HYDERABAD: Several shopkeeprs in the city who adopted PayTm post demonetisation are unaware of the transaction charges that will be levied by the app makers from December 31.
PayTm has not made any mention of the transaction charges on merchants in their Terms & Conditions either. The few shop owners who are aware of it say they will push the costs on customers.
From December 31, PayTm will levy 1 per cent transaction charge for Know Your Customer (KYC) merchants and 4 per cent charge on non-KYC merchants. The transaction charge will be for those transferring their money from mobile-wallets to their bank accounts.
Raziya Unusa Begum started using PayTm since her kirana store at Begumpet saw a 70 per cent loss. “I got paytm for my store on Dec 14 but they (PayTm staffers) did not tell me anything about the transaction costs,” said Raziya. She learnt about it through news reports but was unaware of the exact charges to be paid. Interestingly, the merchant portal was launched on November 23.
“If I have to pay extra when I transfer the money from PayTm wallet to my bank account, I will have to charge my customers extra to recover the amount,” she said. The store has witnessed a 40 per cent increase in sales since adopting PayTm. “We applied for a Point of Sales machine with Andhra Bank 15 days ago. They haven’t responded yet,” she added.
“If transaction charges are not mentioned in the Terms & Conditions, it’s not a part of the contract between PayTm and merchant,” said Neeraj Aarora, a Supreme Court advocate and an expert in cyber laws.
While the app’s merchant website makes no mention of transaction charges, it says, “Paytm reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to revise, add, or delete portions of these terms and conditions anytime without further notice. You shall re-visit the Terms & Conditions link from time to time to stay abreast of any changes that the ‘site’ may introduce.”
“This allows the company to revise the rates from time to time. This is not legal as it’s a contract violation. This allows the company to revise the rates but it is subjective to the merchant if he/she wishes to object to it or not,” said the lawyer. What PayTm will do is send an email to the merchant alerting them about the revised transaction charges and if they wish to abide by it or not, would be the process, he added.
“We have launched a massive drive across India to inform merchants and customers in every district. Teams of Paytm agents are conducting sessions and workshops across schools, colleges, village panchayats and trade bodies to inform people about PayTm,” said Sudhanshu Gupta, vice president, PayTm.