Originally Posted by
hillrider
I think you're getting quite confused.
Not at all -- I am afraid it is
you, who is unaware of the technicalities of credit card transaction processing.
Originally Posted by
hillrider
Legally, the place of purchase is simply the place where the purchase was made.
You appear to be confusing "the place where the purchase was
made" with "the place where the purchase was
initiated".
Originally Posted by
hillrider
If I buy a product from Walmart, found out that is defective, and am instructed to return it or some reason to the place of purchase, I don't have to go to Bentonville just because it's where they (probably) cleared my credit cards charge.
Consumers do
not buy from "Walmart" [HQ], they buy from
"Walmart Store XXX in city ZZZ", and that is who their contract would be with, and the merchant account used will be that of "Walmart
Store XXX in city ZZZ", and
not of Walmart HQ in Bentonville.
Originally Posted by
hillrider
If I buy a car in California, and pay with a bank transfer from Citibank to the dealer's account with Chase, the place of purchase doesn't become New York, where both banks are.
Banks are
intermediaries (just like the ARC in your scenario), so no. The merchant would be the dealer in CA.
Originally Posted by
hillrider
Am I in error here?
Yes -- you are (or, hopefully, were) unable to distinguish intermediaries from the merchants
.
In the airline ticket scenario, the chain is as follows:
Passenger -> Travel Agent -> GDS (Sabre) -> ARC -> Airline
TA, GDS, and ARC are all
intermediaries. TA passes billing (credit card) data to the GDS. GDS passes it to ARC. ARC passes it to the Airline (which is the merchant).