I can't find a link on the interwebs, but was shown an email by the check out person today.
Apparently, there's been a recent change (or recent to me), that as long as it's an EFTPOS marked card, ALDI won't be charging the 0.5% surcharge, regardless of whether the card was inserted or tapped. This also applies to virtual cards via Google pay, Apple pay, etc.
Are you talking about eftpos only cards - eg ANZ Access, CBA's Keycard? There has never been a surcharge for inserting/tapping eftpos only cards.
And if you added your debit Mastercard or debit Visa to Apple Pay or Samsung Wallet, many banks let you change between eftpos SAV, eftpos CHQ or Visa/Mastercard before you tap your phone - ie you could have an ANZ Debit Visa, pick 'eftpos SAV' and be tapping your phone/watch and paying no surcharge at Aldi.
If it is least cost routing, as @askbargain said, then it won't work in Google Pay, etc - when you present your debit Mastercard/debit Visa, it can't change to eftpos - so perhaps Aldi no longer has a surcharge for any debit Visa, debit Mastercard or eftpos transaction.
Or talking about a small transaction, like under $1 or something like that, where surcharge gets rounded down to 0 cents.
They should get rid of surcharges altogether and just raise their prices half a percent or whatever. And a machine that makes change near the shopping carts for people who don't want a stupid Aldi coin keychain. Put a charity box near the cart return so people can dump their coins afterwards.
Yeah I don’t understand the surcharge
They race through the scanning and then have to stand there whilst I insert the card to use eftpos
Surely the money they gain in the surcharge is lost by the lost productivity of the shop worker standing idle whilst I use the card/ pin combo 🤷♂️
They don't charge the surcharge in other countries (i.e. Ireland) so not sure why it's done here
Maybe it's psychological, it tricks people into thinking their prices are so low that bearing even half a percent fee will bankrupt them.
@AustriaBargain: They also don't have staff discount which makes me think they want to make it appear that their prices are rock bottom despite being similar priced to Coles and Woolies home brands.
@jm7: And if they really were interested in lowest prices they would bring products out on pallets, like they do in Europe.
Buy a plastic fake trolley unlock coin on ebay, or cut one yourself out of plastic by copying the ebay pattern after tracing around a $1 or $2 coin.
Or do what I do… Every Aldi I've ever seen is a short walk from a ColesWorths… and people leave trolleys from all 3, at all 3 stores on the sidewalk, gutter, etc. So just grab a trolley from ColesWorths on the way into Aldi.
This has definitely always been the case, have never been charged a surcharge using tap savings via Apple Pay.
We just got charged 0.5% paying via paywave (CC) in VIC at about 1545 hrs 20/3. 🤔
When you summoned the card on your phone did you choose "Visa" or "eftpos SAV"?
is this post only Apple Pay then ?
Apple Pay & Samsung Wallet support dual network debit cards.
Google Pay doesn't just yet (ie you have to add an eftpos only card to Google Pay if you with to tap and pay with eftpos SAV/CHQ)
To avoid their fee I previously had to fiddle around putting the card into the reader and choosing 'savings' .. how do I know if I have an epftpos card? Mine has 'Visa' and 'Debit' on it
It's the one without visa/mastercard
Ah thanks
That's exactly what I used to do too.
That's when the lady told me about it. This time I tapped the physical card and didn't get a surcharge.
I'll try to get a copy of the memo they sent the store.
Nothing seems to have changed on their website
https://www.aldi.com.au/en/about-aldi/customer-information/p…
You're right, that's what I was looking for when I posted. I'll try to get a copy of the memo the lady showed me, so we can all read all the words and pry it apart. :)
Are you talking about EFTPOS ONLY cards issued by your bank ??
They are different to other visa/mastercard Cards that have both Visa/Mastercard + Eftpos function.
Those EFTPOS ONLY cards only have eftpos account so they ofcourse cannot be routed by credit account, hence no surcharge on them even if tapped. (I see a lot of older folks like retired people come with combank issued Eftpos only cards ).
I have seen some transaction only go through savings on some occasional (mastercard/visa + eftpos) cards with tap, while most of the (mastercard/visa + eftpos) still do incur surcharge.
Or
May be now different stores now starting to roll out least cost routing method?
This also applies to virtual cards via Google pay, Apple pay, etc.
If you only have a Credit option there is no way you can avoid the surcharge as far as I know mate. Google wallet doesn't really have an option to route via savings I think unlike apple pay also.
Also are you talking about a transaction like under $1 ?? that gets rounded down to $0.0 surcharge ?
Sorry mate, I don't know for sure. I know my card is NOT EFTPOS only because all along I thought it was a Visa card. It is however, a debit card. It wasn't until we flipped it over and the lady pointed out the EFTPOS text and the symbol that looks like Wifi on it's side, that I noticed it.
