Why don't any merchants accept Visa but not MasterCard, or vice versa?

Question

Are Visa and MasterCard really competing against each other if they always go together and are effectively interchangeable?

Answer 1

Visa & Mastercharge are owned by their member banks and other issuers. Many banks issue both cards. As such most retailers accept both or none at all. There are a few that only take one or the other.

Many as you may have noticed don't accept other cards at all. The reason is that retailers that take credit cards are charged by the banks to accept them (V & Mc it is about 3% of the total sale price.) While Discover and American Express charge more (up to 7%) some places like restaraunts don't make any money at that rate.