hidden fees. We understand that these price-fixing practices are in violate antitrust laws.
  
• Few things are more anti-competitive than the credit card market – virtually every other marketplace lowers prices because of competition.
  
• Study the market dynamics of other counties with significantly lower interchange rates to understand that the banks and card association are still doing well and they have not experienced disruptions in transaction handling processes, despite lower rates.
  
• The banks which make up Visa and MasterCard have colluded to set these fees which in any other industry would be a clear violation of federal antitrust laws
  
• With a new consumer-friendly House, it will be interesting to see what actions Congress and the Senate might take in the coming months. [The Senate may launch a hearing of its own and we certainly would welcome an opportunity to share our retail and ecommerce experiences].[Source: WayTooHigh.com]

Interchange Fees: Casualties of Technology?

Study the changes to your industry against the banks and credit card associations.

For us, our two separate industries also transitioned but had vastly divergent outcomes as technology forced changes. We made changes, the other one (in our opinion) is protected by the banking cartel.

FilmAs a longtime and well-known leader in the photo imaging industry, 30 Minute Photos Etc. was forced to adapt. Today, very little business is derived from traditional film processing; it is mostly digital. Our customer-base is nationwide today. However, we would have no customers if we were still imposing a film developing chargefor each online, in-store kiosk and other digital orders. If you have us make Kodak-quality photographic prints from your digital camera, you would be concerned if there was an added fee for film processing. Right?

Electronic Charge Card Payment Transactions

Think of the 40-billion dollar annual merchant interchange fee boondoggle. It was organized decades ago to cover the cost to process and clear carbon-copy credit card receipts. Today it is more of an untouchable, ghostly bank annuity – even as technology and efficiencies have altered its underpinnings.

Just like with film and many other products and services, the business has changed. However, Visa® and MasterCard’s® member banks continue to maintain artificially high interchange fees because we allege it is set by illegal price-fixing and not subject to regular competitive forces. The conspiracy by the banks and their market power forgets that merchants remember the old-fashioned credit card imprinters and what interchange fees were designed to cover. The reward games and other schemes developed by Visa and MasterCard come at an added cost to merchants, cardholders and all consumers who eventually fund the banks interchange annuity.

Note: There are no interchange fees for writing and clearing checks. There are even no interchange fees in Canada for PIN debit card transactions. The merchant interchange fees in third-world countries are even lower than rates charged in the States.

[Source: WayTooHigh.com]

Another Reason Why The Banks Interchange Fee Should Be Zero

repost.

The National Association of Convenience Stores magazine (July 2005) reported that “interchange fees arguably are meant to cover the technology cost of account processing and the risk taken by the issuing bank that the credit will not be repaid. It is no secret that technology costs continue to fall while processing power increases dramatically.”

The previous posting addresses the risk factor, this column focuses on technology.

As well-known entrepreneurs, Mitch Goldstone and Carl Berman, lead plaintiffs in the antitrust litigation against Visa, MasterCard and member banks also co-edit The Credit Card Interchange Report – WayTooHigh.com. This column provides a real-life experience to understand why Visa and MasterCard may be forced to disband its merchant interchange charges.

The nationally recognized business leaders operate an online boutique photo service (30minphotos.com) which recently created an entirely new business model for preserving generations of photos.  The company previously charged $5.00 to produce one high-resolution digital scan from a single photo; the process would take several minutes. Today, their ScanMyPhotos.com service scans 150 photos of any size — from wallets to 11×17 enlargements in just one minute. The charge is $49.95 for 1,000 photos; an entire shoe box of pictures is scanned within minutes and mailed back the same day for under 5-cents per print.  They even launched “15-Minute Photo Scanning, or it’s free. see link.

This same math applies to the credit card associations. With technology advancing at lighting-fast speed, each few months yields entirely new cost-saving techniques, yet for banking card transactions the fees keep rising?

Just one decade ago when merchants used bulky non-electronic credit card imprinters, the multi-page carbon forms cost a great deal and had to be mailed for processing. This took several days and incurred costly clearing and processing fees, which was why the interchange fees were initially established; it was cost-based.

Today, just as how the cost for digitally preserving photos was cut by Goldstone and Berman from $5 to 5-cents, so too have the costs for banks to process merchant payments. Yet, the latter service continues to face huge, unjustified fee increases.

