Does Costco Accept Mastercard? – Why They Not?

By Phillip Adcock
Last updated: Jan 8, 2023
Does Costco Take Mastercard

You love to hunt for sock deals at retailers like Costco (COST) and can stand for hours waiting to pay with your Mastercard.

If you don’t want to ignore the chance to own discounted items and do not waste time on pay problems, read the following updates right away to get the answer!

Does Costco Take Mastercard?

Unfortunately, the answer is that they do not accept this card for payment at all store locations.

This issue may be a minor inconvenience when shopping in-store, but Costco members can still use their Mastercard PIN debit at the store and their Gas service. Besides, this payment type is only best supported when you shop online at the official website.

To make shopping offline more convenient, you can use Visa and various other methods such as EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer), checks, mobile payment applications, cash, etc.

Why Does Costco Not Take Mastercard?

Why Does Costco Not Take Mastercard

This problem occurs because the big box retail chains have an exclusive agreement with Visa. From that, this form becomes the most optimally supported, and it also causes certain limitations in the payment problem. 

For instance, the Master Cards will not be supported for in-store expenditures but can only be used when shopping online on the website, gas service, and PIN debit.

A new agreement with Visa began to be signed after the contract with American Express ended in June 2016. This transformation has a tangible impact on customers’ shopping intent for their preferred expense method is no longer supported.

Apart from affecting existing customers, this change also affects new customers who intend to shop at this retail store. They will feel that the payment will be less convenient when their Mastercard is not supported at the store.

Does Costco Accept Any Other Debit Cards?

Although an agreement with a single carrier creates some restrictions for other payment providers, you can still use your debit for shopping.

To know which charge methods are supported besides Visa, please refer to the details below: 

All warehouse sites accept:

  • EBT 
  • A majority of PIN-based Debit-ATM Cards
  • Purchase card
  • Cash
  • Membership
  • Business checks
  • Travel checks
  • Mobile Pay as Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay

Gas stations:

  • A majority of PIN-based Debit-ATM Cards
  • Purchase card

Costco.com:

  • Master Cards
  • Discover cards (including Diners Club and JCB)
  • A majority of PIN-based Debit-ATM Cards
  • Purchase card

This series of other forms of payment will be useful information for those who do not use Visa. Although they have accepted other forms and provided customers with many alternatives, they still feel quite annoyed by this inconvenience.

Most customers choose to shop offline to keep their credit active every month, but problems arise if the card they’re using isn’t Visa. From this problem, they may find a new way of shopping or choose another retailer that has a lot of support for their payment method.

Explore Related Questions

Does Gas Service Accept The Mastercard? 

They only support the best Visa cards and will not support your Master type of payment. However, you can still use it with a PIN debit card. If you want more convenience, you can use the purchase card of this big box store chain.

Can I Use Debit? 

It’s great for the answer is “yes”. Additional to Visa, various other forms are also accepted, such as cash, EBT, debit-ATM, and checks. Note that car wash and gas service will not support EBT, checks, and cash.

Is It Possible To Shop Without A Card?

Even if you’re not a member, you can still use Costco Cash Cards at their entire retail chain in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, and online at the main website.

Conclusion

The Master card is not best supported at the store leads to many difficulties when shopping. If you want to make the best use of your card at big-box retailers, then shopping on their official website would be an optimal choice. Wish you the most comfortable buying!

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* Disclaimer: We do not buy, sell or provide service, we only share with you our trusted sources, and experience. In case of any changes in the products or services of the companies, all the information below is supposed to change at any time.

Phillip Adcock is the founder and Managing Director of the research agency Shopping Behaviour Xplained (SBXL), a shopping research organization using psychological consumer insight to explain and help consumers answer their questions about stores and services.

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