Hi Suja,
Thanks for the update.
Tim’s article is interesting, but seems to be based upon retail sales where cash is still common place rather than the B2B and other invoice type transactions where cash is long gone.
I’d like to see the demographics of the participants and the context of the survey because we are talking here about transactions where invoices are raised and cash is the exception rather than the rule.
Remember, if you ask the right questions you can prove anything with statistics.
The reality is that since the law changed a few years back allowing businesses to legally recover their costs of merchant fees, some businesses are adding these charges and they are accepted within their industries and others are not.
Even the NSW government has introduced a ‘Cost Recovery Policy’ and are on-charging merchant fees.
https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/merchant-fees
Yes, personally I think it is unfair to be quoted a price and then find there is an additional surcharge because of the payment method I choose. Where an alternative method is offered I usually use it.
And yes, I have walked away from some purchases because the supplier has not offered an alternative method of payment that does not involve an additional fee.
The difference here is that the customer is given a choice and if they choose to pay the additional fee for whatever their reason is, that is their prerogative. A business should also offer an alternative method to pay, such as a direct deposit that does not incur an additional fee and let the customer choose.
Each business owner knows their industry best and they should be the one who decides if and when to on-charge the fees. They too should have the freedom to choose.
If MYOB wish to provide software that is flexible enough to support as many industries as possible, they need to include this feature. Until they do, the software is stuck in the 1980’s when it was written into the merchant agreement that they would not charge different prices for each payment method.
Your customers are asking for this, just do it.
Alan
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