1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,200
Speaker 1: The Comments Commission. They're back for more, having dipped their

2
00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:05,120
Speaker 1: toes last week and do everything from supermarkets to telcos.

3
00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:06,880
Speaker 1: They're now suggesting that we could be two hundred and

4
00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:09,880
Speaker 1: fifty million dollars better off by cracking down on merchant

5
00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:12,280
Speaker 1: fees when we shop the markets dominated by master Card

6
00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:15,200
Speaker 1: and Visa. Small Business New Zealand founder and BSP Advisory

7
00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:17,400
Speaker 1: Group director Phil wixes with us on this Phil, Very

8
00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:18,079
Speaker 1: good morning to you.

9
00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:20,560
Speaker 2: Good morning Mike. How are you very well?

10
00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:22,640
Speaker 1: Thank you. Total fees are billion dollars. We could save

11
00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:25,079
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty million. Their argument is fees here

12
00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:28,840
Speaker 1: are higher than they are off. Sure is that true?

13
00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:30,960
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think it is. I mean I think we've

14
00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:33,320
Speaker 2: got a situation where we've got something that that's a

15
00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:35,199
Speaker 2: little bit more complex and it needs to be there

16
00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:38,440
Speaker 2: seems to be a wide variety and the fees that

17
00:00:38,479 --> 00:00:41,400
Speaker 2: are actually charged so it's not consistency. This would simplify

18
00:00:41,479 --> 00:00:45,120
Speaker 2: the process, provide greater fans experience. I think a lot

19
00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:47,400
Speaker 2: of people just stick their cards down without actually knowing

20
00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:50,839
Speaker 2: what they're paying, and we're reduced to cost both to

21
00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:54,160
Speaker 2: businesses and the consumer. And potentially I think there's still

22
00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:56,760
Speaker 2: retailers that don't use it, so perhaps we would get

23
00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:59,200
Speaker 2: a bit more take up. WI should speed things up.

24
00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:01,080
Speaker 2: I know the bank have sort of said it helps

25
00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:04,760
Speaker 2: pay for some of the costs they have associated with

26
00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:06,760
Speaker 2: fraud et cetera, et cetera. But I think they make

27
00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:08,319
Speaker 2: enough profit to cover that sort of thing.

28
00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:10,440
Speaker 1: Having said that, why are they higher here? Is there

29
00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:12,680
Speaker 1: something unique about us that they can justify or they

30
00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:13,560
Speaker 1: just pick a number?

31
00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:17,240
Speaker 2: No, I think I can't think of any reason why

32
00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:19,800
Speaker 2: they should be high here. I think the sort of

33
00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:22,399
Speaker 2: concerning thing is a little bit that they seem to

34
00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:24,399
Speaker 2: be creeping up. You know, I just noticed it the

35
00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:26,120
Speaker 2: other day when I don't normally look at it, but

36
00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:28,080
Speaker 2: I'll put my card down and I feel quite that's

37
00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:30,839
Speaker 2: over five percent I'm paying for that, and I hadn't

38
00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:33,959
Speaker 2: noticed that before. I think there's just the risk that

39
00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,759
Speaker 2: they could just slowly sort of creep up without people

40
00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:37,080
Speaker 2: knowing it.

41
00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:39,640
Speaker 1: Are there scams going on with retailers who just pick

42
00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:42,679
Speaker 1: a number as well? And added on, well.

43
00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:45,240
Speaker 2: I wonder that because there is, you know, there is

44
00:01:45,319 --> 00:01:47,920
Speaker 2: quite a variation in fees. I mean, at the end

45
00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:50,120
Speaker 2: of the day, the retailers shouldn't be really be making

46
00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:51,960
Speaker 2: sort of profits from their f posts. They should be

47
00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:55,120
Speaker 2: making the profits from there, from their goods and services

48
00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:55,720
Speaker 2: that they sell.

49
00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:59,280
Speaker 1: What happens here the ComCom go yep, this is what

50
00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:01,160
Speaker 1: we want to do, and we picked a number. This

51
00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:02,800
Speaker 1: is the number. Take it or leave it? Is that

52
00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:04,240
Speaker 1: how that works? Potentially?

53
00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:07,880
Speaker 2: Well, potentially potentially it does. I mean sometimes, you know,

54
00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:12,519
Speaker 2: you know, your sort of regulation can I think sometimes

55
00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:15,040
Speaker 2: can make things a lot worse in this But in

56
00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:17,360
Speaker 2: this case, you know, I've tried to look for a

57
00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:20,400
Speaker 2: downside from from our perspective, and I can't really see one.

58
00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:23,160
Speaker 1: Okay, here's a text. As a hospital retailer, my merchant

59
00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:25,320
Speaker 1: fees have gone from one hundred and fifty dollars on

60
00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:27,880
Speaker 1: average per month to eight hundred and fifty dollars per month.

61
00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:29,320
Speaker 1: We don't pass that on. That's eight and a half

62
00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:32,000
Speaker 1: thousand dollars per aanter out is that? Does that sound

63
00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:32,640
Speaker 1: real to you?

64
00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:36,040
Speaker 2: Yeah? It does, it probably probably does. You know, that's

65
00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:39,639
Speaker 2: that's probably a you know, it's a pretty good indication

66
00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:41,960
Speaker 2: of what I was saying before about how these some

67
00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:44,200
Speaker 2: of these things seems to have been sort of rising.

68
00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:46,600
Speaker 1: And how much of it's on the consumer, because I mean,

69
00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:49,640
Speaker 1: in all honesty, I wouldn't have the slightest idea what

70
00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:51,360
Speaker 1: the fee is when I pay, I tap and go.

71
00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:53,240
Speaker 1: And that's how most of us operate, isn't it.

72
00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:56,400
Speaker 2: But that's how most of us operate. And again that's

73
00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:58,680
Speaker 2: what I was saying before. You just you just stick

74
00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:01,240
Speaker 2: your card down. You don't really think about it, and

75
00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:03,280
Speaker 2: you like the process, you know, you know, we like

76
00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:06,120
Speaker 2: that process as opposed to put in the card. And so,

77
00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:09,080
Speaker 2: you know, like I say, most it's on the consumer.

78
00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:11,000
Speaker 1: Good stuff, philp nice and sight. And we'll see where

79
00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:13,919
Speaker 1: the Commerce Commission takes this one. And boy they're busy

80
00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:15,480
Speaker 1: at the moment. Is this the season for the Commerce

81
00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:18,120
Speaker 1: Commission making a lot of decisions? For more from the

82
00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:21,239
Speaker 1: Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks. It'd be

83
00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:25,079
Speaker 1: from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.