{"id":872342,"date":"2026-08-30T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=872342"},"modified":"2026-08-28T16:33:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T14:33:02","slug":"warning-to-anyone-who-pays-with-a-bank-card-at-shops-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/872342\/warning-to-anyone-who-pays-with-a-bank-card-at-shops-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning to anyone who pays with a bank card at shops in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Consumers who use bank cards to pay for everyday purchases are being warned not to automatically accept additional charges simply for using a point-of-sale (POS) machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

National Consumer Commission (NCC) spokesperson Phetho Ntaba said the commission has received queries and complaints about shops adding fees to transactions when customers pay by card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the complaints involve independent traders or spaza shops, and these charges can reportedly range from about R2 to R10, depending on the value of the purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ntaba said the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) is clear that suppliers cannot charge consumers a price that differs from the price they have displayed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe CPA is very clear that a supplier cannot charge a consumer a price that is outside what they have displayed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NCC has therefore issued an advisory to retailers, warning them against adding charges to customers’ purchases simply because they use a card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ntaba said the practice can take advantage of consumers, particularly those who choose card payments because carrying cash may be unsafe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ntaba acknowledged that some shop owners may not realise that the additional charge is not permitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some businesses invested in POS machines to make transactions easier and safer for customers, but may have subsequently passed the cost of using those machines on to consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’ve also noticed that some shops, one is they take advantage, but others are really not aware of how to do certain things,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Ntaba, the cost of accepting card payments should be treated as part of the cost of doing business rather than added to the customer’s bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt cannot be the consumer’s responsibility to pay for that service,\u201d she said, adding that using a card to complete a purchase is not considered a separate service under the CPA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She compared the cost with other normal business expenses, such as transporting goods from a wholesaler to a shop. \u201cThey are supposed to absorb that cost,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Report them to the NCC<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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This means a shop cannot simply tell a customer that a loaf of bread, milk, or another product costs an additional R2, R5, or R10 because the customer has chosen to pay by card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Ntaba drew a distinction between paying for goods and withdrawing cash at a spaza shop using a POS machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said cash withdrawals could involve different rules and may need to be considered in the context of the banking ombud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs far as goods and services are concerned, based on the Consumer Protection Act, they cannot levy that extra fee, not at all,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NCC is also warning consumers about another common issue, which is that products being sold without clearly displayed prices. Ntaba said this contravenes Section 26 of the CPA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe law requires either on the product or adjacent to the product,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Businesses do not necessarily need expensive or sophisticated price displays. However, consumers should be able to see what they are expected to pay before completing a purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumers who encounter these practices can report them to the NCC. Ntaba said the commission can be contacted through its contact centre or social media channels, including its X account. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumers can also use the NCC’s website and its e-services to lodge complaints. She said the commission wants consumers to report businesses so that it can first educate suppliers about the requirements and, where necessary, enforce the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe do issue compliance notices, or we will be able to take them to the tribunal, just to change this practice,\u201d Ntaba said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Consumers who use bank cards to pay for everyday purchases are being warned not to automatically accept additional charges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":759847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"failed","_sma_x_autopost_error":"Instagram publishing failed: Instagram returned HTTP 400: Media ID is not available","_sma_x_post_id":"2093926951194927122","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2190685078418558","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[853,21636],"class_list":["post-872342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-south-africa","tag-the-national-consumer-commission-ncc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872342"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":872672,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872342\/revisions\/872672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}