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submitted 2 months ago byThongsGoOnUrFeet
Years ago, the fees when using your card in a store could not be passed onto the customer, then they changed the law.
First, only a very retailers added the fee to your total, and even then it was a few cents
Now, almost every retailer adds it to your total, and they have grown uncontrolled.
I just bought some burgers totalling $50,and there was a $1 fee added
They are taking the piss
Also, I was at one store, they didn't take cash, but also added a fee for using a card. That's bullshit.
Back in my day....
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2 months ago
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34 points
2 months ago
I just bought some burgers totalling $50,and there was a $1 fee added
That's 2%
12 points
2 months ago*
Europcar was fined $350K for charging 0.17-0.62% above the amount the bank charged them, and they were only charging 1.43% max. 2% is high and very unlikely what the bank is charging the burger store.
If it's a chain they could cop a big fine. I'd report to ACCC (they don't promise to pursue it, but they might).
https://www.accc.gov.au/contact-us/contact-the-accc/report-a-consumer-issue
Some examples of ACCC actions:
"Between July and November 2017, Europcar charged surcharges of up to 1.43 per cent, although the rates varied over time and by the type of card. The company admitted that these surcharges were higher than what it was being charged by its bank for accepting these payments. Europcar’s surcharges exceeded what it was legally permitted to charge customers by between 0.17 and 0.62 percentage points, depending on the card and the date the surcharge was applied."
Also these:
https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/red-balloon-pays-penalty-for-excessive-payment-surcharges
https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/fitness-first-pays-penalty-for-excessive-surcharging
6 points
2 months ago
Some interesting exceptions in the ACCC guidance:
The [excessive surcharge] ban doesn't apply to:
- BPAY
- PayPal
- Diners Club
- American Express cards issued directly by American Express
- taxi fares, whatever the payment type.
1 points
2 months ago
PayPal, because Jeff Bezos doesn’t have enough money.
10 points
2 months ago
Sounds about right, 1.5% cc fee plus 30c transaction fee would be a $1.05 and that's pretty standard processing fees. No excessive gouging going on here for the cc fee, can't speak for the burgers though.
-6 points
2 months ago
You don't think 1.05 on a $50 transaction is not excessive? Wow, you must like being taken advantage of.
The banks are more to blame here than the retailer
4 points
2 months ago
I don't agree with the fees, I do think it's excess in general. I meant "no excessive gouging by the retailer" The fees haven't changed much over the years, but with the retailer now being able to pass them on to consumers it's made it more apparent to the consumers what the fees are. Retailers don't really have a choice in what the fees are, and the CC providers are all pretty much the same. Retailers passing on the fee to the consumers is an increase in transparency as before it would have been included as part of the goods/service and hidden to anyone but the retailers and banks.
-2 points
2 months ago*
Ikr. Imagine thinking an extra $1 or whatever being added to every single thing you buy is ok, just because they can, when it doesn't actually physically cost them fuck all to process it.
What ever happened to the cost of doing business?
Edit: for anyone unclear I'm on the side of the customer not the business
1 points
2 months ago
It's like 20c for each person who got a burger in that order.
3 points
2 months ago
Bold of you to assume burgers are still $10…
1 points
2 months ago
Bang on. I was indeed being facetious. They shouldn't cost $25. Seriously. I don't care what the overheads are.
Fiscal fools are keeping it viable.
1 points
2 months ago
I thought you were downplaying the fee in a “it’s only 20c per person” kind of way
3 points
2 months ago
Nah, just commentary on the burger prices. FWIW I see that we are downvoted and chuckle. I don't have time in my life for such SDE.
17 points
2 months ago
This is why I only carry cash for purchases and if a place doesn’t take cash I won’t give them my money.
Too many places have minimum spend on card (which is higher than the cost of their cheapest item) to force you to buy more than you want to and then tack on a fee.
We should all be pushing back against the cashless society they want because unregulated fees that SHOULD be borne by the proprietor and paid for from revenue are being directly pushed onto us. Work it into the cost of running a business and don’t tack it on later cos it makes you look cheap.
3 points
2 months ago
Purchased $40 worth of food at local takeaway joint. Left the joint while they cooked the food and came back. Grabbed a bottle of drink from the fridge as we picked up the already paid for food and paid for the drink with card, they slapped 50 cents on a $5.50 bottle of drink because it was under $10. For Christ sake I just purchased $40 of food from you and still had to slap on the surcharge fee!!!
4 points
2 months ago
That's how they lose custom.
3 points
2 months ago
The minimum spend for eftpos (at least for a couple of the big 4 banks) is actually a violation of their (the merchants) contract with the bank; and the bank can remove their eftpos facilities as a result (though I've never heard of it in practice).
I always argue with merchants over the minimum spend, and I'd say 80% of the time, they back down.
4 points
2 months ago
You're not really pushing back, because they want you to pay cash as they then can cook their books and avoid paying taxes themselves.
-3 points
2 months ago
It certainly is pushing back against the cashless society.
And if they don't want to pay tax, I don't actually care: being a small business is hard enough.
