Are you falling into the tap and go payment trap? Businesses start putting the $500million cost of processing ultra-fast card payments back on shoppers
- Businesses started to pass along the cost of contactless card onto customers
- Experts say Australian consumers are hooked on the convenient technology
- Tap and go costs Australian businesses an extra $500 million a year,
Businesses have started to pass along the cost of contactless card technology onto customers.
Finance experts say Australian consumers are hooked on the convenient technology and don’t realise when they are getting charged.
‘Many people don’t realise that when you use pay-wave it is processed through the credit card system and for most businesses there is a fee they’re charged through their bank or their card operator,’ Dr Michael Schaper, deputy chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission told ABC News.
Businesses have started to pass along the cost of contactless card technology onto customers (stock image)
‘If you do tap and get hit with an extra charge, it is legal.’
Businesses can pass on a 1 to 2 per cent surcharge on credit card transactions.
Under the tap-and-go system all cards were processed as a credit transaction, Dr Schaper said.
He said some businesses were absorbing the cost of the technology and passing the cost onto consumers in other ways.
For example, if a cafe is charging $3.50 for a coffee they might charge a 10c fee for pay pass transactions (which will appear on the transaction statement).
‘The next shop down the road might be charging $3.60 and they don’t really bother about trying to work [fees] out because they’ve covered it effectively through their basic costs,’ he said.
Tap and go costs Australian businesses an extra $500 million a year, the Retailers Association estimates.
Businesses can pass on a 1 to 2 per cent surcharge on credit card transactions (stock image)