8 out of 10 Small Business Owners Say "Credit Card Fees Are Burdensome"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jun-hyung] More than 8 out of 10 small business owners (85.4%) feel burdened by the current credit card fees, according to a survey.

The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (Kbiz) announced on the 18th that a survey on the "Current Status of Credit Card Fees for Small Business Owners and System Improvement" was conducted from the 21st to the 27th of last month, targeting 637 small business owners nationwide. According to the survey, 73.8% of small business owners responded that they are aware of the fee rates for each card company with which they have a merchant contract.

Among small business owners, 6 out of 10 (62.2%) answered that maintaining the current annual sales threshold of 300 million KRW or less as the standard for small merchants is appropriate. Meanwhile, 17.6% said the threshold should be raised to 500 million KRW or less in annual sales.

Additionally, 66.4% of small business owners responded that the preferential credit card fee rate for small merchants should be lowered to 0.5% or less. Only 3.1% of small business owners said the current preferential fee rate of 0.8% should be maintained. Regarding the preferential fee rate for small merchant check cards, 36.5% responded that it should be lowered to 0.1%.

There were also voices that the simple payment fee rates of online platforms such as Naver Pay and Kakao Pay should be the same as credit card fee rates. 40% of small business owners responded that the fee rates should be applied equally, while 35.3% said they should be applied differently.

Furthermore, 77.4% of small business owners responded that the right to collective bargaining should be granted to small and medium business organizations to negotiate fee rates with card companies. 65.5% supported the idea of calculating card fees based on the sales price excluding taxes in industries such as tobacco, liquor, and fuel.

Oh Se-hee, president of Kbiz, said, "It has been shown that small business owners still feel burdened by credit card fee rates," adding, "Collective bargaining rights should be granted to small business organizations so that the actual situations and circumstances of small business owners who bear the card fees are reflected in the fees."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.