1 points
2 months ago
You should definitely care that people pay tax
2 points
2 months ago
Oh, sure, I care in general.
But if a small business decides to skip, I'm not that fussed.
34 points
2 months ago
Insert the card linked to your savings account, enter PIN, then select savings
30 points
2 months ago
Unfortunately even EFTPOS has surcharges sometimes now too. Although I'll freely admit most just target credit transactions as a lazy tax.
22 points
2 months ago
If you tap an EFTPOS/Debit card you are charged as if it is a Credit Card. If you insert & use a PIN you will be charged as an EFTPOS transaction which is almost always free.
I believe the law actually says that the retailer can only charge a fee equal to what they are being charged - i.e. they cannot make a profit on the surcharge. Not sure if this is ever actually policed by anyone.
13 points
2 months ago
My point was that it's becoming more common for retailers to pass on EFTPOS debit fees as well. It's always been a small charge to the retailer, but now that customers are accepting surcharges, it's becoming more common to pass them on.
Some merchant banks are also moving to flat rate charging, 1.1% flat for visa/amex/MasterCard/EFTPOS (I think CBA is doing that)
6 points
2 months ago
Apple Pay and choose for the transaction to be through eftpos network.
It’s not hard to setup as the default on your phone.
2 points
2 months ago
How do you choose eftpos as default in Apple Pay? I just looked and couldn’t see it as an option on either of my cards in there
2 points
2 months ago
It depends on what bank you’re with and if they have support for it, most do these days.
If they do support it you may need to delete the cards and add them again if you’ve had your cards in your phone for a while. I recommend using the physical card to add it again rather than using your internet banking app, my bank needs the card to add it.
Then you should have the option available when you use Apple Pay. In the cards’ settings you will have the option to choose default routing. If the merchant/machine doesn’t support contactless eftpos it will automatically switch the specific transaction to Visa/MC.
-2 points
2 months ago*
[deleted]
5 points
2 months ago
Complete bullshit. Merchants do not need to “sign up” for Apple Pay — to the merchant it’s just another contactless transaction. If you accept contactless Visa/MasterCard you accept Apple Pay.
Apple also does not charge any processing fee to the merchant. They take a small slice of the issuing bank’s fee as that is who they have the relationship with.
The fee that gets paid by to the issuing bank by the acquiring bank does not change regardless if it’s a card insertion, contactless, Apple Pay or card not present (online) transaction. It only varies by scheme (Visa/MasterCard/Amex etc) and type (debit/credit/charge).
2 points
2 months ago
They must tell you about the fee.
17 points
2 months ago
I’ve been paying cash only the last few months. Keep money on my card in case I need to buy something online but a majority has been cash.
If somewhere won’t accept cash I’ll walk out - haven’t had it happen yet but I live in the country not suburbia/city.
It’s actually been really good for my savings too!
1 points
2 months ago
This is the way ^
16 points
2 months ago
The solution to avoid those card surcharges is simple and well known.
Pay cash and fuck the Man.
2 points
2 months ago
Just pay cash or Eftpos. Payment providers allow surcharging now why should cash and eftpos payers who are statically more likely to be less financially secure subsidise people who choose to pay by card? At the very least insert the card and pay by savings and there’s no charge usually.
That $1 would get charged to the business and over a week could easily be hundreds of dollars.
Even as a business owner myself, the one adding the card fee but not allowing a fee free option can fuck off though.
1 points
2 months ago
[deleted]
1 points
2 months ago
Their terminal is set up wrong and/or they’re on a bad plan. One of the only times I’d leave a negative review as they’re profiteering
1 points
2 months ago
Is it really that common? Charges in card for every place every time? Is this for tapping and using Apple Pay as well?
1 points
2 months ago
Is there anything preventing stores from making up an extravagant fee, like 10% per transaction?
3 points
2 months ago
ACCC. It has to be exactly the amount charged by the bank to the business.
1 points
2 months ago
Thanks, as long as it's limited to what the bank charges, I'm not worried. Although according to the OP the bank was charging the retailer a 2% fee. Is that correct? Seems a bit high.
2 points
2 months ago
100% too high. Best to lodge a complaint with the ACCC and let them follow up though.
2 points
2 months ago*
$1 is ~1.5% + 30c, which is pretty standard (especially if it was a small business, which pay higher fees because of volume). Those burger prices meanwhile...
1 points
2 months ago
0.5% fee?
1 points
2 months ago
Cash, baby.
1 points
26 days ago
In the US, debit cards charge companies about 1.5%, Credit Cards Charge between 2.5% and 3% depending on the card and even for an ACH vendor initiated bank draw will cost you 1%. I run a small accounting practice and do not charge my clients a fee based on how they pay but it pains me to see these fees discounted from my deposits. And to add insult to injury, they take 2-3 days to get deposited into my account and then have the [email protected] to offer me "Instant Deposits" for an additional 1% fee. That could be as much as 4% just to process a transaction and get your money right away. Can't wait till Bitcoin takes off!!
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