It is common practice in most shops that has been going on for so long where when one uses an EFTPOS terminal for transactions to do purchases, there is always an accompanying fee for cashbacks, but this practice is illegal.

The Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) recently put out a public notice reminding consumers that they should not be paying these illegal fees.

The public notice was put out after the ICCC received several consumer complaints, plus its own preliminary investigation revealed that to be true. The Commission descried this practice as unfair to consumers.

“The public is advised to remain vigilant and report any shops that continues to charge fees for EFTPOS cash back transactions immediately, so that the matter can be investigated and necessary action taken against non- compliant businesses,” the Commission informed in the public notice.

The ICCC also met with the BSP Financial Group Limited and Kina Bank Limited regarding this matter and both banks have agreed to work closely with the Commission to ensure all shops comply with the Merchant Agreement between the banks and the shops.

BSP also put out a public notice of its own supporting the call from ICCC, expressing concern over this practice and urging its customers to report any unauthorized fees to Merchantservice@bsp.com.pg so that action can be taken as well by the bank on its merchants that do not comply.

Consumers can also report or put their complaints to the ICCC on email Infor@iccc.gov.pg or complaints@icc.gov.pg.