My skimming over the text mentioned no longer charging surcharge, even for tapped purchases. Including android pay, apple pay. That's all the details that I can comfortably claim to recall.
When I see her, I'm going to try to get a copy of the memo.
As a side note, on my non EFTPOS only card, on a transaction greater than $1, I was not charged a surcharge on a tap.
Just use cash. Many shops even give a small discount. Sad to see how many people blindly whip out the card and tap away nowadays..
I agree. Anything the government wants to foist upon us, do the opposite is good practice. How is some kid going to save up to buy ABC by doing neighbours lawns, washing cars, or adults pay for something at a garage sale etc without cash. By everyone alive using some phone app that requires sending data from my phone to theirs? No thank you. And what a hassle remembering which terminal button to press or which type of card you must use at which store to avoid fees. Convenient my foot. I have more important things to think about and retain.
I pay stuff like rent, water, car rego & insurance using online banking from home… and just withdraw a few hundred $ when I walk past an ATM once every month or two for everything else like AldiColesWorths. I'm paid and gone 3 out every 5 times people are still trying every card in their purse or bumbling around either trying to get their phone data, the shop's free wifi, or apple or google pay to work on their phones. I think I've seen the same delay maybe three times in 20 years with cash, and that was only because they didn't have enough so either left a few items behind or went to the fumbling card solution.
I'm paid and gone 3 out every 5 times people are still trying every card in their purse or bumbling around either trying to get their phone data, the shop's free wifi, or apple or google pay to work on their phones.
60% of your shopping trips have shown you that paying with card is like this?
I'm not saying I don't believe you…but I don't believe you
This is some quality self reinforcing anecdote material though, I'll give you that.
It happened again a few nights ago, the last time I went shopping. It was just before closing time at Coles. Someone had already paid using some card but the register was just stuck. it wasn't thinking, thinking, thinking… it was just frozen. After a few minutes the person between me and them was asked to put all their items back into their trolley and go around to the front counter/cigarette register instead. Then the person waiting for the register to unfreeze did that too. It was several minutes before it finally came back to life. I'd not seen this particular behaviour but two staff were rolling their eyes and saying it happens often on closing time. I suggested maybe all the registers of all the stores on the east coast are trying to send data at the same time!? They said it will probably freeze up on me too but when I happened to have the exact change they said oh it probably won't do it then - I just paid and was done.
It's usually not that though… it's usually something like someone trying multiple cards because card 1 doesn't enough money on it like they thought, the transaction gets denied over and over while they try to guess how much is on their card, so they try a lower amount or switch to another card. That was the week before at Woolworths… She tried 4x cards from her purse before finally getting card 1 to pay xyz$ - and "Oh yeah and my card 3 has abc$ on it - can I pay part from each card!?" She had 10 or 12 cards spread out on the counter/shelf lol. Or they're mumbling to themselves thinking which card has money, oh that's right this one does but I can't use it or our electricity bill will bounce, etc.
The wifi/phone data delays are the worst because both hardly ever work at my local supermarket (staff say it's something about the way the building roof is constructed that blocks/slows signals to a crawl). I don't get irritated about it but have noted it's about 3 out of 5 times the person in front of me takes several times longer than someone just paying cash. e.g. It doesn't work instantly, so they try again, and again, then staff have to suggest they give it more time and doing it again only delays things more…
While I certainly see yours and @Faulty P xel's viewpoint, using my card and by extension, my smart phone for everything and not having to carry cash, not having to fish for change, or even carry a wallet, for that matter, has been a great boon and great convenience for me.
TBH, ALDI was the only one I ever needed to remember bringing a physical card for, precisely because I wanted to avoid the surcharge by selecting savings.
In all honesty, when I end up visiting places that either don't take cards or tacks on a surcharge - while I recognise this as completely legal and allowed - it annoys me and leaves a bad taste in the mouth. My inclination is to no longer visit that shop in the future unless it has something that only it can provide and only do so begrudgingly.
Of course, this is only my opinion and of course it's quite far from yours and @Faulty P xel. But it's also my opinion that these payment options have reduced the friction to doing business by a whole lot. And I think that's a good thing. Again I'm not ignoring the points that are mentioned against it. I'm just embracing the actual ease that it provides and am happy that it does.
This has worked for awhile
@tebbybabes something definitely changed. I've been tapping my HSBC Visa Debit card at Aldi to get the 2% cashback and used to get hit with the 0.5% surcharge. Since a couple weeks ago I haven't been hit with the 0.5% surcharge anymore. I'm in SA.