Visa and MasterCard can learn a great deal from their customers like Goldstone and Berman. Many business services and products share similar cost-savings to lower rates while enhancing the benefits.

[source: WayTooHigh.com]

If Writing Checks is Free and Processing Checks is Free, Shouldn’t There Also be No Interchange Fee Too?

Have you ever seen those advertisements for banks’ free checking offers?

Several offer check writing with no monthly maintenance fees or charges to bank at ATM’s, online and by phone. With no minimum requirement, Bank of America, for example, offers free online banking with free bill paying and a free Bank of America Visa® Check Card with Total Security Protection® and Photo Security® . The website explains that it is all free.

When you write a check, there is zero interchange fee, there is no charge to the consumer or retailer who accepts the check, yet we all know how costly and the amount of labor required to process and clear checks.Citibank even offers free checking with direct deposit and your first order of checks are free too.There is even no charge for Citibank ATM transactions and no charge on non-Citibank ATM transactions. The bank provides programs for unlimited free check writing.

How about all these free perks from Wachovia Bank, N.A. and its no-strings attached free checking. It looks like everything is free. The bank has “re-invented its personal free checking account to better meet consumer needs. Extra Free Checking requires no minimum balance, has no monthly service fee, and unlike many banks’ free checking accounts, does not require direct deposit. It also comes with the Visa Extras debit rewards program and Free Online BillPay.” Some of the features of the Wachovia “extra free checking account” include: no minimum balance, no monthly service fee, unlimited check writing, no direct deposit required…, free online banking and online BillPay, free check card with Visa Extras rewards program, unlimited visits to Wachovia financial centers, Wachovia’s automated phone service, Wachovia ATMs, plus access to SouthTrust ATMs to get cash or check balances with no fees.

Bank One Net Checking® provides no fees for transactions, withdrawals, bill payments or balance inquiries, unlimited check-writing, convenient use of ATM, Direct Deposit or Bank-by-mail, make withdrawals at Bank One® Money Access Center® ATMs for no fee, unlimited transactions with no fee for withdrawals and balance inquiries at Bank One® Money Access Center® ATMs, by phone or when you make purchases with The One® Business Card SM and you can use its direct deposit and bank-by-mail services with no transaction fees.

The point is that there are no “points,” no fees, no charges, no costs, nothing. Yet, credit card transactions face supracompetitive interchange fees which are a hidden tax on consumers.

(commentary: WayTooHigh.com)

FAST FACT: Record gas prices leads to possible profiteering and windfall for credit card companies

DID YOU KNOW?

If you thought the gas companies were reaping huge profits at the expense of our dependency on petroleum, know this: Soaring gas prices means that more consumers are using credit cards to pay for filling up at the pumps. The credit card interchange fee costs motorists as much as $1.50 per fill-up!

The Colorado/Wyoming Petroleum Marketers Association reports that “for every gallon of gasoline or diesel fuel sold today, as much as seven cents or more per gallon is spent in processing the credit card transaction. Credit card fees are a significant factor contributing to the price of fuel.”Credit card transaction fees paid by retailers have been increasing creating a windfall for the credit card processing company on the high cost of fuel. Because the Interchange fees are a percentage of each transaction and is accompanied by other fees that banks collect from retailers every time a credit card or debit card is used to pay for a purchase, the credit card associations’ members seem to be profiteering from our nation’s record high gas prices. As the price of fuel increases, so to do the profits to the credit card companies, yet there cost of processing the transaction is the same.

In 2003 under half of all motorists used a credit card to pay for gas, today with record fuel costs, nearly 70% of all gasoline purchases are now paid with plastic. The paper-thin margins mean that many gasoline service stations are earning less per sale than what is being recovered by the credit card associations. Due to soaring gas prices, Visa and MasterCard reap a larger profit per gallon then the retailer selling the gasoline, according to The National Association of Convenience Stores.

