blog.frantically.org

I got quite excited when Paywave was launched in the UK and got a combined Oyster card with credit card and PayWave from Barclaycard. You can spend upto £10 by waving your card against a small reader in a shop without a PIN. It’s designed to be a cash replacement with a low per transaction cost given to the vendor. So cheap in fact that the adverts suggest you buy your newspaper with it. So far so good? I think so.

My newsagent has a sign “60p charge for credit card transactions less that £10″, presumably because they don’t do enough volume to get a good discount in charges from the banks. As PayWave isn’t exempt, the Saturday morning milk run would cost £1.05 using Paywave, adding 130%. A Japanese lunchtime takeaway near my place of work charge less, adding only 5% to the bill.

I asked the vendors and they think they are right. Barclaycard think the charges are incorrect but, having asked both, neither will try to change the situation. So what happened?

• - VISA didn’t do enough research to see that we, the customer, wouldn’t like paying a large percentage more on a small transaction?
• - VISA didn’t train the stores to treat it differently from a normal credit card?
• - The stores are trying to take advantage of the situation and take a profit?

I’ve stopped using my card as, despite many retailers charging the correct amount of £0.00, I don’t want to think about it and I’m guessing many others will do the same. Good product, bad rollout.