![\"Interest](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/fd42cb086af2fab6d9eba23907987c4d.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nAn Australian start-up is launching fee-free QR payments to help shoppers avoid the cost of paying by debit or credit card \u2013 but experts have warned the technology is not without risks.<\/p>\n
Pyng offers a solution to customers and small businesses who say they’ll be left covering the costs caused by the Reserve Bank of Australia’s proposal to ban card surcharges.<\/p>\n
The app aims to help businesses such as Sydney restaurant Ipoh Hawker, which charges customers a flat one per cent surcharge.<\/p>\n
Owner Justin Ng says the restaurant still absorbs part of the bill.<\/p>\n
“I think on average we pay about 1.5 per cent. We’re actually dipping into our pocket every single time someone settles through the card,” Mr Ng told Sky News Australia.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“It’s not ideal at all, but the reality is we work on paper thin margins. I would reluctantly have to increase my prices.”<\/p>\n
Chinta Ria restaurant owner Susanne Goh says paying surcharges is “just a way of life at the moment”.<\/p>\n
Businesses are turning to alternative payments methods – like Sydney startup Pyng – which uses a QR code for transactions.<\/p>\n
The app links a customer’s bank account directly to the merchant’s at zero cost.<\/p>\n
Pyng founder Dipra Ray says the app removes the cost of middlemen.<\/p>\n
“When I send you money through pay ID… it doesn’t cost you a cent and it doesn’t cost me a cent. So why does it suddenly change when I go to a shop?” Mr Ray said.<\/p>\n
“The actual underlying technology to do transactions is relatively cheap. It’s just that there are far too many middlemen in the middle taking their profits.”<\/p>\n
The company’s goal is to get two million small businesses on board.<\/p>\n
“In the future, our plan is to charge a very small fixed fee if required to be able to cover our costs.<\/p>\n
“But you know, we’re not trying to be as greedy as the banks. We’re just trying to create a non-disruptive way of making payments.”<\/p>\n
Visa’s Oceania group country manager Alan Machet says QR transactions may not carry the same protections if things go wrong.<\/p>\n
“There always is a catch and I referenced earlier the zero liability set up for visa cardholders,” Mr Machet told Sky News.<\/p>\n
“If it wasn’t you who did the transaction, you’re never liable. One of the benefits we have is exactly that security – the mechanism to dispute.”<\/p>\n
Independent Payments Forum Co-Founder Brad Kelly has submitted an enquiry to the RBA about consumer protection for account-to-account payments.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“There are no standards around QR codes, there is no security around QR codes, there is no standard customer experience,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Obviously for a litre of milk, we don’t need consumer protection. But if you’re buying an airline ticket and there is a risk between the time you pay for it and the time you get the goods – you’re protected. And that is part of the Visa, Mastercard, Eftpos rules.”<\/p>\n
The RBA is accepting feedback on the proposed policy options until August 26.<\/p>\n
The surcharge ban is scheduled to take effect from July 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Australian start-up is launching fee-free QR payments to help shoppers avoid the cost of paying by debit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3159],"tags":[547,3716,53,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-345502","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-mobile","9":"tag-rba","10":"tag-technology","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115030602999121331","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}