Background on credit card interchange collective price fixing antitrust litigation

Interchange fees were originally regulated, audited and designed to pay for the cost of transferring money from buyers to sellers. It was designed to balance the cost of transferring money, quickly, efficiently and at a low cost. But, in reality the rates only rise. There is no economic justification for these anti-competitive fees. This is a mature network that is highly inefficient and is a hidden tax that is affecting millions of businesses and consumers. The Interchange rates have increased 85% since 1998. There was no Interchange fee prior to the 1990’s and no fee for PIN debit cards; think of the ATM machines – initially there was no transaction fee, just like with writing checks. Electronic transactions inherently should cost less just because it?s automatic and more efficient.Mitch Goldstone and Carl Berman, founders of “WayTooHigh.com” operate The Credit Card Interchange Blog to provide an informational tool with regular updates. WayTooHigh.com suggests that the friction between banks vs. Merchants / consumers is about to explode; the credit card associations operate in an anti-competitive market power over merchants. Price fixing is illegal and most merchants have little ability to negotiate with Visa and MasterCard for lower interchange fees.

Did you know that the card-issuing banks that control Visa and MasterCard have the ability to raise interchange fees as high as they want and there is no market force that restrains then from doing so? As merchants and consumers begin to understand and learn about these interchange fees, they too will be better informed.

 

 

 Want to know more about lead plaintiff ScanMyPhotos.com?  Click here and read their daily blog: Tales from the World of Photo Scanning

“Rallying Against Credit Card Fees” (IndUS Business Journal)

Click here to view article. 

“Credit Card Fees Are Burning a Hole in Your Pocket” (MyVesta Foundation

Steve Rhode, founder of MyVesta Foundation has a well constructed article on credit card fees posted at this link.

Credit Card Interchange Fees Article by Steven Semeraro

“Three Decades of Antitrust Uncertainty. Click here to view.

The $40 Billion Network Few Understand

Purchase NY, San Francisco CA and computers across the nation and overseas will be abuzz over this commentary.  Think of the television networks, lottery networks and any other giant system that operates a mechanism for connecting people together. 

Competition and illegal price-fixing are nonexistent outside the world of credit card payment networks.  Most other networks are free of charge, yet the credit card networks, built decades ago to cover the cost of paper and mechanical transactions, remains in charge.  And, charge it does.  With reports that the actual cost for each electronic transaction is about 13% of the revenues generated, this is one antiquated system that few understand.  As more people read WayTooHigh.com – The Credit Card Interchange Report, more frustration will generate more questions on these unfair fees. 

  

 Want to know more about lead plaintiff ScanMyPhotos.com?  Click here and read their daily blog: Tales from the World of Photo Scanning

“EU’s Kroes Warns MasterCard of Fine…” (Thompson Financial)

Click here to view entire article

CNBC: “Citigroup May Write Down As Much As $24 Billion, Fire 20,000 Employees”

Click here for more info.

MasterCard’s Most Disingenuous Ad Campaign Yet?

MasterCard Worldwide’s creative team might think the new “flip” campaign to promote credit and debit cards is priceless (R). But, retailers will be steaming.  The second largest credit card association is using Pavlovian conditioning to train consumers to also reach for their debit card.  They already use sweepstakes to condition cardholders to use their debit card but often then demand that clerks process it at higher credit card rates.

ScanMyPhotos.com regularly has retail photo customers who demand that their cards be processed as credit cards, which we, as lead plaintiff in the merchant interchange antitrust litigation always comply with.

What many cardholders do not understand is when they choose to have their debit card processed at the much higher credit card rate, merchants pay more and therefore so too do they, even though the funds are withdrawn from their back account.

In our opinion, MasterCard’s new “flavor” campaign is another attempt to trick cardholders.  With multi-million  dollar ad buys, the confusion and misinformation will abound.  But, it is nothing when weighed against the plastic card imprinting scheme; where the word “debit” or “check card” is so cleverly hidden that sales clerks often simply process the card at the much higher credit card interchange rate anyway.  Today’s technology enables all electronic payment cards to easily identify whether it is a credit or debit card, but the card associations still require manual identification, which generates enormous windfall profit at the pull of a button.

