Shops look to new payment methods to escape card fees
RETAILERS are shunning credit cards as shoppers embrace mobile phone and contactless payments, research released today shows.
Shops are rushing to fit tills with the technology and online sellers are using e-payment methods such as PayPal to avoid costly credit card processing fees, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
Just under 30 per cent of tills use contactless payments, while one in three online sellers take payments via PayPal, Google and Amazon, which charge far less to process transactions.
The average cost of a credit card transaction to the seller is 36.2p, compared with 7.9p for alternative payments, 9.6p for debit cards, and 1.5p for cash according to the report.
BRC director general Stephen Robertson said: “Other payment methods, such as mobile, PayPal, Google and similar products are challenging the banks’ market domination,”
“Those payment methods have gone from a standing start to accounting for £1.2bn of retail sales per year.”