Costco sent out notice to members that after November 15, 2023, the online Costco.com will no longer accept Discover cards. As before, Costco clubs in-store only accept Visa cards. At Costco.com they previously accepted Visa, Mastercard, and Discover; going forward, only Visa and Mastercard will be options for online payment. You can see the full list of accepted payments at this Costco link.
Discover sometimes has Wholesale Clubs as a category. Costco would no longer be an option for that.
Hat tip to DDG
You can, however use a Mastercard gift card as credit in store.
no. as debit (PIN-like debit)
I could pout and rage at a place of business because I’m unhappy with my life or I could just buy VGCs at Staples for 5x and invest my time and energy on more important shit.
I’ll go the 5x route. Y’all do you.
For the last few years, we’ve been buying up costco gift cards when there’s a 5% category. Most times this happens at least twice a year (between chase and discover) and has been sustained such that we don’t need to buy up more than $1000-1500 worth of gc’s at a time.
The question now becomes is the 5% (vs 2% citi double cash card) worth prepaying say $3K to buy during the warehouse category….
3% Extra back on $3K is $90. Assuming chase still offers the warehouse category during at least one quarter, figure 9 months for a savings interval at 5.1% apr. That would yield roughly $115 in interest. So gaining about $25 by not prepaying. Almost a wash. Makes sense to hold on to your money I think.
I suppose one other perk with chase is the chase my plan (pay over time). For first time use, they allow you to spread large payments over 12-18 months at $0 fee. Did this few quarters ago with a grocery category. Bought $1300 worth of gc from one merchant. Chase offered to spread it over 18 months with no fees.
ymmv
The 9 months interest assumes you don’t spend anything at Costco until the end of that 9 month period. In reality you’d probably be drawing your gift cards down regularly over the course of those 9 months. You probably come close to breaking even but at least you don’t have the hassle of buying and using gift cards.
Fair points. I’d say we spend ~$300-500 a month. I can probably mock up an excel spreadsheet to map out expenditures over say the last year. But you’re right, it’s likely a break even scenario – unless I can get chase to offer an 18 month pay off at 0% apr :).
Chase points are worth more to me personally.
Thought it was spam email. Deleted immediately. Zero trust.
Why isn’t Costco ever worried that Visa or Mastercard might also not give it a favorable exchange rate and then no one works with them except at a higher rate
They’ve probably negotiated the rate already. For Visa, it was probably part of the CitiVisa taking over from Amex. Mastercard debit can also be used in store while Discover is only usable online.
discover debit can be used in store I’m pretty sure.
Discover Debit works at Winco (debit-only merchant)
It might. There are even far fewer people with a Discover checking account that would be affected.
Visa was part of the negotiations for Citi’s takeover of the credit card portfolio from Amex.
Costco received a very favorable deal from Visa. 0.4% on non-cobranded Visa cards and nearly 0% on Costco branded cards.
“Costco and American Express had a 16-year exclusivity agreement until 2016, when Costco switched to Visa. Costco has negotiated a partnership agreement with Visa in exchange for much lower processing fees, paying transaction fees of only 0.4%.”
“But Costco is reportedly getting a sweeter deal in its partnership with Citigroup, paying near-zero expenses on purchases made with the Costco Anywhere Card, versus paying 0.6 percent of each transaction in its deal with AmEx, according to Bloomberg.”
No big deal.. the sky is not falling!! You can also get 5% back at Costco on classic freedom during their warehouse months… Or gift cards at Staples office Depot. Not sure it’s about transaction fees? Visa and MasterCard makeup about 83% of all credit card transactions. It might not be worth it for Costco to bother with Discover and for that matter American Express.
“83% of all credit card transactions are Visa or MC.” Is that by revenue or number of transactions? I have a feeling it’s the latter.
I bet Discover doesn’t want to give Costco a favorable interchange rate. So Costco gave them the boot.
Costco should go fk themselves and suffer a huge loss from Discover cardholders.
Most members probably don’t even know Costco took Discover online.