Below is a copy of the publicly issued press release:

MasterCard Priceless Spots to Have New ‘Flavor’ in 2008
Monday January 14, 9:00 am ET

New television creative to feature both credit and debit payment options for the first time in the history of the Priceless(R) campaign; three new television spots debut today

PURCHASE, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–MasterCard Worldwide today introduced a new tag treatment highlighting both credit and debit payment options in its award-winning Priceless television advertising. In the new treatment, the MasterCard logo will “flip” to showcase the two payment forms that consumers use the most – credit and debit.The new tag begins appearing on three new Priceless TV spots – entitled “Catch,” “Dinner Out,” and “Milk” – breaking today and airing in general brand rotation. This marks the first time in the decade-long history of the Priceless campaign that these forms are featured together. The new tag will appear on most Priceless TV advertising moving forward, where appropriate.“MasterCard recognizes that most consumers carry both credit and debit products in their wallets and are now using them more than ever in place of cash and check,” said Amy Fuller, Group Executive, Americas Marketing for MasterCard Worldwide. “To reflect that preference and behavior, we created something that effectively communicates both ‘flavors’ of payment options.”Three new ads break today“Catch” is essentially an anthem to the great parent-child tradition. The 30-second spot opens with a dad playing catch with his son in the backyard but soon spreads across the country. From small towns to big cities, the spot depicts people playing catch with their kids.“Dinner Out” uses puppeteers to tell a story about what happens in the kitchen when an elegantly-dressed couple leaves the house to go out to dinner. They close the door and turn off the lights and all of the kitchen utensils come to life. The pots and pans party; two serving spoons lay together on a couch; a group of utensils sit in a pot of water like a hot tub; and a carving knife watches a scary movie.In “Milk,” a woman arrives at a grocery store on an empty stomach. She’s there to purchase milk and enters the store, only to be shown leaving with a cart overloaded with food. A teenage boy runs out behind her to hand her the carton of milk she had left at the register.Creative for the MasterCard Priceless campaign is handled by McCann Erickson/New York: Joyce King Thomas, EVP, Chief Creative Officer; Robert Frost, SVP, Creative Director; Michele Raso, SVP, Creative Director; Sally Hotchkiss, EVP, Executive Producer; Lisa Brandriff, SVP, Senior Copywriter; Jonathan Shipman, SVP, Deputy Head Broadcast Production; and Chris Cereda, VP, Assoc. Creative Dir.

About MasterCard Worldwide

MasterCard Worldwide advances global commerce by providing a critical economic link among financial institutions, businesses, cardholders and merchants worldwide. As a franchisor, processor and advisor, MasterCard develops and markets payment solutions, processes over 16 billion transactions each year, and provides industry-leading analysis and consulting services to financial institution customers and merchants. Through its family of brands, including MasterCard®, Maestro® and Cirrus®, MasterCard serves consumers and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. For more information go to http://www.mastercard.com.

Contact:

MasterCard Worldwide Jon Schwartz, 914-249-6806 jon_schwartz@mastercard.com or Taylor Michael Kingston, 212-714-1280 mkingston@taylorpr.com

---

Source: MasterCard Worldwide

“Credit or Debit? It Depends Upon Whom You Ask” (The Patriot-News)

Reporter Sharon Smith, from The Patriot-News, has a comprehensive article in the Sunday, Jan 13th edition about the difference between debit and credit cards. She mentions the contests and games banks (Visa and MasterCard) play to entice cardholders to use their debit cards as signature credit cards, so retailers are forced to pay more.  What is missing is the explanation that ultimately consumers end up paying more, as someone has to cover the higher signature-based interchange fee. More to the point, the larger question is why is there such a significant spread between the two services? 

We have dozens of previous commentaries on this scheme and how it impacts retailers and consumers. 

[Click here to view the article]

MasterCard’s Business in Question. Why The Stock is Plunging

As the 2nd largest credit card association’s stock declines today nearly 10% we cannot help but question whether Visa will continue with its planned IPO. These next few weeks will be very interesting, especially if Visa determines that due to market conditions they are forced to delay their offering.

Most reports today on MasterCard’s decline suggest it is in reaction to the news by American Express about weakening consumer buying.  However, we think that yesterday’s Wall Street Journal letter about interchange fees, along with the announced sale by the company’s chief attorney sparked even more questions.

As class representative in the merchant battle against Visa, MasterCard and its member banks charge of anticompetitive price-fixing, we have hundreds of previous news and commentary updates that provide invaluable insights from our prospective on the nearly $40 billion dollar annual hidden tax on consumers and retailers.

