Extra credit card surcharge for using a rewards card?

[toojays]

Yesterday I made a $52 purchase on my Woolworths QANTAS card, and the NAB terminal which was processing the transaction added a $0.73 surcharge (~1.4%). The retailer said that the surcharge was most likely because I was using a rewards credit card. This is the first time I've seen such a surcharge applied by the EFTPOS terminal itself. On the credit card receipt the surcharge is listed separately to the purchase price, and the text "I AGREE TO ACCEPT THE SURCHARGE AMOUNT" is included on the receipt.

Presumably this is just an easier way for the retailer to pass on the transaction cost. Does anyone know if the surcharges really are different for rewards cards though?

 

[LovemyCC]

Never heard of such a thing. Were there clear signage as to the credit card surcharges? Name and shame?

 

[Andyc]

Merchants pay significantly more for "premium" (ie. rewards) credit cards. Usually it is the Visa/Mastercard interchange rates plus a designated fee for the merchant's bank.
Visa's interchange fees are: Visa Australia | About Visa | Interchange | Interchange

AMEX and Diners tend to be a flat rate.

I've never heard of automatic surcharges for rewards cards, but am very interested to hear more.
Not sure how you could ever explain this policy to customers either.

 

[shifty]

In our business we choose to have a blended rate % fee from our merchant bank so we get charged the same % regardless of the card type, eg. standard or premium master/visa. But yes, definitely different %'s for different card types can/do get charged to retailers from their merchant banks.

As described in the above link, master and visa have interchange rates which list the fees for each card type.

 

[DeKa]

Interesting. A quick google found a user manual for a NAB eftpos machine which shows the merchant how to set up auto surcharging.

http://www.nab.com.au/content/dam/n...-assistance/documents/terminal-user-guide.pdf

Look at page 46 onwards. It shows how the merchant can set different rates for standard, premium, AMEX etc.

The machine can obviously distinguish standard and "premium" cards.

 

[Doug_Westcott]

Certainly aware that can be a higher rate for "premium" cards eg Platinum, but not specifically aware of a different rate for Reward cards