Latest news with #Eftpos
Newsroom
18 hours ago
- Business
- Newsroom
Ban ignores the surcharging elephants in the online retail space
The Government's ban on credit card surcharges is being welcomed as removing misleading distinctions between the costs of doing business with cash, credit or Eftpos. Card users will no longer subsidise the high cost of cash transactions. Instead, Retail NZ and other analysts expect that bricks-and-mortar retailers will raise their underlying prices across the board to recover their card transaction costs, as they already do for the cost of cash.
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- Business
- NZ Herald
Government to ban card payment surcharges, businesses to pick up the tab
The cost of providing contactless payments will fall on merchants. Photo / Andrey Mikhaylov Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. Already a subscriber? Sign in here Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen. Government to ban card payment surcharges, businesses to pick up the tab The cost of providing contactless payments will fall on merchants. Photo / Andrey Mikhaylov The Government is planning to ban merchants from adding surcharges to most in-store card payments. The change will save shoppers, but cost merchants, who will need to absorb the cost of offering contactless payments or pass it onto customers by hiking prices. The change is expected to be made by May next year. It will apply to payments made in-store using Eftpos, Visa and Mastercard but won't apply to purchases made online or with foreign-issued cards, prepaid gift or travel cards, and cards issued by networks like American Express or UnionPay. Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Scott Simpson said: 'Surcharges are a hassle and an unwelcome surprise when shoppers get to the till.
AU Financial Review
20-07-2025
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Tap and go? Credit cards? In these suburbs, cash is still king
On John Street in Sydney's Cabramatta, cash is still king. The main strip, flush with hole-in-the-wall eateries, is bustling in the early afternoon. A butcher painstakingly collects a dozen or so coins in exchange for a cut of meat, picking up the fiddly 5¢ pieces that have slipped onto the meat display counters. Plenty of shops have signs outside warning that they do not accept credit cards – cash only, please. Others, like eatery Sen Viet, say they have Eftpos before rummaging through boxes to bring out a disconnected machine. Almost every transaction is made in cash, even at the few vendors who accept card payments with a hefty surcharge. 'Ninety per cent of customers always pay cash,' says Pok's Sweets owner Ngoun Viengkhou.
The Age
14-07-2025
- Business
- The Age
RBA wants to ban credit and debit surcharges
Businesses would be banned from applying surcharges to all credit and debit card transactions from July next year under a Reserve Bank proposal that could save Australian consumers close to $1.2 billion a year. On Tuesday, the RBA released its review into card surcharges, proposing a suite of reforms aimed at lowering fees for both consumers and merchants, including a lever to force credit card companies and financial players – involved higher up the payments chain – to publish details of the fees they impose on businesses. The RBA's proposal to stop fees on credit and debit card transactions, which will now be subject to an industry consultation window, goes further than reforms the Albanese government had flagged last year, when it said it wanted to ban surcharges on debit cards. For years, businesses have been able to apply surcharges to credit and debit card payments, but the amount is not supposed to exceed what it costs a business to process the payment. While average surcharges have been about 0.7 per cent of a transaction, they have ranged between 0.1 per cent to 10 per cent. In its preliminary view, the RBA has proposed banning all surcharges for consumers using Eftpos, Visa and Mastercard – applying its rules to American Express would rely on separate reforms to the payments act currently on the horizon – noting 'surcharging is no longer achieving its intended purpose of steering consumers to make more efficient payment choices'. Loading 'Avoiding surcharges has become harder as cash usage has declined. Businesses are increasingly charging the same surcharge rate across debit and credit cards and there are significant challenges,' the RBA said. The RBA took the decision to include credit cards in the surcharge ban after feedback from its initial issues paper released in October, where payment service providers estimated the cost of banning surcharges for just debit cards would be more costly, take more time and would be more confusing to implement than a blanket ban. In extending credit cards in the surcharge ban proposal, the RBA has also announced lower fees and greater transparency measures for businesses. These include lowering the cap on interchange fees that businesses have to pay payment service providers (including fintechs such as Square), as well as banks that provide terminal technology.
Sydney Morning Herald
14-07-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
RBA wants to ban credit and debit surcharges
Businesses would be banned from applying surcharges to all credit and debit card transactions from July next year under a Reserve Bank proposal that could save Australian consumers close to $1.2 billion a year. On Tuesday, the RBA released its review into card surcharges, proposing a suite of reforms aimed at lowering fees for both consumers and merchants, including a lever to force credit card companies and financial players – involved higher up the payments chain – to publish details of the fees they impose on businesses. The RBA's proposal to stop fees on credit and debit card transactions, which will now be subject to an industry consultation window, goes further than reforms the Albanese government had flagged last year, when it said it wanted to ban surcharges on debit cards. For years, businesses have been able to apply surcharges to credit and debit card payments, but the amount is not supposed to exceed what it costs a business to process the payment. While average surcharges have been about 0.7 per cent of a transaction, they have ranged between 0.1 per cent to 10 per cent. In its preliminary view, the RBA has proposed banning all surcharges for consumers using Eftpos, Visa and Mastercard – applying its rules to American Express would rely on separate reforms to the payments act currently on the horizon – noting 'surcharging is no longer achieving its intended purpose of steering consumers to make more efficient payment choices'. Loading 'Avoiding surcharges has become harder as cash usage has declined. Businesses are increasingly charging the same surcharge rate across debit and credit cards and there are significant challenges,' the RBA said. The RBA took the decision to include credit cards in the surcharge ban after feedback from its initial issues paper released in October, where payment service providers estimated the cost of banning surcharges for just debit cards would be more costly, take more time and would be more confusing to implement than a blanket ban. In extending credit cards in the surcharge ban proposal, the RBA has also announced lower fees and greater transparency measures for businesses. These include lowering the cap on interchange fees that businesses have to pay payment service providers (including fintechs such as Square), as well as banks that provide terminal technology.