For prospective on the recent insider trading news, if ScanMyPhotos.com was publicly held, we would be very concerned if our general council sold about one million dollars in stock; the message to other investors would be of grave concern. 

[commentary: WayTooHigh.com]

MasterCard Update II; Credit Card Assn Attorney Cashing Out About $1.0 Million in MasterCard Stock

Today’s WSJ letter(Jan 10, page A-13) by lead plaintiff Mitch Goldstone, was submitted on Dec 28.  It was on page 13, yet it took 13-days to be published.  Number thirteen seemingly marks an all around unlucky time for MasterCard. 

Most WSJ letters appear within 2-3 days after being submitted, their turnaround is super-fast, but our letter, from among the thousands they must receive each day took nearly two-weeks to be reviewed and published.  We guess that the editors mandated that their legal staff review each element of the letter, and it eventually did get printed. 

An even more detailed letter was previously posted on this WayTooHigh.com website.

Printing this letter was also most admirable for a major publication.  It speaks volumes about the paper’s journalistic integrity.  In these times of diminishing ad revenues, the paper pushed aside prudence and caution and risked emotionally engaging its leading adverting category -financial institutions (banks and Visa / MasterCard) which we are battling over their merchant interchange fees.

Next topic: Major Insider, MasterCard Attorney, Sold About $1,000,000 in Stock

In after-hours trading MasterCard’s stock declined 3%, partly due to the American Express’ 6% decline on announcing a 4th quarter, $440 charge as credit card spending weakens.  Amex is overshadowed in size by MasterCard and the larger Visa card association which shared many of the same board members; thousands of its member banks are connected with both leading companies too.  That news arrived on the same day that our letter to the editor was printed.  Today is a good reminder of Visa and MasterCard’s admonishment that if our litigation is successful they both risk (in their words) “insolvency.”

Not to suggest anything improper, and we definitely are not, but when MasterCard’s general council, who over the last few years has been among our greatest nemesis, and often quoted in reaction to our litigation, cashes out, eyebrows are raises.  You would have thought MasterCard would have forced this news to be published after-hours on a Friday evening, but it’s Thursday night and the news is out – the stock is now down more than 3% in after hours trading.  The SEC filing occurred on Wednesday.  Surprising that the employee dis not wait until  Thursday or Friday evening to cash out.

Just for the perception value, someone should have suggested the person defending the class-action antitrust litigation not sell shares at this time.  This is, after all, MasterCard’s attorney, his company is a lead defendant in what could cause the credit card association to become insolvent (according to their SEC-filed IPO Risk Factors), yet he is cashing out a portion of his holdings.

It is one thing when a junior level executive sells stock to pay a tax bill or send their kids to college, but the general council?  Gasp!  According to news reports, Noah Hanft is cashing out about $1.0 million dollars from his holdings.  I can already hear stock commentator Jim Cramer go on the attack against this action: perception is often reality.

Today was also one of the most visited recent days for WayTooHigh.com.  This evening, we anticipate more Purchase, NY readers clicking away too. 

According to the news reports, this MasterCard stock sale was prearranged, but, then again, our litigation against the company was filed in May 2005. 

[Editors note: to be clear, we are not suggesting anything improper, it’s just the action that is so glaring].

[Commentary: WayTooHigh.com]

MasterCard Inc. Update I

We see that the Wall Street Journal (Jan 10, page A-13) ran the “Merchants Must Submit to MasterCard’s Power” letter to the editor today by Mitch Goldstone

 Reprinted in its entirety.

Merchants Must Submit To MasterCard’s Power

January 10, 2008; Page A13

The European Union has found, again, that interchange fees charged by MasterCard to merchants are fixed at anticompetitive levels. Instead of recognizing that the nearly $40 billion annual hidden tax on merchants and consumers is based on illegal price-fixing, Joshua Peirez of MasterCard Worldwide hauls out the usual replies (“EU Killing of Interchange Fees Won’t Help Customers¹,” Letters, Dec. 28).

The fact is that consumers, the marketplace and technology, not interchange fees, are what force innovations within the electronic-payment network. The actual cost of an electronic payment is a tiny fraction of the total fees collected, yet Mr. Peirez suggests that “interchange fees are necessary to fairly share the cost of an electronic payment system.”

