Lower credit card fees for shoppers with new online eftpos services: Paymark

Monday, 23 April 2018

A recent report by Retail NZ showed that Kiwis paid on average twice as much as Australian retailers do, and between three and six times as much as they do in the UK.

Shoppers will pay less in credit card fees if retailers adopt the latest electronic payment technologies, eftpos network operator Paymark says.

Paymark's product and marketing head Maxine Elliott said New Zealand needs to develop its own next generation digital payment technology that is cheaper than that offered by large international companies. But it would need to be supported by retailers to be successful.

'Eftpos was world leading when it launched and New Zealanders were justifiably proud of the cutting edge capability of our payments network,' Elliott said.

'Over the past 35 or so years, that lead has slipped and now according to [retailers], we are one of the most expensive places in the world to conduct electronic transactions.'

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A recent report by Retail NZ showed Kiwis paid on average twice as much for payment transactions as Australian retailers, and between three and six times as much as their British counterparts.

Kiwi retailers paid more to accept credit and contactless debit card transactions than retailers in Australia and the United Kingdom, the report says, resulting in higher prices for consumers.

In New Zealand the cost of new innovations such as contactless payments has led to many shopkeepers refusing to accept credit cards or contactless payments, Elliott said.

'Because the retailer pays these fees directly they have been reluctant to take up the next wave of digital payments technologies and that means New Zealand customers don't benefit from these advances.'

Paymark has touted its own open payments platform, Online eftpos, as an example of a next generation payment technology.

'We see a world where person-to-person payments are commonplace, where consumers can pay tradespeople via an app, where retailers can identify and reward repeat shoppers in real time,' Elliott said.

Online eftpos allows consumers to use their mobile banking app to buy goods and services online. ASB and Co-operate Bank customers can already use Online Eftpos and Paymark is talking to other banks to join the network.