EPAL may consider sliding scale for EFTPOS fees

 Merchants could be charged different EFTPOS fees based on the size of each transaction under a new sliding-scale plan being considered by EPAL, but one industry player warns smaller businesses could be hurt if the plan goes ahead.

According to a report in the Australian Financial Review, EPAL is considering a sliding scale for merchant fees that will see them differ in size depending on the value of each transaction. Currently each transaction is charged a flat fee.

A spokesperson for EPAL was contacted this morning but no further comment could be given about the matter.

But chief executive of electronic payments company Tyro, Jost Stollman, says while he is unaware of any plans regarding a sliding scale, he is concerned that small businesses haven’t been a part of any discussions that would raise fees.

“I’d be very interested to see how this sliding scale is going to work. But I don’t understand how raising the interchange fee helps competition.”

“If the banks maintain EFTPOS access, and there was a low interchange fee, it would be competitive. How does raising fees assist with that?”

The current interchange fee is set at negative four cents, so merchants actually receive money for making EFTPOS transactions. But Stollman says small merchants are locked out of the current discussions and have no way of lobbying for their interests.

“EPAL could be going in the direction of giving big merchants a volume advantage. I don’t know if that sliding scale would include this, but where is the voice of 1.5 million merchants in all of this?

EPAL is also considering ways to make EFTPOS more competitive, such as exploring more security options and contactless payments.

But Stollman points out that merchants often have to bear the responsibility of upgrading terminals to accommodate for those improvements.

“The merchants do that, and pay for the investments and technology of the acquirers. They are the ones upgrading terminals and so on.”

EPAL is expected to soon make a decision about the interchange fee.