Merchants are unable to pay a fair price for using MasterCard’s (and Visa’s) payment network; we are all forced to submit to their market power and their member banks’ ability to collectively fix interchange fees at noncompetitive levels. MasterCard’s long history of anticompetitive price-fixing corrupts its understanding of Economics 101, where the marketplace controls competition, not a board of directors who stand accused of illegal price-fixing.

Mitch Goldstone
President and Chief Executive
ScanMyPhotos.com
Irvine, Calif.

(Mr. Goldstone is the lead plaintiff in merchant-interchange litigation against Visa, MasterCard and leading member banks.)

CES: ScanMyPhotos.com CEO Goldstone Speaks at Consumer Electronics Show

Goldstone to speak in Las Vegas at the “Spotlight on Imaging” CES panel on Tuesday, January 8 from 3 – 4 p.m. in the Renaissance Hotel, Ballroom 1

Last update: 8:51 a.m. EST Jan 8, 2008

IRVINE, Calif., Jan 8, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — ScanMyPhotos.com, announced that president and CEO Mitch Goldstone will speak again at the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) as part of a panel discussion entitled: “Spotlight on Imaging.” The session is cosponsored by Picture Business Magazine and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) which produces the 2008 International CES – the world’s largest consumer technology trade show.

The panel discussion at the 2008 International CES will take place on January 8, at 3:00 p.m. at the Renaissance Hotel, Ballroom 1, in Las Vegas, NV. It will include essential topics about the future of the photo imaging industry and the commercialization of new digital imaging technologies to inspire and enhance the consumer photo imaging experience.

ScanMyPhotos.com, a division of 30 Minute Photos Etc. operates a retail and ecommerce-based photo imaging company that provides super-fast nationwide digital scanning and related photo imaging services. Goldstone and partner, Carl Berman, well-known leaders in the photo imaging industry founded 30 Minute Photos Etc. in 1990 as a retail-based photo center in Irvine, CA.

Today, the company and its ScanMyPhotos.com division provides a variety of photo memory services and products to help picture-takers preserve generations of family memories. These include services using: “Perfectly Clear” photo enhancements by Athentech, professional DVD data discs produced by Microtech’s robotic DVD publishing system, Lucidiom self-service digital photo kiosks, and KODAK’s award-winning i660 document imaging scanners – the engine behind the company’s capacity to digitally scan 1,000 photographs in under ten-minutes.

ScanMyPhotos.com helped commercialize the KODAK document imaging scanners for the photo industry and is profiled on the Kodak.com website. The photo entrepreneurs created a local walk-in and “fill-the-box” scanning service for consumers to order prepaid USPS Priority flat-rate boxes which are mailed out the same day it is ordered. Consumers fill the co-branded USPS and ScanMyPhotos.com prepaid boxes with as many pictures as it can hold (more than 1,600 4×6″ photos). All orders are processed and digitally scanned as jpeg files at 300 dpi and mailed back the same day. The prepaid box costs just $99.95 – consumers also receive a free box when they purchase two prepaid boxes so they can have more than 5,500 photo snapshots scanned for $199.90.

ScanMyPhotos.com, has scanned nearly four million pictures from around the world and was recently profiled or mentioned in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Chicago Sun-Times, The New York Times, Reader’s Digest, Women’s Health Magazine, The Orange County Register, Family Tree Magazine, Popular Photography, Direct Marketing News and scores of other media and Internet / blog coverage.

Click here for complete Special Events CES listing.

Presidential-Sized Prediction

From Visa’s sponsorship of the Olympics to its contrived IPO in 2008, we are closely monitoring the company’s influences.

Global interest is also brewing to further expose our illegal price-fixing complaints and demand for monumental reforms at the credit card giant and by its co-defendants who also use the antiquated electronic payment network of supracompetitive fees to strangle the world’s economy.

As U.S. presidential candidates are seeking to restrain the oil cartel’s power, they should wisely do the same with the bank-controlled merchant interchange fees.  Beyond the banks lobbyists and hefty political contributions, they would win over many more votes from ordinary consumer-citizens. 

Forty-billion dollar each year flowing out of our economy to help fund the banks other fiscal quagmires is defiant to the principles of fair competition.

In 2008, Interchange fees should be abolished and penalties assessed for the years of multibillion dollar price-fixing violations.  The banks’ multibillion dollar hidden tax scheme on retailers and consumers is obsolete.  Technology and economic efficiencies today should hasten the removal of these fees.

