Is there any establishment in the US, or country or region around the world, that accepts Visa or Mastercard but not both?

March 4, 2004 3:13 PM

Is there any establishment in the US, or country or region around the world, that accepts Visa or Mastercard but not both?
posted by werty to Work & Money (16 answers total)

Athens 2004 Olympics tickets are Visa only. Guess that their advertising does work, since that came instantly to mind.
posted by smackfu at 3:20 PM on March 4, 2004

Yes. I was at a gas station in rural Nevada once that only took Visa, turned down my Mastercard.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 3:20 PM on March 4, 2004

Athens 2004 Olympics tickets are Visa only. Guess that their advertising does work, since that came instantly to mind.

Yes, but "for everything else, there's Mastercard."
posted by Sinner at 4:07 PM on March 4, 2004

I've seen a lot of places in Japan that would only take one. (Visa i think)
posted by reverendX at 4:11 PM on March 4, 2004

If I'm not mistaken, Cuba used to accept Mastercard but not Visa, because Visa was US based and refused to give them their money.

That said, I was told that VISA is now suitably international and this is no longer a problem, but we used mastercard just in case.
posted by twine42 at 4:35 PM on March 4, 2004

The Department of Motor Vehicles down here in Florida only takes Mastercard. I found that out the last time I had to replace my tag...with just a Visa credit card and a Visa debit card.
posted by jbrjake at 5:06 PM on March 4, 2004

The Templeton Cafe in Vancouver takes Visa but not MasterCard.
posted by mookieproof at 5:36 PM on March 4, 2004

Lots of places only take one and there are a few that take neither. In Toronto, we have a restaurant that only takes AMEX. My local post office doesn't take any credit cards at all (though they take debit card payments).
posted by dobbs at 6:41 PM on March 4, 2004

Indiana University only accepts payment through Master Card, which is odd, seeing as how the IU Credit Union has Visa debit and credit cards.
posted by billybunny at 7:07 PM on March 4, 2004

This question brings to mind another question -- are Visa and Mastercard linked somehow? Or can someone else explain why they appear together so often? Is it simply because they're just the two most popular credit cards? For example, you'll often see "we accept" stickers or signs with both logos printed on them. Are these made by 3rd party card processors?
posted by zsazsa at 7:19 PM on March 4, 2004

my employer recently chose to stop accepting visa cards as a cost-cutting measure. until then, I'd never realized how much it costs businesses and institutions to accept credit card payments.
posted by whatnot at 7:37 PM on March 4, 2004

Anyone really curious about this needs to read Paying with plastic about the history of checks, credit cards and debit cards. Covers all those things about banking that don't seem to have evolved naturally...
posted by whatzit at 9:04 PM on March 4, 2004

Melbourne taxis don't accept Visa.
posted by cheaily at 10:33 PM on March 4, 2004

the signs are made usually by people who make those signs, we ordered them where i used to work from sign making companies. (bathroom signs, fire exits etc). But all the credit cards were processed at the same place, which is usually the case i think. blockbuster uses Chase, so all the things go through there, and Chase deals with who gets what money.
posted by rhyax at 10:46 PM on March 4, 2004

When I had a business taking cards, our stickers came from the company that processed our transactions, so they were all together.

I have seen places in Europe that take only Visa. Not sure I've seen it the other way around.

Amex usually charges sellers a higher percentage on transactions than Visa or MC. This is why so many places don't take them. One might assume those that do are charging the customer higher prices.
posted by Goofyy at 11:20 PM on March 4, 2004

Speeding tickets in Kern County, CA take Visa, Discover, and American Express, but strangely enough not Mastercard.
posted by calwatch at 1:57 AM on March 6, 2004