Payment services resumed across Australia after a disruption on Saturday afternoon left some customers unable to complete purchases at major retailers, with Mastercard blaming a “scheduled system update” for the outage.
Reports spread during the afternoon as shoppers said card transactions and digital wallet payments were failing during a global Mastercard outage.
Customers described problems with bank cards as well as mobile wallet purchases, including Apple Pay and Android Pay, when linked to Mastercard.
Businesses in parts of Sydney and Brisbane reported confusion at check-outs as some transactions went through while others were declined.
At one stage, retailers were asking customers to try another card, use cash or return later as queues built and purchases were abandoned.
Cafes and grocers in Sydney’s eastern suburbs were among those affected by the outage, with Chargrill Charlie’s at Charing Cross explaining the problem had continued for about an hour.
Owner Ron Shaked said the store had “had to turn customers away”.
“They haven’t been able to pay, people were having to wait a long time and they’ve left because they were sick of waiting,” he said.
Frenchmans Rd Pharmacy manager Joseph Riakos said staff were struggling to explain the issue to customers because the disruption appeared to hit some cards but not others.
“We’re having to say either use cash or to come back another time,” Mr Riakos said during the outage.
A Brisbane woman said she was left embarrassed when her payment was declined at a Bowen Hills cafe despite having funds in her account.
“I checked the accounts and the money was there but every attempt was declined,” she told NewsWire.
“I never have cash but luckily for once I did or I would’ve had to leave.
“It was embarrassing enough as it was – I know the money was there but you still feel like a bit of a fraud when it fails.”
Businesses across Australia posted on social media to warn customers about the Mastercard issue as some payments were being declined.
Earlier in the outage, Commonwealth Bank said some Mastercard card payments were being declined “due to a global MasterCard issue” and advised customers to insert their card and select savings to make payments via eftpos.
Downdetector, a website that tracks user-reported service outages, logged a surge in Mastercard complaints between 2pm and 4pm, including more than 1700 reports by 3pm on Saturday.
In a statement to NewsWire, a Mastercard spokesperson said a “scheduled system update” caused Mastercard transactions to be declined for a period of time.
“The situation has been resolved and all systems are working as normal,” the spokesperson said.