Mart Association: "Lowering Card Fee Rates Is Exaggeration... Franchisees' Negotiation Rights Must Be Guaranteed"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] On the 23rd, when the ruling party and government announced a plan to revise card merchant fees that includes lowering credit card fees for franchise stores with annual sales of 300 million KRW or less from the existing 0.8% to 0.5%, the Korea Mart Association, a small and medium-sized mart organization, criticized it as "nothing but exaggeration."

The Mart Association released a statement on the same day, saying, "The main point of this announcement is to lower only the 'preferential fee rate' applied to franchise stores with sales of 3 billion KRW or less."

The association pointed out, "In reality, most of the card companies' profits come from outside the preferential fee rate bracket," adding, "The ruling party and government have accepted the card companies' complaints as they are. Properly, they should have lowered the current maximum fee rate of 2.3% and actively considered the negotiation rights of franchise stores."

According to the association, in the case of neighborhood marts, card fees sometimes exceed rent, and for new stores, the maximum fee rate of 2.3% is applied regardless of sales or business type. General franchise stores also gradually raise fees, resulting in fees that are no different from those three years ago.

The association urged, "The reason disputes over card fees recur every three years is that there is no price negotiation for the card fee rate, which is the price of payment service products," and called for "abolishing the mandatory collection system and institutionalizing the negotiation rights of franchise stores." They warned, "If the unreasonable card fee decision structure continues, franchise stores will also take actions such as terminating card merchant contracts and refusing to comply with card fees."

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