PayPoint has confirmed that from 1 April it is to put up its service fee charge, but the rise will be capped at 7%.
The service provider reviews its service fee charge each year in line with the retail price index (RPI). Initially, the company was planning to increase the charge by 13.4% this year, the RPI at the time of its review.
However, following a meeting with senior officials from the NFRN, PayPoint has agreed to almost halve the level of the inflationary increase on the service fee charge to 7%, repeating what it did last year.
NFRN National President Jason Birks said: “Everyone is operating in an increasing challenging environment with costs rising on a daily basis and this is threatening the very survival of smaller stores and their communities. A 13.4% increase to PayPoint’s service fee charge would have made our lives so much harder.
“At every meeting with PayPoint we lay bare the challenges facing independent retailers and while we are disappointed that its service fee is to rise, we are grateful that PayPoint executives have listened to the Fed’s concerns and the company is, at least, absorbing some of the increase.”
To mitigate the effects of the increase, the NFRN will continue to work with PayPoint on making members aware of the profit opportunities open to retailers through the service provider’s other initiatives, such as PayPoint Counter Cash, My Store + rewards app, and Love2 Shop digital vouchers.
PayPoint data shows that throughout 2022, over 57% of NFRN members taking advantage of these opportunities have grown their income by 4%. In addition, more than 43% of members increased commissions by over 14% year-on-year. Total commission paid by PayPoint to NFRN members has increased by 28% year-on-year.
In addition, all NFRN members are being offered an in-store ‘health check’ with PayPoint’s retail relationship managers, so they can fully understand its new services and the profit opportunities they offer.
