Card surcharge rules

[Howl]

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/being-hit-with-card-surcharges-everywhere-you-go-these-are-the-rules-around-them/0i0ipzr5v

0.5% is what service providers can charge legally for EFTPOS payments, up to 1% for debit cards and up to 1.5% for credit cards.

Bring that up to any shop whenever you pay by card. The shops charging 10% surcharge are just greedy.

[blitz]

Shops aren't greedy, they're trying to force you into paying cash because they need cash to pay the girls.
Just pay cash and stop whining.

[Blackmore898]

Just never pay by card.. end of story.

[BigPedro666]

Cash means no record, no trace, no tax, no record of hours, no visa impact etc

[aussiegaigin]

[url]

0.5% is what service providers can charge legally for EFTPOS payments, up to 1% for debit cards and up to 1.5% for credit cards.

Bring that up to any shop whenever you pay by card. The shops charging 10% surcharge are just greedy.

Most shops have the same surcharge regardless of card type.

If they are charging 10%, that is illegal.

[Daffy]

Most shops have the same surcharge regardless of card type.

If they are charging 10%, that is illegal.

You’re actually wrong there mate and I do this for a living. They can pass on whatever they get charged as a surcharge and you might be able to get a rough list but it isn’t the same for every customer.

Depending on who the payment provider is they can charge what they consider to be a cost of business. So those CashCard or Mandrake machines it is the payment gateway charging you and not the shop.

And blended rates are rare but becoming more common.

The one you do have to look out for is that they can’t charge a surcharge if they don’t provide a way to avoid it (like accepting cash). If that the case then the surcharge has to be part of the advertised price

[asiafever]

My favourite is a restaurant I go to. Let's say your meal is $50. They offer a cash discount of 5%, but if you pay by card there's a surcharge depending on card type (debit or credit). So, going by that, nobody pays the actual $50 price, it's either $47.50 cash or $50.37 debit card and $50.62 by credit card.

[aussiegaigin]

If they are offering a cash price and a card price, they shouldn't be adding that surcharge. THat's double dipping.

I've seen shops offering 20% off for cash. That's a 25% card surcharge.

[Joe1956]

Use your phone to pull up your debit card. Then choose Eftpos SAV
There shouldn’t be any cards fees

[Silverfish]

Some payment gateways will add the surcharge automatically but for most businesses using the standard EFTPOS machine from the big four they would either calculate the percentage and add it in manually or throw a standard surcharge of 20¢ or 50¢ for any transactions below $20.

[GoldfishMan]

You’re actually wrong there mate and I do this for a living. They can pass on whatever they get charged as a surcharge and you might be able to get a rough list but it isn’t the same for every customer.

Depending on who the payment provider is they can charge what they consider to be a cost of business. So those CashCard or Mandrake machines it is the payment gateway charging you and not the shop.

And blended rates are rare but becoming more common.

The one you do have to look out for is that they can’t charge a surcharge if they don’t provide a way to avoid it (like accepting cash). If that the case then the surcharge has to be part of the advertised price

I think the most important point is it will be a huge pain in the arse and also time consuming to take them to the authorities and try to prove that they were wrong to charge 10% surcharge. Who's going to go through all that to fight for justice?

99% of people will just scream and holler at the obscene surcharge amount and then let it slide.

[DATY]

Cash for everything that relates to punting.

[NightShift]

Use your phone to pull up your debit card. Then choose Eftpos SAV
There shouldn’t be any cards fees

Thanks for the tip. I’ll try that next time when I’m back at a coffee shop that rips me off that little bit extra..

[Daffy]

Just remember that if you tap it is always a credit transaction and can get a higher surcharge.

