QF_Flyer
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- Oct 26, 2017
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Yeah fair enough, interesting - I haven't had a Discover card, so don't know first hand, but I would have assumed at least places like Woolies, Coles, BP, Shell, Ampol, etc. (large, national retailers) or hotels/airlines would take almost all cards, but there won't be 100% coverage amongst those.I have a discover credit and debit card and try them everywhere I can and it has never worked (yes I need a better hobby but here I am on a forum dedicated to airline points). Terminals here reject the card without trying it because they don't know the AID, it's like if you scanned a bus pass. I'm 99% sure the AUD exchange rate isn't even set, because even online storefronts that say they accept them don't actually.
If you have a merchant you think they work at please let me know! I want to see what an international transaction looks like on the credit card statement.
You say they reject it without trying, is that the operator saying you can't use it, or the terminal throwing a fit after you insert/tap the card? The latter I sometimes get with Amex, but at least I know it's the terminal there. I find it best not to ask, as sometimes the operator, knowingly or otherwise, will just say they don't accept Amex, but trying it results in Amex working just fine, and if it doesn't work I just say "ah, must be because it's Amex, I'll use a different card". I'd expect this to be even more common with lesser known (in Australia) networks (Im absolutely would expect blanks faces if I asked a 20 year old at the Macca's drive through if they accepted JCB cards, for example haha).
Admittedly, Discover being one which I don't *think* has been offered outside the US could prove interesting. In those cases, it's possible that the cards would be dual network (like some debit cards are Visa/EFTPOS, or how some MasterCards use/used Cirrus at ATMs - although Cirrus I think was part of MasterCard anyway, based on the logo styling), but that would presumably defeat the purpose (as if it routed via, say, MasterCard as a fallback, it would revert to the capped swipe fee model). I'm basing that also on Diners' operations in the US, which use MC as a backup (but they don't have the caps anyway, so it's not an issue there).
I'm just speculating on most of this, either way I'm keen to see what they offer.
