Businesses can now pass on credit card fees to customers in Ontario
Businesses in Ontario are now allowed to pass on credit card fees to customers.
The change comes as part of a settlement in a recent multimillion-dollar class-action lawsuit involving Visa and Mastercard.
While it was never illegal in Ontario for businesses to pass on credit card fees to customers, Visa and Mastercard had their own rules against surcharging, which merchants were required to follow.
The Canadian Federal of Independent Businesses told CTV News Toronto there are a few things businesses and consumers in Ontario "need to know" about the new rules that came into effect on Oct. 6.
Firstly, businesses must notify their credit card network at least 30 days before starting to surcharge. They must also post notice they are surcharging, and the amounts of any surcharges at point-of-sale, as well as clearly itemize any surcharges on receipts.
According to the CFIB, the maximum surcharge customers can be charged is capped of 2.4 per cent.
Businesses are also required to clearly itemize in a dollar figure the cost of the surcharge on receipts.
The CFIB said a recent survey of its members in Ontario found that 19 per cent of merchants intend to use the new power to surcharge. A further 24 per cent said they will surcharge only if their competitors or suppliers do.
According to the survey, forty per cent of small firms in Ontario told the CFIB they are not sure if they will begin adding a surcharge and 17 per cent said they don't intend on doing it.
“We’ve asked the Ontario government to not stop small merchants from surcharging to cover the high costs of accepting credit cards,” Julie Kwiecinski, CFIB’s Director of Provincial Affairs for Ontario, told CTV News Toronto in a statement. “Each individual business should be able to decide on their own whether surcharging is right for them by weighing factors like competitiveness against the need to address rising operating costs.”
Kwiecinsk said she believes many smaller merchants are still "on the fence" about including a surcharge because they don't want to lose customers.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Saskatchewan households will continue to receive carbon tax rebate: Trudeau
Households in Saskatchewan will continue to receive Canada Carbon Rebate payments, despite the province refusing to remit the federal carbon price on natural gas, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
“It's just so hard to let it go. I mean, everyone is telling me, ‘you have to move on,’ but I know someone is not here [anymore]. So I don't know how I will move on." That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.
Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko won't play in Game 2
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
Pedestrian, baby injured after stroller struck and dragged by vehicle in Squamish, B.C.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.