Benefits to merchants

For merchants, a credit card business is often more secure than other forms of expense, such as checks, because the issuing bank commit to pay the merchant the moment the business is certified, regardless of whether the customer defaults on the credit card payment. In most cases, cards are even more secure than cash, because they discourage theft by the merchant's workers and reduce the amount of cash on the building. Prior to credit cards, each merchant had to appraise each customer's credit history before extending credit. That task is now performing by the banks which suppose the credit risk.

For each purchase, the bank charges the mercantile a commission for this service and there may be a certain delay before the agreed sum is received by the merchant. The commission is often a proportion of the transaction amount, plus a fixed fee. In addition, a mercantile may be penalized or have their ability to receive payment using that credit card controlled if there are too many cancellation or reversals of charges as a result of disputes. Some small merchants require credit purchase to have a minimum amount to compensate for the business costs, though this is not always allowed by the credit card grouping.

In some countries, for case the Nordic countries, banks assurance payment on stolen cards only if an ID card is checked and the ID card number/civic register number is written down on the receipt together with the autograph. In these country merchants therefore usually ask for ID. Non-Nordic citizens, who are unlikely to own a Nordic ID card or driving license, will in its place, have to show their passport, and the passport number will be written down on the receiving, sometimes together with other in order. Some shops use the card's PIN for recognition, and in that case showing an ID card is not essential.