I did I used it to buy gift cards when they had 5% back at wholesale clubs. Oh well I’ll just max the chase 5% instead.
Many people I run into don’t even seem to realize that Discover exists. A grocery store near me takes Discover only, no mc/visa. A common complaint I hear is “I don’t shop there because they don’t take credit cards”. But they clearly do: Discover.
I love churning just as much as the next guy but I have never had a Discover card. And probably never will, unless there’s a hard to pass SUB.
To me Discover is just a second tier network. I know it’s not but for some weird reason in my mind it’s on the same level as shit tier issuers like CreditOne.
what store takes discover solely?
I didn’t even know they took MasterCard online, much less Discover. I figured it would be Visa only like in the stores.
Many don’t even know Discover exists
lol. Discover is a small guy
For the past year I’ve noticed their cashiers are oddly hostile. I’ve just not been digging the vibe of the store lately. I pay $60 for membership. It’s not the met gala, you’re not a tsa employee. You don’t need to treat all paying members like a potential criminal who may be using someone else’s card.
Anyway, I have two Discover cards (0% apr for 15 months) that gave me 10% cash back at Costco.com last quarter ($300). I purchased $3000 worth of Costco giftcards & will be using them in lieu of membership (now 300+60) in the store when mine expires (a little known loophole). Will probably last me a year. The cashiers and managers get extra pissy so I know I made the right choice. I’d like to think it’s in the spirit of Steve Jobs leasing cars for one month at a time to avoid getting license plates.
Costco fanboys please dont @ me. We can all admit the franchise is getting overzealous about cracking down on shared memberships at the expense of those following the rules. The 1.50 hot dogs only get you so far.
What loophole is this?
Gift cards can be purchased at Costco by members; but when a holder of a Costco gift card redeems his gift cards, he does not need to be a Costco member to shop at Costco. This lets GuestWesty avoid paying the membership fee for Costco when his membership expires.
Highly YMMY now. As with most things in life we can’t have nice things when they get abused. Most cashiers are privy to this “hack” as it’s been a thing for years now.
Their business model is built around membership fees, not maximizing profit from sales.
I should be so lucky if they refuse; my state has some of the most rigid consumer protection laws when it comes to giftcards. Namely you can’t tack on arbitrary restrictions after purchase. I’ve been reading up on some cases and will happily take this to small claims for an additional $3-5k.
I honestly can’t believe how stupid you really are. If you’re just trolling then congrats, you got me. If this is real, you come off as an entitled snowflake who is easily offended by the world and cannot let go. It’s not good for your health, let it go dude.
“Member Only Item
Costco has created another convenient way for members to pay for their purchases, a Costco Shop Card.”
Requiring a membership isn’t an arbitrary restriction
If you can’t be bothered to read the Product Details (or the fact that only members can purchase) then all I can say is good luck with your small claims case.
But you do not need to be a member to shop with a Cash Card/Shop Card (gift card).
They do have to get an override, which takes 30-60 seconds extra, but no membership card is required. I’ve done this for years.
They’re cracking down on this and closing the loophole but is still YMMV depending on location.
You have to be a member to buy shop cards so I’m guessing you’re having someone with a membership buy them for you or you’re paying higher than face value on the secondary market.
Costco needs to stop allowing this. No membership, no buy. Period.
But then people like GuestWesty will get butthurt
If Costco is serious about cracking down on this, they should hire some of those IRS stormtroopers to work there as a side gig, lol
Or at the very least, tack on a surcharge.
Which is true but also implies you are not a heavy Costco user. Otherwise Exec membership outweighs the benefit of giftcard loophone.
You can shop at Costco with a Shop card even if you don’t have a membership.
Really. Did not know this. No additional surcharges? My membership card says i’ve been a member since 2006!
None! You can tell they don’t like it; employees need to have a manager sign off on every purchase. But it’s allowed. And I’m spiteful.
