I recently read the following tweet:

"After Banks figure this out and do something with eKYC, they will realize that people are not ready to pay MDR, want privacy"

(https://twitter.com/logic/status/833642760456376320)

I replied back pointing out that:

"But Merchants pay MDR, not Consumers!"

(https://twitter.com/s_ketharaman/status/833648291271364608)

He replied back with the following tweet:

"nice dream."

(https://twitter.com/logic/status/833649754676424704)

@logic was implying that merchants will definitely pass on the MDR cost to consumers.

Even if that's true, he was confusing MDR for Surcharge. While both amount to a charge on card payments, they're not the same. By definition, MDR is borne by a Merchant whereas Surcharge is slapped on a Cardholder. There are many other differences between them. Before I list them and explain why they matter to a common man, please see end of this post for a graphical depiction of how a card payment works.

The key entities in the so-called "card payment value chain" that processes a card payment are as follows:

1. Cardholder: The consumer that uses a credit or debit card to buy something e.g. John Doe, Jane Doe
2. Merchant: The business that sells that "something" to the Consumer and receives payment via payment card e.g. ASDA, Big Bazaar
3. Issuer: The bank that issues the card used by the Consumer e.g. Barclays, State Bank of India
4. Acquirer: The bank that issues a Merchant Account and POS (or POS alternatives like Bharat QR) to the Merchant, both of which are required for the Merchant to accept card payments e.g. Citi, HDFC Bank
5. Card Network: The company that owns the infrastructure - aka "rails" - for processing card payments e.g. Visa, MasterCard.

The card payment value chain is also called a "4-corner marketplace". Created over 50 years ago, it's subject to the so-called "network effect", which explains its popularity and longevity. The Merchant incurs a cost for using this infrastructure to accept card payments. This cost is called MDR or Merchant Discount Rate.

With the basics of card payment out out of the way, let me come back to the key differences between MDR and Surcharge. They're as follows:

1. MDR is the fee incurred by the Merchant for accepting card payments. Any charge levied by the Merchant on a consumer paying by card (over and above the price of the product or service purchased by the Cardholder) is called Surcharge. As we'll see shortly, Surcharge need not equal MDR (and often does not)
2. Set by the Card Network, the schedule of MDRs forms a part of the Merchant Account signed between the Merchant and the Acquirer. As a consequence, MDR is pre-defined, strictly regulated and ranges from 0.5-3% depending upon the product purchased and the type of card used for payment. (For the sake of convenience, I'll assume a uniform MDR rate of 2% during the rest of this post.) On the other hand, Surcharge is totally arbitrary - it's whatever the Merchant says it is. I've come across Surcharges ranging from 2 to 10%. In other words, Merchants slap Surcharge - masked as 'Convenience Charges' - that's as high as 5X of the MDR cost they incur
3. MDR is deductive. That is, if the sale value at the till is £100, the acquirer retains £2 and passes on £98 to the Merchant. On the other hand, Surcharge is additive. That is, against the purchase value of £100, the consumer incurs a cost of £102 at checkout (or even higher, if the Merchant passes on costs in excess of MDR to the Cardholder).
4. Being deductive, MDR attracts no taxes. Whereas, being additive, Surcharge attracts taxes. So, the total debit the Cardholder sees on their statement is even higher than £102
5. In return for MDR, a Merchant gets many freebies from the Acquirer e.g. fire insurance for store. Cardholder gets nothing for shelling out Surcharge.

"INR 570 "Internet Handling Fees" for tickets costing INR 7500? Well tried @BookMyShow"

(https://twitter.com/GTM360/status/625931370632716288)

In case all this sounds a bit technical, that's because it is. However, there's a reason why it matters to an average John / Jane Doe consumer and impacts the adoption of card payments.

I've made no secret of my distaste for Surcharge. The way I see it, MDR is the Merchant's cost of doing business - if they don't accept card payments, they can lose business. Like rent, electricity, employee and other costs, Merchants have to recover their card processing fees from their sales and can't pass it on to me explicitly. If a Merchant still insists on a Surcharge, I can walk out and buy the same thing somewhere else without paying Surcharge.

Armed with this knowledge, I flatly refuse to pay Surcharge for paying with my credit card.

When Merchants try to justify their demand for Surcharge on the grounds that they pay this fee to banks, I turn the last point mentioned above to my advantage and fire back: "You get fire insurance for your store by paying MDR. Will you give me fire insurance for my home if I pay you Surcharge?" When they hear this, many Merchants quietly accept my credit card without any Surcharge.

Of course, my tactic only works when there's a human being on the other side whom I can challenge with this logic.

Whenever a website demands a Surcharge, I abandon my shopping cart and rant to the company via Twitter.

"Old news. LIC & MSEB still levy surcharge on credit card payments. Talk is cheap. It's time for action!"

(https://twitter.com/s_ketharaman/status/773906718032011265)

Somtimes it works!

"Whoa! For the first time, LIC didn't levy any Surcharge when I paid my premium online by credit card! Good for #CashlessIndia"

(https://twitter.com/s_ketharaman/status/879671861172424704)

I know you "can't win 'em all" but that's no reason why you shouldn't try!

I know many people who use cash because they don't want to pay extra charges for using their cards. This is a serious stumbling block towards wider adoption of digital payments. I hope this post gives such consumers enough ammunition to fob off Merchants' demand for Surcharge, pay by card without incurring any extra charges and, in the process, take #CashlessIndia to the next level.