One third of merchants abuse surcharging, Mastercard survey finds
As the ACCC vows to ramp up scrutiny of surcharging, a Mastercard survey found a third of merchants were breaching regulations over the practice.
A third of merchants are breaching regulations on surcharges — both in how and how much they charge — according to a Mastercard mystery shopper program.
The primary breaches included a failure to properly disclose surcharges and charging more than the regulated cost of acceptance.
“We have a regulated payments market, like Europe, which has brought down the cost of acceptance [of digital payments] to among the lowest in the world but, unlike Europe, surcharging is allowed here on top of the regulation and that surcharging is just being abused,” Mastercard ‘s Australasia president Rich Wormald told Capital Brief.
“The rules are not followed, enforcement is lax, we see this as consumers in our own right. It’s about surcharges not being clear ahead of time, including costs other than the cost of processing. That’s true online and instore, there’s just no visibility.”