No way do cashiers sign off on every shop card purchase . . Not in nyc, the king city for scams . Costco now has digital shop cards where rhe cashier scans the bar code right off phone .
Read my comment again.
No up charge at all . Also works at Costco gas stations . I send to daughter in college to shop at Costco and Costco gas . Executive members don’t get 2^ on shop card purchases or shop card use .
I get 2% on shop card use.
You don’t get it when buying the shop card but you do when using it with the same cash/cc restrictions of not counting for gas, etc.
If someone buys you a gift card you don’t need a membership card to shop and can pay cash for any amount over gift card amount . You can buy $20 shop cards while you are a member and then let your membership lapse . As long as you have a penny on one of the ahop cards you can shop in store and pay cash for amount over the amount on shop card. During covid , cashiers were not paying attention and you just slip your credit or debit card for the extra amount . When you use shop card they don’t scan membership card . I use shop cards to make min spend on credit card bonuses.
My local warehouse randomly checks the membership. I don’t have a photo on my card so understandable. At Sam’s they threatened to call the police on my niece for using her mother’s membership card. As for the loophole, that seems to periodically work. I’ve seen managers only allow purchases to be made on the gift card, nothing over the value of it to crack down on repeat offenders. Or maybe to prevent the big ticket item purchases.
If anything you could use it at the gas station where the payment is automated. I live in California and there is very rigid consumer laws about giftcards. I’m secretly hoping they give me a reason to take them to small claims court.
The amount over is supposed to be cash only . Maybe that is what happened in your situation . There are no fee atm at every store .
gotta protect that $25/hr cashier job
I did the same for a $1.5K gift card with a new discover CC and the cashier was annoying me – asking if I didn’t have a membership. I had a $120 exec membership earlier this year but I did not spend enough to renew.
That crackdown is seriously stupid. They’re annoying probably 99% of members to catch 1% that share their cards. It’s not going to run me off as they have a frozen food I can’t get elsewhere I need to keep my bowels happy (thanks to IBS) plus the savings really help me, but I’m sick of having to show the photo on the back of my card. Only good thing I can say is my local Costco’s gone back to employees helping scan stuff at the self-checkouts more often.
In nyc you have freeloaders asking to use your card while on checkout . Members I know appreciate the enforcement . The other loophole is if you have citi Costco card . You end up having two Costco cards besides the Costco card on app .
>In nyc you have freeloaders asking to use your card while on checkout
No they don’t. And if they did they’d be kicked out of the store so fast. (although the Costco in Queens is hell on earth as I recall)
>Members I know appreciate the enforcement
Also no they don’t. Nobody likes this. Those following the rules have to suffer because a small minority are affecting Costco’s bottom line (membership sales)
How long have you been a member? Checking the photo was SOP pre-pandemic at every store I went to up and down the east coast.
Totally not getting overzealous about shared memberships . Membership dues is how they make money not the items they sell . The profit margins on items they sell is 2% which is nothing . We are executive members and we get large check back each year . We have a business that requires us to spend and it works for us .
Read the comment about threatening to call the cops for using a family members card. Overzealous doesn’t begin to describe it. No one who wears a nametag will give me that sort of treatment. McDonalds workers are more polite and they’re making minimum wage.
How much do you spend at Costco? The executive membership is 2% and caps out at $1000 with $50k spend. I doubt your large check does anything but cover the $120 membership fee. The executive membership is churning for people who don’t know anything about churning.
Costco has had rampant membership abuse ever since the rollout of self-checkout. This is a fact and you can ask any employee. Does it make their job more difficult? Sure, but their total compensation package for a position not requiring any education is more than they’d get in other comparable retail positions. Mind you, most employees in my experience don’t complain, but like you, the minority squeal louder than the majority. Seems to be like this in many areas of life but I digress.
Since you seem to think you know everything about the company I’m sure you know they’re overdue for a membership increase (roughly every 4 years). They’ve explicitly stated they don’t want to raise fees considering how hard it’s been for the consumer. By cutting down on abuse and theft they’re able to delay increases.
