Times have changed – and global card networks have leveled the playing field for merchants.

A generation ago, shoppers would carry a giant wallet, packed full of individual store credit cards for each of the major retailers where they shopped.

Small, local businesses that could not afford to run their own card programs were left out in the cold. They lost customers to the big retail giants.

Today, the international card networks allow millions of merchants, large, small, and in-between, to compete on a level playing field.

Now, even large merchants choose not to offer their own card programs.

Simply put – it’s far too expensive for merchants to run their own card programs.

They can’t afford to offer cards for less than what they pay for Visa, MasterCard, or American Express, or with equivalent value. If they could, they would.

Private-label cards, or cards offered by single merchants, show much higher losses than standard cards.

“Losses on these cards are rising at a faster pace than the broader credit card market – reaching a three-year high of 10.51% in January, according to Fitch Ratings, up 44 percent from a year ago.”

The New York Times, February 10, 2009 »

By accepting Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, merchants get all the benefits they seek from card acceptance without the burden and expense of running their own programs.