[RO1312]

A little off topic but still crazy in my mind

Middle eastern pizza shop out my way doesn’t tell you it’s “cash only” untill you come in and pick up your order

They have a eftpos machine in the shop but will not let customers know that. They hide it behind the counter but I have seen it before

To dodge tax/surcharges ect they have their own ATM machine INSIDE the shop and demand you to pull money out and pay the $3 fee. One time I had enough, paid for 1 pizza in silver coins and said I didn’t have enough for the second so it went to waste. Cunts

[justpuntingit]

I also remember reading somewhere, sorry can't remember where, but brothels have a hard time setting up a payment terminal account with the banks, because of their lack of want to be associated with such businesses.

perhaps there's a roundabout way they have to manage it that incurs higher costs? Hence a lot of places actually have an ATM inside the venue.

Also it makes sense they want to incentivise the punter to have cash, as this is how extras are paid for.

[NightShift]

@RO1312 That situation: I suggest you get an Macquarie Bank debit card. No ATM fees forever. I always get a notification on the app when I’m getting money out of the ATM “don’t worry about that $3 ATM fee, we will cover it”

Yeah, that pizza shop they definitely doing it for tax purposes

[Howl]

I also remember reading somewhere, sorry can't remember where, but brothels have a hard time setting up a payment terminal account with the banks, because of their lack of want to be associated with such businesses.

perhaps there's a roundabout way they have to manage it that incurs higher costs? Hence a lot of places actually have an ATM inside the venue.

Also it makes sense they want to incentivise the punter to have cash, as this is how extras are paid for.

If those shops can't create accounts or have electronic payment terminals with banks, they wouldn't have EFTPOS machines where they deliberately charge 10% surcharge.

If they really want cash and the shop is situated in an area where an ATM isn't available then it's good practice for them for setup their own rediATM machines in house. They can make their "surcharges" from the ATM withdrawal fees instead which most punters wouldn't mind paying ($3 at most places).

[justpuntingit]

also i highly discourage punting via card... about 7 or 8 years ago i was applying for a loan.. the continual transactions of $200ish to a weirdly named merchant that the bank couldn't define was questioned. Whilst I was able to give a BS excuse, it caught me off guard and had there been another reason to not approve, i reckon i wouldn't have been able to pull it off.

[Howl]

@RO1312 That situation: I suggest you get an Macquarie Bank debit card. No ATM fees forever. I always get a notification on the app when I’m getting money out of the ATM “don’t worry about that $3 ATM fee, we will cover it”

Yeah, that pizza shop they definitely doing it for tax purposes

That's a good suggestion there for a debit card. You don't get to be in an area where an ATM from the big four is readily available.

[Howl]

also i highly discourage punting via card... about 7 or 8 years ago i was applying for a loan.. the continual transactions of $200ish to a weirdly named merchant that the bank couldn't define was questioned. Whilst I was able to give a BS excuse, it caught me off guard and had there been another reason to not approve, i reckon i wouldn't have been able to pull it off.

Back then loans are easy to get approval for as long as you have good credit scores. Recently there must've been a high rate of people not being able to make on-time repayments so they're being very wary about our spending habits. If you ask for a loan from the same bank you have your savings account with they'll immediately see a red flag so it's better to have an account with another financial institution where you transfer your punting money into and call it your "Ladbrokes" card.

[justpuntingit]

i think they run it through a side business.

also i guess it's like any service business, whereby they offer the option to not turn down a customer, but their preference is to pay/book via an alternative method.

Like hiring a car at an airport. If you don't book ahead you pay through the teeth on fees. But if you book ahead there's huge savings to be had. Their goal is to hand out the cars and keep the line moving and not deal with the paperwork onsite.

[RO1312]

@RO1312 That situation: I suggest you get an Macquarie Bank debit card. No ATM fees forever. I always get a notification on the app when I’m getting money out of the ATM “don’t worry about that $3 ATM fee, we will cover it”

Yea, that pizza shop they definitely doing it for tax purposes

That’s not the point. They want business but expect to pay the surcharge sometimes 30% of the pizza. My point is they blatantly avoid taxes and that doesn’t float with me

They have a few bad google reviews where customers have said the owners have become agressive about it, so it’s not a one off thing