I’m sure you also know that most profit comes from membership fees, not product sales. So it makes sense to crack down on rampant abuse.
So please do let your membership expire and when that time comes I’m sure you’re going to squeal like an entitled little piggy when you realize most warehouses no longer allow you to buy with just a shop card. You’ll either pout and shop elsewhere or tuck your tail and renew like more than 90% of members.
Yikes, someone bought their salt wholesale! I’m not offended by your outrage. You’re a baby boomer, so I’ll assume Costco is the closest thing you have to church, and the sample people are the closest thing you have to friends.
>Costco has had rampant membership abuse ever since the rollout of self-checkout.
Mine doesn’t have self-checkout. And it’s not even the issue at play; membership sales are down and management is instructed to be as hostile as possible to root out maybe 5% of customers abusing memberships at the expense of everyone else. If they wanted to solve this without affecting the shopping experience, how about updating their software system to something from this decade? Their registers are on some kind of DOS system. Hardly seems appropriate for a membership-based store wanting to crack down on fraud.
>Mind you, most employees in my experience don’t complain
You need to check out r/costco because ALL their employees do is complain. The employees hate Costco customers! And yet none want to become plumbers or truck drivers, they insist on working in a customer-facing occupation, likely out of benevolence to their common man (lucky me).
>They’ve explicitly stated they don’t want to raise fees considering how hard it’s been for the consumer
And you believed them? They keep membership prices at 60 because less people will pay if it’s any higher, and they’re having a hell of a time retaining members as-is. How about they lower gas prices for the consumer, since they’re such nice people?
>By cutting down on abuse and theft they’re able to delay increases.
I’ll happily pay more if they stop treating checkout like a Stazi border checkpoint (and replace the geriatric sample women with 22 y/o cuties)
>I’m sure you also know that most profit comes from membership fees
I did know that. And Costco’s only solution is to create an unpleasant experience for those actually paying for membership. Great business plan!
>most warehouses no longer allow you to buy with just a shop card
False. I buy it as advertised, I use it as advertised. But thank YOU, Costco member for subsidizing my membership! I pass along the cost to you. When they raise the price of hot dogs, I hope you’ll think of me.
See you at the food court!
-GuestWesty
Your assumptions are as poor as your conclusions. I’m not a boomer nor am I religious. Not that it should matter when we’re discussing the merits of a private, for profit business and it’s business decisions.
I was going to reply to you further until you stated they’ll increase hot dog combo prices. The fact that you wrote this shows everyone how clueless you really are.
Take care with your bitter self.
> I’m a big boy
Yes, according to your reddit profile you’re overweight and live in Vacaville. Life’s already dealt you a bum hand, I’m not going to add to it.
🤣 I strike a nerve that caused you to fish for information? You’re bitter, wrong and have lots of time on your hands. I have a wife and family, my health and I’m financially secure but thanks for the concern!
On that note not going to reply any further, rather go kick a soccer ball with my 6 year old. Peace ✌️
Hilariously bad take…”membership sales are down” but they just reported an 8% increase YoY, “they’re having a hell of a time retaining members” but their 92.6% renewal rate is an all time high.
I have to laugh everytime I see an angry freeloader complaining when they get pulled out or forced to sign up on the spot.
Ahhhh oh no! I should have predicted Costco’s quarterly earnings report before it was released! Oh the folly of my psychic powers!
Or you could have looked at Q3 and Q2 and noted similar numbers before spouting off random diarrhea of the mouth, but here we are.
Seems a like a free loader that hates Costco, but loves to shop there.
If you hates Costco so much, why are you shopping there?
some lady cashier literally held up a line for 10 min to call over a manager cuz they thought I was using someone’s card. like wtf lol
You are forgetting the $5 rotisserie chicken. I told my P2 to always get it as it surely is sold at loss.
At least I fugured a way to last the membership 13 months and churn the new member benefit every year. They are trying very hard to stop it but with digital membership available on day 1 it is a futile attempt.
Pouring one out