Visa and MasterCard staffers and paid advocacy supporters may suggest it is not a “hidden fee,” because they now post a matrix of multi-page schedules and conditions on their websites.  But, what is crystal clear is that the world’s retailers, large and small, are against these unwarranted fees.  We are your core customers and even though you have an extraordinary 80% market power, it is time you listened.

More and more consumers are beginning to understand why it makes no sense to impose 1%, 2% and more in revenue sharing from each credit card transaction. Why nations that are technologically less developed than the U.S. pays a quarter or a third the rates charged in the States.

With nearly 900 previous news and commentary postings, WayTooHigh.com is pleased that the scope of our readership is global and we hope this projection is accurate.

[Commentary: WayTooHigh.com]

The Internet vs. Electronic Payment Network

Riddle: What’s the difference between the worldwide Internet communications network and Visa and MasterCard’s electronic payments network?  $40,000,000,000 each year.

Could you imaging if the banking cartel wielded an equal market power over the Internet as they do on what today should be a very low cost four-party payment network?

  

 Want to know more about lead plaintiff ScanMyPhotos.com?  Click here and read their daily blog: Tales from the World of Photo Scanning

Banks Benefit When Oil Surges

Today’s front page Wall Street Journal profile on the impact of $100.00 a barrel oil omitted one of the most prominent beneficiaries from surging oil prices – the banks, along with Visa and MasterCard.

When you view the Olympics next summer and see all those friendly Visa advertisements connected with the credit card company’s worldwide sponsorship, remember that they are also part of a giant cartel that is profiteering from our global economic energy crisis. 

With record prices at the pump, more motorists are forced to charge for each fill up; they simply do not have enough cash.  At the service stations, each time a motorist swipes their credit card, a fee based on the total cost is assessed in interchange costs.  As gas prices rise, so to the windfall profits that the credit card associations’ member banks reap.

[commentary: WayTooHigh.com]

What Other “Networks” Charge $40 Billion Each Year?

We couldn’t help but take note that if the thousands of banks which own Visa and own a large amount of MasterCard (prior to the IPO it was total control), are operating on an antiquated network strategy.  Because it is no longer cost-based, could you imagine if the banks owned the Internet network or broadcast television networks, like ABC, CBS or NBC?

Fortunately, there isn’t an anticompetitive cartel which controls those and other networks which also use technology to disseminate information.  But, in the case of the credit card associations, the network they control is impenetrable and their 80% market dominance is overpowering.

Their argument is the electronic payment network would not be efficient and of value if they (the banks) did not charge their myriad of overwhelming interchange fees. 

Just imagine if the banks also owned the free Internet network.

[Commentary: WayTooHigh.com]

Crude-oil Futures Hit $100 a Barrel on Nymex

Who Profits When Gas Prices Rise? 

Even more, record breaking windfall profits from service station-charged interchange fees due to record gas prices at the pumps. Gas now over $100.00 a Barrel generates huge windfall for the credit card associations and its member banks who charge a pay as you go fee for most credit card transactions. Swipe your credit card at the pump and the card associations [Visa and MasterCard] along with their thousands of member banks win during our nation’s and the world’s economic energy crisis.

Recent WayTooHigh.com related articles

• More Oil Profiterring. A Barrel of Gas Now at $86 (WayTooHigh.com)
• Oil Jumps to Nearly $100, Generates More Interchange Fee Profiteering
• The Flood of Banks’ Windfall Profiteering at the Pumps Rises (commentary, WayTooHigh.com)
• That’s a Lot of Dough-Nuts (WayTooHigh.com)
• Oil Nearing New Record Highs Means Record Interchange Fees Too (WayTooHigh.com)
• “$105 a Barrel” Would Mean More Windfall Profits for Credit Card Companies (WayTooHigh.com)
• Oil Surges Past Record High, Above $78 a Barrel; Yields More Windfall Profiteering For Banks (WayTooHigh.com)
• An Orgy of Credit Card and Bank Profiteering From Record Pump Prices (WayTooHigh.com)
• Giant Credit Card Cartels Answering Wrong Questions (WayTooHigh.com)

[commentary: WayTooHigh.com]