No cashback when routed through eftpos
That's not true. I received the cashback for a transaction that's marked as eftpos SAV on the receipt. The only thing that matters is that you tap your card.
You may have got lucky but the t&C says must be visa paywave - it is on pages 11 and 12, and also on the website homepage (condition 3).
@silenthillrocks: All I can say is it works. I don't think I got lucky since I've got the cashback for at least three transactions in the last few weeks.
marked as "eftpos SAV"
Interesting
So seems like its the banks then that are preventing use of Least Routing ?
I used ING Debit to test it.
Off topic - Which banks issue "Eftpos only" cards? I have never seen any savings account "debit" card without Visa or Mastercard
This is a start - they should all have contactless and chip+PIN just like a regular Visa or Mastercard - but it of course goes via eftpos SAV or CHQ instead.
Some banks issue the eftpos only cards by default for certain ages - like under 12s.
Often you'll have to explicitly ask for an eftpos card, but you should be able to have both Visa/Mastercard and the eftpos card linked to the same account - ANZ does this.
Cuscal sponsored credit unions and banks: (usually known as rediCARD)
Indue sponsored credit unions and banks:
Thanks for a detailed response.
I just noticed that at least at two of my local ALDI tap and pay on debit cards are now treated as eftpos and no longer get charged 0.5% surcharge.
I always use HSBC debit card, which gets 2% cashback on tap and pay. In the past it would count as a credit surcharge, but was pleasantly surprised this week
So you get 2% cashback as well?
Yes, before I would be charged 100.5%, but then get 2% cashback on 100.5% [ i.e. 100.5 * 0.98 = 98.49, so effectively 1.51% cashback ].
Now it is just a clean 2% cashback.
Been a while since I last shopped at ALDI (usually only go for Super Savers, and they have been not very interesting lately). My last time was 14 March (before that highlighted post).
You need to spend less time at colesworth and more on ozbargain forums.
I can confirm this is not true always, AT LEAST NOT WHEN USING GOOGLE WALLET (DEBT CARD) to pay for items
https://imgur.com/a/TsClHPv
Can confirm little later about Directly using Debit card too, (But my gut says that direct debit will also route transaction through VISA/MASTERCARD network and acquire the surcharge).
If someone who says ALDI doesn't surcharge on their Debit card could upload a picture of their receipt and confirm what network the receipt says would be good to know. Thanks
Yes, Google Wallet doesn't support dual network cards; so if you add a Visa Debit ANZ card to Google Wallet; you'll only get a 'Visa' card.
On Apple Pay or Samsung Wallet, you can toggle between eftpos SAV, eftpos CHQ and Visa - https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT209137
But you make the choice at the time you tap your phone/watch - the terminal will only see the eftpos/Visa option you selected, with no option of 'least cost routing'.
If least cost routing definitely is a thing; if you tap your plastic Visa Debit ANZ card, in theory it can opt to route via eftpos instead.
(you could request an eftpos only ANZ Access card if you wanted; you can have both the 'ANZ Access' eftpos card and ANZ Visa debit card linked to the same account, and they can both be added to Google Wallet)
But what you are saying is consumer presenting a straight EFTPOS card at terminal (NOT A DUAL NETWORK) - using apple or SAMSUNG PAY.
This is not same as saying what OP is saying
"ALDI No Longer Has Surcharges on EFTPOS Marked Cards Even if Tapped"
This also applies to virtual cards via Google pay, Apple pay, etc.
"regardless of whether the card was inserted or tapped"
I would request @ mods to modify the content, because it is not true. It may be some store's specific transaction systems being changed (or ALDI choosing to test out least cost routing in specific stores or region like NSW) at best. However it does not apply to ALDI Australia as broadly.
What OP is suggesting that ALDI's VISA/MASTERCARD DEBIT NETWORK surcharge has been taken to 0%. If you look at receipts you SHOULD see the NETWORK used to PROCESS transaction, ETPOS/ VISA DEBIT/ VISA CREDIT/ MASTERCARD DEBIT/ MASTERCARD CREDIT.
I can confirm my last few transactions at ALDI with the HSBC 2% cashback card had no surcharge, and I still got the cashback.
Same, when I tapped HSBC debit card contactless, no more 0.5% transaction fee now
When I logged in HSBC net bank, it highlights 6608 EFTPOS, which means it went through EFTPOS path.
It means all the above discussions are right.
EFTPOS is free in ALDI, just for some unknown reason, paywave by HSBC debit card went through EFTPOS path, I guess usually it is not the case
EFTPOS is free in ALDI, just for some unknown reason, paywave by HSBC debit card went through EFTPOS path, I guess usually it is not the case
This is called least cost routing, and the merchant has to enable it on their terminals
Least cost routing